The Cursillo is A Movement

THE CURSILLOS IN CHRISTIANITY IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF DAVAO 1964 – 2014
(compiled, researched and written by Bong Baldoza MC #188)
15th of a series

The Essence of the Cursillo Movement

In an address given by Pope John Paul II in 1991, he used the word “movement” in connection with the mystery of the Church: “As you well know, the Church Herself is a Movement.   And she is above all else a mystery: the mystery of the eternal LOVE of the Father, of His paternal heart, in which the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit have their source.   The Church, which is born of this mission finds Herself  ‘in statu missionis’.   She is a movement inscribed in the history of the human bein and in the history of human communities.”

From this inspiration, the Cursillo Movement, takes it root.   This is because the work of conversion which requires proclamation of of the Good News is not static.  It is dynamic.  It is life.   And it requires movement.

When this movement on the part of God towards people finds echo of love in their hearts, a response of faith in God is born and comes spontaneously.            Here they start moving toward God.   This movement is the fruit of the action of God and the decision of the individual person.  And from this personal experience of God, such individual is driven to try to get other men or women to experience he same encounter he has with God, making use of a method designed for this purpose.

And as people with the same encounter experience with God unite themselves into groups for the purpose of living their Christian lives in way that is consistent with said encounter, they can make such an encounter go deeper into their daily existence, and so that they can try to get other people to join them in this experience.   The result is a concrete movement which comes to be and to express one aspect of the multifaceted movement which is the Church.

Hence, the cursillo movement is a movement of God in touching people’s lives by proclamation of His Word, and once moved, conversion takes place in the individual and when transformed by such conversion, it influences others to experience the same encounter with God, and bonded together, move towards permeating their social environment with the Gospel.  And on top of this movement is a special grace bestowed by God Himself in His people, the Church, either directly or indirectly.

It is a movement of evangelization.  Of proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to invite conversion and permeate the environment with the life of God.  Thus, there is no membership, no insignia and no formal structure, only God’s grace.