Christ Is Counting On You
During Cursillo, and I believe also during Walk to Emmaus, Via De Cristo or other weekends like these, the candidates receive a cross and written on the back side of the cross are the words “Christ is Counting On You”. On each of our Cursillo or similar weekends the cross was given to us with the presenter saying the words “Christ Is Counting On You” and as candidates we responded “I am counting on Christ”. We all know we can count on Christ. We know He has fulfilled God’s covenant. We know He died for our sins and rose to reunite us with the Father. The bigger question is can Christ really count on us?
Whether you have already lived one of these weekends or not does not really matter. Through our baptism we became part of the Christian family and as such we have the responsibility to now bring others to Christ. On our weekends we heard this call even clearer.
Movements like Cursillo give us the methods of weekly friendship group reunion and Ultreya to sustain us on our journey and commitment of bringing others to Christ by the way we live and love. These tools of meeting weekly with other Christian and then also meeting at Ultreya with the larger Christian community are vitally important. We are in a spiritual battle to be able to sustain our commitment. Once a person quits attending group reunion or Ultreya it is easy to make not going a habit. And then the entire Christian community suffers.
St. Paul is the Patron Saint of our movement. Let’s listen to what he says in Acts 20: 24: “Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I have received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.” Each time we miss grouping or Ultreya we let ourselves down, we let others in our community down and we let Christ down.
Think of all the secular things that can get in our way of living out our calling. I am tired, it was a long work week, the kids have soccer, I am getting ready to go on vacation and need to get prepared, I don’t get anything out of it, the witness talks are not that inspiring and on and on. Then reflect on Paul’s commitment and the trials he faced. He just never gave up. He made doing God’s will the priority in his life.
The fact is, Christ is counting on us. All over this country there are areas where Cursillo and the other movements are becoming inactive or worse yet in some areas the movements have died. Why, because one by one people begin breaking their commitment that they made at the close of their 3 day weekend. The world and secular activities took priority over their calling from Christ.
It is said in Cursillo, we are the hands and feet of Christ on earth. He needs to be able to count on us. Please re-commit yourself today. Add all of the Ultreya dates for the balance of the year to your calendar. Set aside time every week for group reunion. Write out your pan to respond to the calling “Christ is counting on you”.
I had the blessing this past Friday to speak at a Cursillo Ultreya in Ocala, Florida. I have also recently had the opportunity to speak to the Cursillo communities in several other cities and states. God has put it on my heart, both through these 4thdayletters and through speaking opportunities, to strive through the guidance of the Holy Spirit to try to inspire and motivate those who have been called to be true to that calling. I very much would welcome the opportunity to speak to your group. God has planted on my heart a message of inspiration for Christian groups of all types and denominations. So this message is not limited to just Cursillo groups, Walk to Emmaus groups or Via de Cristo groups,it would be beneficial for your local parish or church group. I would be honored to share this message with you. Please email me if your group would like to hear this message. It does not matter where you are located. The message of responding to our calling is so important I will travel to anyone willing to hear it.
For those in areas where your movements are struggling please know that I pray daily for your movements and I would ask that everyone who reads these emails to also pray daily for all of our movements. Remember Christ is counting on us!
- Are We There Yet? - September 14, 2024
- Returning to Our Former Ways - September 8, 2024
- The Boxer Makes A Comeback - September 2, 2024