Prayer
God, give us the courage of your first disciples. After witnessing the Resurrection, they went out in the world and could not be stopped from proclaiming your Good News in their actions.
God, support us with companions on this journey who will help us and encourage us when the world tempts us to stray from the path you want us to travel. Make it impossible for us not to speak about what we have learned.
God, nourish us with your Body and your Blood so that you become us and we become you. Through our actions and proclamations at His command, make us as companions of Jesus. Amen.
Study
Today on the first Saturday after Easter, we are invited to read the Daily Scriptures at: http://www.usccb.org/nab/042206.shtml
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”
What are we supposed to do when we find the tomb is empty? “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”
So much for sitting around in the Upper Room. So much for fishing in the Tiberius. So much for hanging out at Starbucks or becoming fanatic Redskins fans. So much for all those episodes of Law & Order, CSI, and Alias – The Final Season that await my viewing. This is the final season for the Lord. And you are next in line at the lectern…and for Calvary.
Wasn’t it St. Francis who added, “…and sometimes use words” to this prime directive?
What happens when the world doesn’t want us to proclaim or tempts us to stray fomr this command? St. Paul gives us the answers in the first reading today. “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
Cursillo – and Christianity – gives us the tools (piety, study and action) to support this mission that we share with the universal Church. Cursillo also gives us the reinforcements we need through companions – Acompañante – to guide us and accompany us and to pray for us while we go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. .
Last night at the opening session of the Region II Encounter, a talk by Msgr. John Fey quoted Capuchin Fr. Edward Foley who said of the Eucharist, “Be what you see. Receive what you are.”
Think about that line the next time you bow before the Eucharist. Be what you see. Receive what you are.” Awesome. The Body of Christ. Be what you see. Be the Body of Christ. Receive what you are. Receive the Body of Christ. Awesome summary of that paschal mystical moment.
Be the Body of Christ to others. Receive Christ and let Jesus permeate your whole being. Coursing through your digestive system, Bob. Into your blood, Judy. Pulsing through your nervous system, Kat. Msgr. Frey told us that as Christ was pierced on the cross, His blood and water flowed out of His body in baptism, reconciling our sins, uniting us in marriage, ordaining us in ministry, bringing the Holy Spirit upon us. As we receive His body and blood, He becomes part of us and we become part of Christ to do His work and preach His Word in our lives.
Our job as Cursillistas is nothing less than the job of the whole Church.
Action
Immigration reform? Life issues? Peace? International development? Debt Relief? Fair trade? We can not live without breathing. We can not live without water and food. We can not live without proclaiming the Good News. What is the issue which ignites your passions to serve the Body of Christ? Post your comment at http://www.yourdailytripod.blogspot.com/.
De colores!
1 comment:
My passion is simple. I want people to know that life, as they see it, doesn't have to be bleak. We CAN walk through this world with our eyes wide open. With a sense that there is God's beauty and love all around us. That when we feel despair, we have to know we're not alone. God shapes us through the fires that we enter into. We are constantly being molded, like the potters wheel. We are constantly being refined, like the fires that burn away impurities.
If we cannot believe in our Super-natural God, then this world is nothing more than a spinning globe with people and animals and plants on it, lving, breeding, dying. All of the troubles we face are tests. Do we pass those tests? Do we reject God and his son Jesus? Do we proclaim that even in our darkest hour, that he is with us? Or do we turn away and slip into a living slumber?
C'mon, there HAS to be more. I believe there is more. I want others to believe it as well.
Post a Comment