Words From the Lay Director
by Bruce Bonenberger
“In my God is the joy of my soul” Isaiah 61:10
The theme of this year’s National Encounter was “Be Messengers
of Joy”. Joy is part of the foundational charism of the Cursillo Movement.
A charism is a gift given by the Holy Spirit for the spiritual
welfare of the Christian community. The Leaders Manual states:
“Christian joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual
or community. It is the realization that God loves one and that one can
love others as a consequence. It is the happy expression of unity in
hope in the faith community. Christian joy should be distinguished
from human happiness which can be created by all sorts of human
endeavors”.
The circumstances of our lives are always shifting because we
don’t have sufficient control over all the external factors affecting our
lives. Life’s situations are always teaching tools and opportunities for
growth in maturity and spiritually as we seek the goal of becoming
totally human. The challenge is to adapt without losing our Christian
joy. Christian joy slowly disappears if we allow the secular world to
dictate how we are to live because worldly lifestyles do not allow time
for prayer. We need to desire freedom from our earthly joys to yearn
for those of heaven. If you are missing that Christian joy for your Cursillo
and desire it back, then it’s a call to conversion. Each individual
can regain that joy through a total interior renewal which the Gospel
calls metanoia. As we learned in the Formation talk, metanoia is a
radical conversion, a profound change of mind and heart. St. Paul’s
conversion created a new life in Christ. He was able to do that through
prayer, putting on the “mind of Christ” and placing himself into God’s
power by doing God’s will in all things. St. Paul’s cross was his best
evangelization tool because he carried it with joy and enthusiasm as
he proclaimed the Good News to the Gentiles. He did not lose sight of
the fact that inner peace and joy comes from trust in God and prayer
allowed him to develop that trust. There must have been many periods
of silent prayer as he listened while God clarified his current situation.
I believe that if St. Paul gave an Ultreya witness talk he would tell us
that in prayer he perceived the greatest joy and the way out of every
situation that had no apparent exit.
Father Thomas A. Kempis, an Augustinian of the 15th century,
writes in his classic book, “The Imitation of Christ” (Book 2, Ch. 4),
“If your end and aim is for nothing but God’s will and the good of
your neighbor, you will enjoy inward freedom….If you were inwardly
pure and good, you would see everything clearly and understand all.
A pure attitude penetrates heaven and hell….Any joy there is in this
life is possessed by the man whose attitude is pure.”
We hear in the Laity talk that “the Christian is a joy—a joy for God
and a joy for other people. We can be that joy in the world.” The
whole world would be totally Christian if all Christians possessed a
joyful radiance. We can “Be Messengers of Joy” if God is the joy of
our souls.
Past Articles: March 2005, January 2005, October 2004, September 2004, May 2004, March 2004, January 2004,October 2003, September 2003, March 2003, January 2003, December 2002, February 2002, October 2001, August 2001, March 2001
September 2005