Hope is one of the three Theological Virtues. It is the expectation of something we do not see. That does not mean we do not know what we are hoping for. Rather it means our hearts are wishing for something we have faith in. Our dreams go beyond the horizon of our faith. Hope is the wish of our hearts and the dream of our souls that has been fed by the Passion, Death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is our connection to the promise of what we know Christ has won for us in his intercession for our sakes with God, our parent. Our hope looks at resurrection, but it is short of the resurrection because it is what we live our lives on now and how our souls are challenged now. Hope gives the resurrection its meaning in our lives today.

The Holy Spirit gives body and soul to our hope by our gifts of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5,22-23 are the substance of our hope. "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control" are what we have a right to hope for in each other as we work out our salvation in fear and trembling. As Paul says,(Gal.5,24) "You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. He goes on and he adds in 5, 25-26: "Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit. We must stop being conceited, provocative and envious."

Our hope does this by opening up our hearts to all people. Hope reaches out not just to those who have made a Cursillo. It goes without saying we would be open to all who have ever made a Cursillo. That would be too easy. Christ who died for the good and the bad alike on the cross has left us with a wider challenge. Having shared a Cursillo we are open to all, the good and the bad alike. Anything less would be unworthy of our brother Christ. Owning the good that has been done by the putting on of weekends and appreciating how the Church has been enlivened by the Spirit through those who have made a Cursillo is the attraction which draws one into Cursillo leadership. The focus of Cursillo leaders is the Cursillo movement. Faithfulness to Christ keeps leaders attentive to active and inactive Cursillistas. To own all the good Cursillo has done we must include all our environments. How they are brought to Christ teaches us how to go beyond the Cursillo to share the good news.

Of course, it is important that our Cursillo leaders have hopes for the Cursillo movement. But if we are going to let the life of the Spirit shine through us, the Cursillo must be faithful to its charism to serve the needs of the greater Church. We do this by reaching beyond ourselves to what the universal church is asking of Christians in any given time. We need less than 30% of those who make a Cursillo to stay active in the Cursillo for the smooth running of the movement. 30% can keep it going as an effective instrument of the Holy Spirit. But the other 70% of those who have made a Cursillo have a gift to give which the leadership of the Cursillo has a responsibility to help focus as best it can. Our hope is exercised when we expect that focus to happen. There is an energy in the 70% that we can expect the Cursillo to use to serve the Church by being Stewards of Hope into the 3rd Millennium.

An example of how to help make this a year of the Spirit for the whole Church is found in the Arlington diocese Cursillo Movement. They are offering in the parishes of the Arlington diocese Saturday retreats put on by the local Cursillo people, using active and inactive Cursillistas. At these mini-retreats, they share the meaning of Christ as brother and the Holy Spirit as the enlivening force or our fourth day. Because the day offers talks which are adapted from the weekend talks, they are easy to prepare and it is easy to find speakers to give these talks. They are basically the Cursillo talks dealing with the life of the Spirit in the Church. Putting on a day of prayer based on the talks of the Weekend which refer to the Holy Spirit means we do not have to create new outlines. Many have given weekend talks and many others who have never been on a team enjoy the chance to do so. The day of prayer also brings back many who were inactive in the Cursillo. It puts them into a group reunion as they prepare the day of prayer with those who have kept active. Three or four meetings of preparation renew spiritual life and bring back many blessed memories which have their own energy of personal renewal. Such a day of prayer on the Spirit brings the charisms of the Spirit in Cursillistas back to the environment of the parish. The mini-retreat is not a Cursillo, but it is reply by the Cursillo to the mandate of the Holy Father for the year of the Spirit.

The primary function of the Cursillo at its inception was to get men active in the Church. Just as the Cursillo opened up to women because they wanted for themselves what they saw in such a wonderful change in their men, the Cursillista renews the parish because of the wonder parishioners have at all the good that Cursillistas do. We all want for ourselves the good we see in others. Responding to the need of people for the Spirit focuses the Cursillo back to its purpose of serving the needs of the Church. The Holy Father asked our Church to honor the Son in 97; now the Holy Father is asking our Church to honor the Holy Spirit in 98; Next year he will ask the same for the Father. The year 2000 will be a Eucharistic year. How will our Cursillo respond?

Used with permission of the author