Dear brothers and sisters of the Cursillos in Christianity Movement, present on five continents: It is with immense joy that I address all of you in this heartfelt celebration of Christmas. From different corners of the world—Europe, America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania—united by the same charism and the same faith, we gather spiritually around the greatest and most beautiful mystery: the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man. Christmas is not a memory of the past or a tradition that is repeated almost automatically every year. Christmas is a current, living, personal event. It is God himself who comes to meet us, who enters our concrete history, our real life, to share it, enlighten it, and save it. God does not remain far away, observing from a distance: God becomes close, becomes a child, becomes a brother.
In Bethlehem we contemplate the very heart of our faith. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of the Father, becomes incarnate to speak to us about God in human words and to show us the way to authentic life. He is Life with a capital L, the Life that gives meaning to our small daily lives, the Life that overcomes darkness, sin, and death. At Christmas, we discover that the initiative always comes from God, who loves us first and seeks us tirelessly. For us Cursillistas, Christmas has a very special resonance, because deep down, every Cursillo is an experience of Christmas: the discovery that Christ lives, that he loves me, that he walks with me and counts on me. The Child of Bethlehem is the same living Christ who one day came out to meet us and changed our lives; and that encounter continues to be the center, the heart, the raison d’être of our Movement.
Christmas invites us to enter into the mystery, not to remain on the surface. It invites us to contemplate Jesus Christ and to allow ourselves to be challenged by his way of life: the poverty of Bethlehem, the humility of the Incarnation, the silence, the concealment, the simplicity. God reveals himself in the small, in the seemingly insignificant, to teach us that what is essential does not need noise. This mystery reminds us that salvation does not come from our strength or our merits, but from God’s gratuitous love. Jesus Christ was born to free us from sin, yes, but also for something greater: to make us children of God, new men and women, capable of living a new life. Christmas is, therefore, a celebration of hope. Not a naive or superficial hope, but a solid hope, founded on God’s faithfulness.
In a world marked by uncertainty, violence, war, division, and disenchantment, Christmas proclaims with force that God does not abandon humanity. On the contrary, he commits himself to it to the extreme. And this message resonates with special intensity in the heart of the Cursillos in Christianity Movement, called to be evangelical leaven in the midst of the world. Christmas is the feast of God’s love; a love so great that it becomes close, so eternal that it enters time, so powerful that it manifests itself in the weakness of a child. In the manger of Bethlehem we learn that true power is love, that true greatness is service, that true freedom is born of self-giving.
This love impels us to reconciliation. Christmas is the feast of bridges built, bonds restored, hearts healed. It would make no sense to celebrate Christmas while holding on to resentment, division, or indifference. The Child-God invites us to be reconciled with God, with our brothers and sisters, and with ourselves; he calls us to be builders of communion wherever we live. Christmas is also the feast of sharing. The shepherds, simple men without much knowledge, set out after hearing the angel’s announcement: “Today a Savior has been born to you.” They do not understand everything, but they trust. And when they arrive, they offer what they have: their presence, their hearts, their lives. They teach us the fundamental attitude of the Cursillista: availability, simplicity, and openness to the Mystery.
We too are called to recover our capacity for wonder, to not live our faith by inertia or Christmas by routine. We are called to approach the Child-God with an open heart and offer him our whole life: who we are, what we do, what we hope for.
Only in this way can we receive his peace, that peace which the world cannot give. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those whom God loves.” This is the great proclamation of Christmas. A peace that is not the absence of problems, but the saving presence of God in the midst of them. A peace that we are called not only to receive, but to live, to share, and to build in our environments.
Dear Cursillistas: the world needs witnesses to this joy, this hope, this peace. It needs men and women who, from the simplicity of their daily lives, proclaim with their words and their witness that Christ lives and transforms life. That is the greatest gift we can offer at Christmas. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to live this time with depth, gratitude, and commitment. May Mary and Joseph teach us to welcome the mystery. May the Child Jesus renew our faith and our apostolic enthusiasm. And may we, united as a universal Cursillo family, proclaim with joy: Christ lives! Christ loves us! Christ counts on us! From my heart, I wish you all a Holy and Happy Christmas. De Colores!
José Ángel Saiz Meneses
Archbishop of Seville
Spiritual Advisor to the World Organization of Cursillos in Christianity.
