"Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12, 2)

Dear brothers and sisters:

On my last Monthly Letter of January this year – which was nothing but a personal look for the beginning of a year – I promised that in the subsequent letters I would comment –  as one who is reflecting and not suggesting new proposals –  some important issues of our Magna Charta, The Fundamental Ideas of the Cursillo Movement. It seems opportune to remember and to recognise that: a) the OMCC was originated by the decision of all National Secretariats gathered in a World Encounter; b) the guidance for its presence within the CM, as a communion organism, is therefore in FICM. My comments will then be  based on FICM, second edition, 1991; c) although FICM is the official and basic text of the CM, like everything that is human and limited, it is not a closed text, and therefore, it is not immune to later reflections and even, on a consensus basis, significant changes.

Such reflections, however, cannot be reduced to negative – and often corrosive – critics only, but should be oriented to an analysis, through God’s look, of the “signs of times”, and to the consequence of such signs in the CM’s practice in the Third Millennium.

In December’s Monthly Letter I started to propose a questioning reflection about the charisma. I am fully aware of the polemical dimension of such subject, but this is no reason for me to avoid dealing with it as a collaborator rather than as someone with a definite opinion. On this letter I wish to make some considerations about the FICM “Introduction” which, right at the beginning, refers to the ‘foundational charisma’. With no intention other than co-operating with those who study the subject seriously and in depth, I present below some points I consider fundamental.

First point: The mentality question. Right at the introduction of FICM this issue – which is undoubtedly fundamental for the CM, and moreover for those who are responsible and leaders at all levels – is approached. There it is stated that “everything essential to the Movement is permeated by the Cursillo mentality.” (Introduction 1, 2). Further on, it is said that “the mentality is creative and freeing , and so it gives rise to criteria rather than rules”.

The word ‘mentality’ clearly means a ‘special way of thinking and judging’. This is what Saint Paul knew very well when, teaching the Christian community of Romans, he exhorted them and exhorts us too, to ‘renew the way of thinking’, that is, to ‘renew the mentality’. It is not necessary to go further to see that, in the path of History, people’s mentality must be open to the new and to the deep changes that occur at the core of the culture and of the cultures.

Well, for each and every man or woman, as well as for each and every Christian, whether they belong to a Church organisation or spiritual movement or not, changing mentality means to convert, that is, to pass from one cosmovision to another; to enlighten their own way, the others’ way and the history, with Christ’s light, thus inserting in themselves and in the history the values of God’s Kingdom and the criteria of the Gospel.

Therefore, if the mentality, which is the foundation of the CM, must be ‘creative and freeing’, is it worth affirming that “the mentality carries within itself an irreducible nucleus, original and originating, which in the last analysis gives the mentality its identity as an initial charisma” (FICM, I,6)? Better to say, if the mentality, which is supposed to be “creative and freeing”, contains the “initial charisma”, should  not such mentality adapt itself to the “signs of times”, thus avoiding  the “initial charisma” to be thought of as a stone law?

Second point: Some other questions naturally cause reflection:

a) If the mentality should be “creative and freeing”, should not the initial charisma adapt itself to the same “signs of times”? It is to be noted that, after the Vatican II, practically all Orders and Religious Congregations made a true revolution in their postures and traditional routines, by reviewing their mentality and their practice in search of an adaptation to reality, i.e., to the “sign of times”. Such adaptation has been, at one time, respectful of its foundational charisma and open to a necessary and urgent conversion to the appeals of the Holy Spirit, ever present and acting to “show us the whole truth” (compare John 14, 26).

b) Whenever the word “charisma” is taken as a certain ‘mentality imprisonment’ or ‘freedom restriction’ to the Spirit who “blows where and when He wants” (compare John 3, 8), could it be invoked to never review the development of the CM?

c) Whenever ‘going back to the sources’ means implementing certain practices because they are traditional or because things have always been done that way, should such expression justify something legitimate with which the whole CM must agree, in such a way that those who have divergent opinions should be considered unfaithful?

Without doubting or minimising any of the current opinions about ‘charisma’, ‘initial charisma’ or ‘foundational charisma’ – on the contrary,  in order to value them – and taking into account that our principal mission is to search for unity on what is essential for our dear CM, I think we cannot run away from considerations and reflections that contribute to make the evangelising task more agile, either within the CM itself, or as performed by the ones who are committed as  protagonists of the theoretical formulation of its doctrine, or as agents of its effective practice.

Third point: Last, and to reinforce my brief considerations, I would remember the statements from FICM already mentioned: “the mentality gives rise to criteria rather than rules, because the criterion liberates, whereas even the best of rules can at times choke or paralyse...” (FICM 1,4). Would the same be the meaning of Jesus’ words in Mark’s Gospel: “Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man,  not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath." (Mark, 2 27-28)?

I send my fraternal greetings to all brothers and sisters cursillistas of the whole world, while waiting for suggestions, evaluations and constructive opinions.

From your friend and brother in Jesus Christ, our Lord

Father José Gilberto Beraldo, Ecclesiastic Counsellor