As participants conclude their Cursillo weekends, they are introduced to the concept of the Fourth Day -- a symbol of the days of Christian pilgrimage that follow the three-day Emmaus experience. The Walk to Emmaus is a unique opportunity to reflect on one's faith journey and make a deeper commitment to Christ. In fact, "the whole reason for The Walk to Emmaus is to make you a more faithful disciple and active member in your church." (Bob Wood, Day Four) Thus, the Fourth Day is central to the Emmaus experience, as it extends each individual's experience beyond the weekend and into life in the world. 

In living their Fourth Days, participants are encouraged to continue to grow in relationship with Christ and live as faithful disciples in all of life. An important and necessary foundation for faithful Christian living is a vital connection to the Christian community for support, guidance, and challenge. This is most available through local church communities, reunion groups, and the Emmaus/Chrysalis Celebrations. Another way to be connected to the support of the Christian community is through studying the writings of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  

If you are currently living your Fourth Day, you may find some helpful suggestions for faithful discipleship in the categories of Piety, Study, and Action.
 

What is Group Reunion? 

The Emmaus group reunion is a small accountability group of two to six persons who have usually participated in the three-day Walk to Emmaus and who want to continue their pursuit of a life lived wholly in the grace of God. These small follow-up groups help pilgrims translate the message conveyed on the Walk to Emmaus weekend into a daily walk with Christ. With the regular support of a few faithful friends, the gift of God's love in Jesus Christ becomes a lifestyle of Christian discipleship through the threefold discipline of piety, study, and action.  

Group reunions meet at regular times, usually weekly for an hour. The meeting consists of persons' sharing the stories of their walk with Christ during the past week. 

Members listen to one another, celebrate the grace of God in each person's life, and reinforce each one's core commitment to living in union with Christ in all facets of daily life. Members express that reinforcement through gentle accountability, encouragement, and support of one's stated discipline and plans.

What is Formation? 

A mature Christian is an informed Christian -- informed about the mind and heart of God by knowing scripture. A Christian knows about the world and its needs and works toward gaining the best insights on how to alleviate the hurting world's agonies. Human beings rise above the animal world of simple instincts when they become knowledgeable and use that knowledge to help build God's kingdom. Study, like piety, can be approached in an intentional, systematic way, resulting in a deeping of your relationship with God and an empowering of your Christian discipleship. 

EVANGELIZATION AND THE CURSILLISTA 

Of the three legs of the Cursillo tripod, Holiness, Formation, and Evangelization, Evangelization seems to be the most difficult for many cursillistas to accomplish.  However, it is only through Evangelization that we can Christianize our environments.  All of us, if we try, can develop true Holiness in our lives and can bring about Formation.  But as this happens, the leg of Evangelization may fail to be developed equally.  This will lead to what we do not wish, and the cursillista, instead of reaching his/her true potential of leadership, drops into the role of a “Holy Joe” or a “Mechanical Mike”.  As this occurs, the vigor of his/her commitment starts to diminish and he/she may find his/her Cursillo life grinding to a halt. 

Can we not all remember the glow and energy we felt as our own Cursillo was brought to a close?  And all those people who came to welcome us, we knew we had an army of brother and sister cursillistas to aid us in our plans for our Fourth Day.  Recall when you filled in your commitment card.  Mostly it consisted of acts of Holiness and plans for Formation.  You were probably advised to refrain from committing yourself to too many items for fear that you would overwhelm your capability to meet them.  That advice was wise, but what about one’s commitment to Evangelization?  At the Closings, we recall statements of “I’ll be a better husband”, “I’ll be a better wife”, “I’ll be a better parent”, and “Watch out world, here I come”.  Evangelization isn’t just the praying and study that is part of the other legs.  Evangelization is the sharing of Christ in our homes and other areas of our lives.  Have plans been made for that as well? 

First, to be effective in Evangelization, it means we have to live our Catholic Christianity.  We must pray, we must receive the Sacraments and attend Mass.  We must learn more of Christ and of the Faith we claim.  This practicing our Faith daily and living our Fourth Day are signs in themselves to others and thus are the first steps of Evangelization.  At the same time we all must realize that living our Fourth Day will demand more than being a good example. 

As we progress in Holiness and Formation, we cursillistas need to look at the places we live, our homes, our workplaces, our churches, and social places, and begin to evaluate them.  Are they examples of the Christian ideal or are changes needed?  If changes are necessary, how do we go about accomplishing them? 

I believe when the cursillista begins, it should be in his/her own home, with one’s own family.  When both husband and wife have embraced the Cursillo method, and are beginning to live what is fundamental to being a Christian, they should plan how to bring Jesus into the lives of their children.  An unmarried cursillista living alone will have to choose another environment.  But if one still lives in a family, he/she must develop a plan for Evangelization in his/her home.  Believe me it won’t just happen.  A plan must be made.  While the home and family are safe beginnings to develop methods for success, others in the home will resist change.  Success will be found and failure will be experienced as well.  Both are good, because they are signs we are living the Fourth Day.  Christianizing one’s family environment is the most important act of Evangelization any of us will ever do.  If we totally fail in that environment, successes in others will be few.  Do not think that Christianizing one’s home will be an easy task.  Rather it will most likely prove to be the most difficult environment anyone will ever change.  It is more than placing crucifixes in bedrooms and saying grace before meals.  Those are excellent but more is needed.  Looking at our own lives is of number one importance.  If we put on all the symbols of Christianity but continue to request that God damn all the stupid drivers in front of our children, our effectiveness as evangelizers will be greatly diminished. 

So two of the necessary points of Evangelization have been discussed.

1)      Walk the talk! – Practice one’s Catholic Faith and live the Fourth Day.

2)      Develop the plan to evangelize home and family. 

What’s next?  When we find that we are having success with our family, it is time to broaden our efforts into other environments, such as neighborhood, church, work, and so forth.  We may use some of the strategies we found successful in our homes, but new ones will be needed as well.  And, by now, we should have eliminated many of the more obvious non-Christian habits we practiced in the past.  First of all, everyone in the environment should be aware of just who we are, that is, Catholic Christians, and who is most important in our lives, Jesus Christ.  What do we need to change?  How do we go about it?  It is important at this point to identify likeminded people in the environment and share with them just what we think needs to be changed in order to Christianize the environment.  At the same time, these people need to feel comfortable with us and be able to share their ideas with us.  Realize that here the main consideration is environmental change, not selecting Cursillo candidates.  On the other hand, we may encounter an individual we know would make an excellent Christian Leader.  Preparing that person to attend a Cursillo would obviously be an excellent idea.  This leads to the development of small or large groups in the environment and holding environmental group reunions using the Cursillo method.  Never expect instant changes.  The changes wanted are ones that will remain even if or when the originator leaves. 

So now we have progressed through all the steps of Evangelization in our environments.  They are:

1)      Practice our Catholic Faith and live the Fourth Day (Group Reunion and Ultreya);

2)      Develop the plan to evangelize home and family and act on it;

3)      Begin the Evangelization of other environments by:

a)      identifying the need;

b)      living our Faith so it is obvious to those in the environment (caution: do not be obnoxious or pharisaical);

c)      enlisting the aid of likeminded individuals;

d)      developing the plan;

e)      using the Cursillo method of environmental group reunion;

f)        always being aware that an excellent Cursillo candidate may be discovered.
 

Following these steps and these plans seems rather simple and straight forward.  But the opposite will be the case.  The cursillista still has all of the other activities which his/her family, work, church, and other commitments demand.  The way will be strung with obstacles, the biggest one usually being one’s self.  So the cursillista needs to remain focused and frequently on his/her knees in prayer.  Success in these endeavors will not be measured in days or weeks, but rather in years.  Don’t be discouraged, whether you have failures or successes, it matters little.  Either means you are indeed living what is fundamental for being a Christian.

DeColores!