Following piety and study on the grouping card is apostolic action. It appears to be the most challenging part of grouping for many. How can you make a plan and follow that plan when you do not know who you should bring to Christ? There are many social, cultural, and personal obstacles to living out apostolic action.

Our mission as baptized Catholics is to share the Good News of Jesus with others. While the apostolic action plan may feel intimidating, it should come from a place of love based on personal sharing, piety, and study. Jesus loved each of us first to the point of dying for our salvation. We have been given a very special grace and blessing from our Cursillo Encounter—that of a Christian community to love and share life through group and Ultreya. From the love of Jesus and the Christian community, we are empowered to love all others we meet.

Through piety and study, we each can grow to become more loving and holy in all aspects of our daily life—our words, our thoughts, our priorities, our behaviors. This is your continuous progressive individual conversion. Daily you become more and more the person God created you to be, your true authentic self. From this perspective, the apostolic action plan becomes your guide to share with others the truth of Christ you embody.

Think of the apostolic action plan as a travel itinerary. Your destination is Heaven for yourself and all others you can bring along with you. Some of us take a very precise, detailed approach to a travel itinerary while others are a bit more relaxed about the plan. At some point, even the more relaxed approach needs to have specifics worked out. The same is true for your apostolic action plan. If you currently have no specific plan, share in group where you have seen opportunities in the last week even if you did not act on them. We can learn to see these opportunities just as we see the close moments in our piety and study.

Living as your true authentic self, and awareness of your intention to share the Good News at whatever level those in your environment can receive, is the most important part of the plan. It is your way of being. When someone you interact with needs to hear more, then you can begin to develop a more specific plan to share more with that person. The questions on the card guide you through specifics, to be adjusted as you think necessary for the individual in your environment. The important point is not to let the interaction drop, interaction that hopefully becomes a true friendship. Bring your friend to group and Ultreya. Your friend may never attend a Cursillo weekend, but they will learn about the God who loves them. Remember what the back of your cross says,

“Christ is counting on you”.

God bless you friends!

Larry & Jeanne Bendzinski