Anglican Cursillo Tasmania

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

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There are moments in our Cursillo journey when words feel too light. When what we are longing for is something solid, something substantial—something real. Perhaps you've felt this during an intimate Group Reunion, or in the silence after receiving the Eucharist, or in those sacred moments of palanca when we sense there must be more than what we've experienced so far.

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Moses knew that longing. After the golden calf, after betrayal and broken trust, Moses stands before God and dares to ask one of the boldest prayers in all of Scripture:

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"Show me your glory."

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This is not a request for fireworks or spectacle—not unlike how our Fourth Day is not about recreating the emotional highs of our weekend. The Hebrew word used here—kabod—literally means weight, heaviness, substance. Moses is asking: "God, show me the fullness of who you really are. Let me know you, not just your works, not just your promises—but your very being."

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Glory as God's Weighty Presence

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In Scripture, God's glory is never thin or trivial. It is not decoration. It is substance. God's kabod is the reality that bends the world around it—the burning bush that is not consumed, the cloud that fills the tabernacle, the fire that rests on Sinai.

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Moses has already seen miracles. He has heard God's voice. He has led God's people. Yet still he longs for more—not more things, but more of God.

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How often we in Cursillo can relate to this! We have experienced the three-day weekend. We have witnessed transformations. We have served on teams and shared in Ultreyas. Yet still our hearts cry out for deeper encounter. This reminds us that faith is not satisfied with second-hand knowledge or even with beautiful memories. We were made for encounter. We were created to live in the presence of a God whose glory has weight—who matters more than anything else.

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The Dangerous Holiness of Divine Glory

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But God's response is sobering:

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"You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."

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God's glory is not only beautiful; it is dangerous. Not because God is cruel, but because God is holy. Divine glory exposes, overwhelms, and undoes us. Like standing too close to the sun, unshielded humanity cannot survive the full intensity of God's presence.

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This is a truth we often forget in a casual age—and sometimes even in our Cursillo communities when we become too comfortable, too familiar. God is loving, yes—but never tame. The holiness of God is not safe in the way we define safety. It confronts sin, strips away illusion, and reminds us that we are creatures, not the Creator. It calls us beyond our Group Reunions and into genuine conversion.

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The Mercy of Partial Revelation

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Yet notice what God does next. He does not reject Moses' request. Instead, God makes a way:

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"I will place you in a cleft of the rock… and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen."

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This is grace. God reveals as much as Moses can bear. Partial revelation is not punishment; it is mercy. God protects Moses from glory that would destroy him, while still allowing him a real encounter with the divine presence.

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Brothers and sisters, this is our Fourth Day reality. We live between the glimpse and the fullness—between "Christ is counting on you" and the day we see Him face to face. Our Group Reunions, our Ultreyas, our weekends—these are the clefts in the rock where God shelters us and reveals Himself in measures we can bear.

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This pattern continues throughout Scripture—culminating in Jesus Christ, where the glory of God is finally revealed in a form we can behold. As John writes, "We have seen his glory… full of grace and truth." In the Eucharist, in our Christian communities, in the faces of those we serve in our environments—here Christ makes His glory visible, tangible, real.

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Our Cursillo Call

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So today, like Moses, we are invited to seek God's glory—not to control it, not to domesticate it, but to stand humbly where God places us. Sheltered by grace. Changed by presence. Longing still for the day when we shall see Him face to face.

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This is why we persist in our Fourth Day. This is why we gather week after week for Group Reunion, why we support one another in our environments, why we make palanca for new pilgrims. Not because we have figured everything out, but because we have tasted the weight of God's glory and we hunger for more.

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Until that final day, we live in the weight of His glory—enough to transform us, not enough to destroy us. And that, too, is mercy.

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May we, like Moses, dare to pray: "Show me your glory." And may we be faithful in the clefts of rock where God has placed us, knowing that even a glimpse of His back is enough to change everything.

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De Colores!