The Regnum Christi Member Handbook tells us that the only justification for Regnum Christi’s existence “lies in serving the Church and its shepherds, and in serving people from within the Church, rooted in the Church's human and supernatural mission.

Regnum Christi members celebrate "Regnum Christi Day" on the liturgical feast of Christ the King.

To mark the occasion, Fr Álvaro Corcuera, LC, the general director of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, wrote a letter encouraging all Movement members to help Christ´s Kingdom come by living out our mission in the Church, especially by serving our local parishes and dioceses.

At the same time, he reminds us, we can draw confidence from remembering that we are not alone in our mission because Christ and his Church are always with us.

Download a pdf version of the letter here.

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Rome, November 20, 2009

To the members and friends of Regnum Christi
on the occasion of the solemnity of Christ the King
 

 
My very dear friends in Christ,
 
Following what has now become a custom in Regnum Christi, I take the opportunity to unite myself in spirit with you and your families on today’s feast day, as we seek to bear witness that Christ is truly the king of our lives and homes. I find it beautiful to see how generously each one of you is giving yourself to the mission of making Christ’s Kingdom grow.

We pray over and over to God, from the bottom of our heart, the words, “Thy Kingdom come!” We pray these words because we know that the Kingdom is a gift from God rather than a goal we can reach through our own efforts. It is beyond our power, but we also know that he has wished to depend on our cooperation, and he fashioned his Church, the seed and beginning of his Kingdom on earth, to be the instrument and way to achieve the desire that springs from his love (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 5; Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 768-769). It is against this background that we as Regnum Christi members find the meaning of our existence and our mission.

Christ’s Kingdom is not an abstract or ill-defined reality. John Paul II said: “The Church is effectively and concretely at the service of the Kingdom. This is seen especially in her preaching, which is a call to conversion. Preaching constitutes the Church´s first and fundamental way of serving the coming of the Kingdom in individuals and in human society” (Redemptoris Missio, n. 20).  If Christ is calling us to establish his Kingdom on this earth, we can ask ourselves where and how we are to do so. We already know that the place to start is in our own life: making Christ reign in our own heart. When all is said and done, the Kingdom is Christ himself who makes himself present among men. It is not something that we do but a reality already present to which we open ourselves.
 
But Christ’s sovereignty must not be limited to our own heart. As Christians we are called to be real torches of Christ’s love, passing on to every person the light of faith and hope that Christ gave us. For each one of us, therefore, “establishing Christ’s Kingdom” must mean helping those around us to open themselves to Christ and to allow his grace to work. The best apostolate will lie in imitating him and letting him take ownership of our thoughts, words and deeds. We need to ask for the gift of seeing every event from his perspective and of always speaking his words, as St. Paul teaches us: “let what you say be good, edifying and fitting.” (Eph. 4:29). May all our deeds be drops of love that fill our neighbor with peace: “Be good, understanding, forgiving one another as God forgave you in Christ” (Eph. 4:32). May we be instruments of God’s love for mankind, because “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8).
 
We desire to live this day with a spirit of reparation and humility, united to Christ the King, who is rich in mercy. I want to take advantage of this letter to again sincerely ask forgiveness from all those who have suffered or are suffering on account of the sorrowful circumstances we have lived. God is inviting us to live this time by intensifying our prayer life, our acts of charity and penitential spirit, so we can unite ourselves more deeply to Christ and to our fellow brothers and sisters.
 
The Regnum Christi Member Handbook tells us that the only justification for Regnum Christi’s existence “lies in serving the Church and its shepherds, and in serving people from within the Church, rooted in the human and supernatural mission of the Church” (cf. n. 11). And later on it reminds us: “The service Regnum Christi renders to the Church and society consists in forming apostles who will build the civilization of Christian justice and love” (cf. n. 42). All our apostolates, all our activities, our whole life is to be focused on this service. Taking our eyes off this would be to lose the fundamental orientation that the Regnum Christi Movement ought to have. We want to keep gratefully contemplating Christ’s action  in the Church. St. John Eudes wrote: “For this reason St. Paul says that Christ reveals his fullness in the Church and that all of us contribute to the building up of the Church and to the degree of Christ’s fullness” (Treatise of St. John Eudes on the reign of Jesus, Part 3,4: Opera omnia 1). In this way, we continue completing in our own flesh what is lacking in Christ’s Passion in his body, which is the Church.
 
The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is one of the fundamental loves of the Movement member (cf. RCMH, nn. 79-87). This love is a product of our love for Christ. If, as St Paul says, “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her,” (Eph. 5:26), then we too are called to profess and give witness of a similar love for her in our behavior. I give thanks to God that the Legion of Christ and the Movement are right now able to offer many activities and apostolates aimed at serving our  Mother the Church, but above all that its members strive to serve her through their personal witness and the unselfish gift of their time and talents. We know that at every moment we are instruments, channels, bridges for others to reach Him. God is inviting us to follow him on the path of humility and purity of intention, imitating with his grace the witness of St. John the Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30).
 
This is the Year for Priests, and I invite each Regnum Christi member to stand out for your “Sense of the Church.” You might say that here we find the way to define ourselves as Christians committed to serving Christ. There is great good to be done by putting all our effort and apostolic initiative into the service of the local ecclesial community, following the directions of the bishops and pastors (cf. RCMH, n. 83 and 443).
 
May all our efforts be focused on transforming hearts and bringing souls back to Christ and his Mystical Body through the sacraments. This is why a member of the Movement owes himself to the Church, and why his apostolate must consist in building her up so that she can embrace more people:  “Through the Church and in the Church we receive our faith in Christ, the sacraments that give us grace, and the fullness of truth about God and his plans for salvation. Christ gives himself to us by means of the Church.” (RCMH, n. 152).
 
The fundamental point is certainly a limitless confidence in Christ in the face of such a great and beautiful mission. We are not alone. It fills us with hope to read God’s words to the people he chose and sent to prepare his Kingdom; it helps us to know that God is with us, as he was with Abraham (Gen. 21:22), Isaac (Gen. 26:24), Jacob (Gen. 28:15), Moses (Ex. 3:12), Joshua (Jos. 1:5) and Gideon (Judg. 6, 16). In the same way he also reassured King David (1Kings 11:38), and the prophets Isaiah (Is. 41:10) and Jeremiah (Jer. 1, 8). They were all men, aware of their own limitations and human condition. However, they knew how to open their heart to God’s action. They received a vocation which, humanly speaking, surpassed

	«.» (Photo: L'Osservatore Romano).

them, and they always proceeded certain that all things came from God. We as well discover that Christ is the faithful Friend of our souls. He accompanies us always and gives us, as a living word, the promise he made to his apostles after his Resurrection: “I will be with you always, even to the end of the world” (Mt 28, 20). Christ will always surprise us with his infinite goodness, and it is in our human condition where he will accomplish miracles of his love.
 
We are not alone because Christ never leaves us. We are not alone because Regnum Christi is not an isolated reality. We are part of the great family of God in which the variety and beauty of paths enriches and encourages us all. Our movement is only one of so many realities that God has raised up in the Church as a way to help us live out our baptismal commitment. And just as we greatly value and thank God for the richness of the charism he has given us to place at the service of the Church, we also appreciate as gifts from God the other living forces in the Church, in which we so clearly see the continued action of the Holy Spirit. We are not alone because we are guided by our shepherds, our bishops, who are true fathers given by Christ as successors of his apostles to teach, govern, and sanctify us. We are not alone because we have the example and the help of many holy priests and the witness of many brothers and sisters in the faith, with whom we form the community of believers.
 
Let us continue praying for one another so that we will live each day with greater love for our Catholic Church and all people who make up Christ’s Body. Heartfelt thanks for the generous and unselfish way in which you give yourselves to Christ’s Kingdom. I am sure that God is not unmoved by what all of you do each day to proclaim the Gospel. On this day of Christ the King, let us also entrust ourselves in a special way to Mary, the mirror of the Church, so that by contemplating her we will come to understand the greatness of our vocation. As in Cana, may our life consist in “doing whatever He tells us” (cf. Jn. 2:5).
 
I remain your affectionate servant in Christ, 
 
Fr Alvaro Corcuera, LC