Christ reigns.
Between November 4 and 6, 2022, the Cristo Rey Apostolic Movement closed the commemorative events in Spain to celebrate the thirtieth founding anniversary of MAR. Granada welcomed several hundred members of the Movement from all over Spain for a historic event.
In the evening of Friday, November 4, members of the MAR from the furthest points of the geography began to arrive and enjoyed an evening of games and songs. Throughout Saturday, from Friends to Communities of the Kingdom, the entire Movement toured the most significant places in the life of the Venerable priest: Sacromonte Abbey, House-Museum and crypt. The Builders of the Kingdom carried out a spiritual itinerary from the Abbey to the Albayzín, reconstructing the hypothetical route that José often took on his donkey, while the Communities of the Kingdom worked on the document “Confidencias de una pena”.
During the afternoon of the 5th, different simultaneous activities took place. Friends of the Kingdom held a workshop, while Discoverers enjoyed “El Bien. Documentary about the Academy and Court of Christ” after which there was a discussion with some of the Daughters of Christ the King who star in the film, creating a tender dialogue between adolescents and nuns. builders of
Reino had a vocational round table that included the testimonies of the priest Fernando Rodríguez, the nun Ma José de Castro and Blanca Gil, laywoman. Communities of the Kingdom toured the Sacromonte Abbey together with Canon Antonio Fernández Siles who explained to the elders of the Movement what José Gras' day-to-day life was like between those centuries-old walls. Before the Eucharist, there were priests confessing those who wished to receive the merciful embrace of God the Father in the large chapel.
The culminating moment of the meeting was the Eucharist in which, in addition to closing the anniversary, the Movement thanked our Lord and King for the recent approval of the Statutes by the Spanish Episcopal Conference. In the celebration of the "Sacrament of Sacraments" - as José Gras called the Eucharist - the Movement was supported by Daughters of Christ the King from all over Spain, some of the Trustees and teachers of the José Gras Educational Foundation, families linked to Christ King of various points of the national geography as well as brothers of the Albaicinera Brotherhood of the Star, so linked to us since its foundation. The Eucharist was celebrated by Don Javier Martínez Fernández, Archbishop of Granada, and concelebrated by three other priests close to our Institutional Family. In his homily, Don Javier emphasized love:
"When we say that Christ the King, what we are saying is that he loves us with a love that no one else has in this world." After the celebration, Don Javier prayed in the crypt before the tomb of Venerable José Gras and Mother Inés de Jesús.
After dinner, the meeting continued with a concert by Nico Montero, a Christian singer-songwriter of national and international fame, who made the audience vibrate with songs such as "El Señor es mi Pastor" and "Cristo vive". After the concert, the day ended with the exposition of the Lord after midnight, at which time the Builders, Communities of the Kingdom and Daughters of Christ the King adored Jesus in the sacrament, who was exposed in the crypt until dawn.
On Sunday morning, the members of the MAR toured the streets of the Albayzín, declared a World Heritage Site in 1994, in a unique First Announcement gymkhana in which they had to face tests such as getting, in the viewpoint of
Saint Nicholas, for a foreign tourist to say "Christ reigns forever in our hearts" in their mother tongue and record it or, in a long square, for a passerby to write a phrase from "Doing well" by Father Gras on a portable blackboard. Finally, the
MAR members managed to decipher the message sent by José Gras to the Movement today: "We are an apostolate of men, women and children to make Good triumph." The meeting ended with the celebration, in which the Movement was sent to be salt and light in the local realities in which He calls us to make Him reign.
In summary, they have been a few days of fraternal encounter that increase our feeling of the Christ the King Family and encourage us in our commitment to extend the Kingdom. The closure could not have been carried out without the dedication of dozens of
volunteers who have given the best version of themselves by developing the functions of the MAR animator, spreading the word on social networks and collaborating in reception and collection, cleaning, assistance and logistics at all times.
