Let us ask for the protection
of our spirit friends,
of Eurípedes Barsanulfo,
the protector of this house,
that he may inspire all of us,
but, most of all,
that he may touch our hearts,
because if the heart does not take part
in the reflections of the Gospel,
what we absorb is always the very least.
And this message, "The Denial of Peter",
is a passage from the Gospel
which invites us to a reflection,
but invites us, most of all,
to become more sensitive.
What does this passage involve?
For a long time, when we read this passage
of the denial of Peter in the Gospels,
we were tempted
to start judging
Peter's conscience,
to judge Peter.
To examine his weaknesses,
to examine his faults of character,
to examine his impulse,
sometimes thoughtless, unplanned,
losing the focus of the lesson.
Because every time Jesus
highlights, in the Gospel, an event
or the stand a disciple takes,
there's a point to that highlight.
The point is always
to warn our souls
and function as a parameter
for our own spiritual growth.
In such a way that, when we analyze
the lesson of Peter's denial,
we don't mean to analyze
Simon Peter's conscience.
Well, Simon Peter is redeemed by now,
Simon Peter has already
evangelized his spirit.
So much so that today he is
in very different conditions,
very far from where we live
and struggle.
Simon Peter has won the good fight,
he has overcome his inner limitations.
For that reason,
when we analyze that passage,
we are in search
of spiritual elements
for our own growth.
We are trying to achieve
our own spiritual growth,
and it's with that spirit, with that attitude,
that we should dive
into these Gospel lessons,
to try to understand the causes,
what happened to Simon Peter
during the process of denial.
What were the roots of this fall?
And once we understand the roots
of this slight fall Simon took,
we can forge
our own journey
and avoid stumbling in a similar way.
Humberto de Campos starts the lesson
of chapter 26 of the book "Boa Nova",
"The Denial of Peter",
making a reference
that's very interesting.
If we imagine a painting,
we can compare the lessons
of Humberto de Campos
to a great painting.
First he chooses the frame, and the frame
is always the historical narrative.
Humberto de Campos tries to rebuild
the historical background of the message.
Where does the denial of Peter take place?
Which events preceded the denial
and which events followed
Peter's denial?
That's the historical frame
and inside that frame, he brings
the painting itself.
The painting is the moral lesson,
it's the lesson we have to absorb.
But without the frame,
it's difficult to contextualize the lesson.
Peter's denial
happens in the last moments
of Jesus' incarnation.
Easter was coming.
Jesus,
trespassing future events,
foresees as an impending fact,
an inexorable fact, his crucifixion.
Why inexorable?
Because He, who for three consecutive
and uninterrupted years
had worked on every heart,
trying to draw out the best,
had realized that the souls
had become so hardened
that the lesson and the testimony
would be more difficult.
The testimony demanded from Jesus
would be of the worst possible kind.
When He realizes that psychological tendency
of the spirits who were at that moment
around His sublime exemplification,
Jesus reveals the crucifixion.
But before doing that, He...
at a moment of special affection,
gathers the 12 apostles and tells them
that He very much wished
to eat that Passover with them.
What does that mean?
Each people has their culture.
We are approaching
a very important event in Brazil,
an event that unites the Brazilian family.
It's the celebration of Christmas.
On the eve of the 25th,
with few exceptions,
all families get together, if they can.
They get together, share a meal together,
exchange presents, celebrate Christmas,
they meet, they party, they have a good time.
Some travel many miles.
Others, thousands of miles,
even by plane, to be with their families.
At the time of Jesus,
the party that united the Hebrew family,
the celebration that made
everybody travel
to the town of Jerusalem
was the Easter celebration.
That's what attracted the Hebrew family,
so they programmed themselves,
programmed their trip,
programmed their pilgrimage
to be with their families
and celebrate
that special moment of the year,
which was the Easter celebration.
Jesus,
sensitive to that family celebration,
sensitive to that custom of His society,
and more than that,
sensitive to the affectionate relationships
He formed with His apostles,
tells them: "I very much long
to eat this Passover with you."
To eat Easter represented
taking the lamb, singing the Psalms,
according to that practice
which had existed for more than 1.500 years...
But, in Jesus' case, it represented
the last meeting with the 12 apostles.
That affectionate interchange, the goodbye...
Because He, the Master, knew
that especially at that Easter of the year 33,
the lamb would be Himself.
He would be sacrificed
so that the message of the Gospel
could be sealed
with the symbol of testimony,
of selflessness, of personal sacrifice.
So He says: "I very much long
to eat this Passover with you."
He gathers the 12 apostles, prepares everything,
according to the customs of the time,
and sits at the table.
A true family celebration,
conveying to the apostles the idea
that there is no genuine work
in the Gospel without the spirit of family,
of sharing, of love.
That was the ultimate lesson,
the lesson that the Gospel work
is established, based
on solid affectionate relationships,
based on selfless love,
unconditional love.
But right at the beginning of supper, Jesus notices
an atmosphere of incomprehension.
At that very special moment of supper,
the apostles start an argument.
They begin to dispute
which one of them was the greatest,
which one was the most special,
the most important.
Jesus, then, noticing this cloud
that threatened the purpose of that meeting,
intervenes. He intervenes in a way
that's very serene, but very firm.
He ties a cloth around His waist,
as a slave would do,
He picks a basin,
a jar filled with water
and starts to wash the disciples' feet.
To the culture of the time,
this gesture of Jesus implied
that He took the stand of the slave,
that is, of the lesser servant.
In a house... at the time of Jesus,
there was a hierarchy, as there is today,
in all human societies.
At that time, the husband and the wife
occupied the highest rung of the ladder
of the family hierarchy.
Then came the children,
then the workers
and on the last rung of the social ladder,
the slaves, who were not
even considered human beings.
There were not considered people,
but things, objects,
properties of their owners.
When Jesus took
that extreme stand as a slave,
as the lesser servant,
He wished to contrast.
On one side, the apostles who disputed
the title of the greatest apostle,
a fight over who was the best.
On the other side, the Master
putting himself in the position
of the lesser servant.
Faced with that attitude of Jesus,
Simon Peter did not understand.
He not only found it hard to understand,
but he opposed himself. When Jesus gets to him,
he says: "You will not wash my feet."
And Humberto de Campos details
the psychological moment
Simon Peter went through.
And what was the core
of Simon Peter's objection? He couldn't admit
an act of such submission
on the part of Jesus.
But let's try to understand Simon Peter.
He is a man.
A man. In a patriarchal society.
An elder man,
who in that society was the person
that should be most respected.
Above the elderly,
in the hierarchy, were the masters,
and Jesus was more than a master,
He was the Messiah, a great prophet.
So, in Peter's point of view,
Jesus washing the apostles' feet
was an act of extreme humiliation.
He doesn't understand that,
that's not part of what he learned.
He learned that a man
must be served,
that a man is valued...
the honor of a man, the value of a man
is in the number of servants he has.
The more people obey you,
the more important you are.
So in his head that doesn't make sense,
a Messiah that gets down to wash feet...
He then rejects it.
And he says:
"Never..." Never is a strong word, isn't it?
"Never will you wash my feet, Master!"
My fellowmates
are being ungrateful and blunt
at this moment,
letting you do such a thing,
as if you were a vulgar slave."
And not only was he
terrified by that gesture,
but he also criticized his friends,
the eleven, for having allowed
Jesus to wash their feet.
So at that moment
he acted like a patriarch:
"I am the elder, I am the patriarch...
Not only will I not give my feet
for you to wash, Master, but I will also
scold the 11 apostles,
because they are allowing you
to wash their feet.
We must allow that, for that time,
it is an act of extreme tenderness.
It's an act of extreme kindness.
To act in that manner,
naturally Simon Peter rounded up
all his potential for affection.
He was, in fact, being sincere.
He was manifesting there all the love
and admiration he had for Jesus,
but manifesting it in his way,
manifesting his love according
to the social conventions of his time.
For that reason, Jesus doesn't condemn Simon.
He doesn't, because He knew
that behind that harsh act
there was a generous,
grateful, amorous heart...
And that attitude should be valued.
The core of the attitude was correct.
The details of the attitude
were not adequate.
Because he didn't understand the lesson.
That's very important
and that's the first lesson already.
That's the first lesson.
Jesus is not a Master
who belittles disciples.
Jesus is not an educator
who discourages students.
Jesus is not an educator
who disheartens apprentices.
He's an educator of souls,
therefore, Jesus is always interested
in growth and personal improvement.
And in order to improve
we must start from something.
No one starts from nothing.
We always start from someplace.
For that reason, the wise educator knows,
first of all, to identify where the student stands.
There are students who are on the 10th rung,
mas there are others on the 2nd rung.
Just because
a student is on the 2nd rung of the ladder
it doesn't mean he's better or worse
than the one on the 10th rung,
because we are all students,
we're all going to climb the steps of evolution.
Some quicker, others slower,
but we're all going to climb.
That's a valuable lesson.
Jesus identifies the potentials
and based on the potentials,
He works on the qualities
that need to be amplified.
The Master does not stick to the frailties,
because frailties are temporary.
Defficiencies always have
an expiration date.
There'll come a day when all our flaws
will be eliminated,
but no virtue will die.
All our virtues are everlasting.
Only our flaws
have an expiration date.
Those have a deadline, God only knows...
But they have a deadline.
So the first lesson here
is that Jesus doesn't focus on defficiencies,
He focus on our potentials.
And based on our potentials, He educates.
And His education is based
on the elevation of human beings,
not on their belittlement,
not on their humiliation,
but on their improvement.
Then, noticing this attitude of Simon's,
who criticized the other eleven,
Jesus tells him:
"Simon, do not wish to be better
than your brothers of apostolate."
"Do not wish to be better."
I thought of that sentence for a long time.
Why is He saying that to Simon?
Because Simon had criticized.
Those who criticize the stand someone takes,
those who criticize conducts,
put themselves in a superior position.
Everytime we censure people,
even if unconsciously, we are
sending out a silent message.
Silent, but powerful.
That message is: "I am better than you."
And that's not always true.
Not always true.
Emmanuel tells us
that those in the habit of censuring
very often
make the same mistake they condemn.
The same mistake they condemn.
So, here, the first thing
Jesus gets straight with Simon,
the first thing he gets straight
is the emotional stand that should be taken.
"Simon!"
Jesus doesn't comment on what he said,
Jesus doesn't argue with him,
Jesus doesn't start an intellectual debate,
Jesus goes to the core of the feeling,
and Simon Peter's feeling
was a feeling of superiority:
"I am better than the eleven,
therefore I have the right
to reproach every one of them.
That's the feeling that is in the roots.
And why are we saying that?
Because that feeling
is what will make Simon Peter fall.
The denial of Peter has a foundation
and the foundation is: he felt superior.
He felt superior.
And, in his case,
that "I am superior" feeling
took him to the next step.
What is the next step?
Reckless audacity.
If I feel I am
the best driver in Belo Horizonte,
I drive my car
at a much higher speed than normal.
Because a person
who's learning how to drive
and who doesn't feel a Schumacher
will go slower.
So this feeling of superiority
takes us to a recklessness
that goes beyond the boundaries of prudence,
and then we take a step
that's too big for us.
We bring about situations
we haven't got
the spiritual stature to bear yet,
which was Simon's case.
But let's check that out.
Jesus tells him:
"Do not wish to be better than your brothers
in no circumstance in life."
So not just in this one.
In no circumstance.
In nothing.
Not to fish, to eat,
not to have some water, not...
In no circumstance
you should feel superior.
And he goes on: "Verily, I assure you..."
That is: "I am saying this for a fact."
Notice the energy of Jesus:
"Simon, I assure you.
I assure you."
"... without my help,
you will not take part with my spirit
in the supreme joys of redemption."
What did Jesus mean to say to him?
"Don't think
you'll get there on your own."
And here I take a break.
I take a break.
Spiritism places on our hands
a spiritual knowledge
that's very relevant.
Because Spiritism summarizes
all the spiritual experience
of humanity.
Spiritism does not despise
any religion on the planet.
Spiritism does not despise
any spiritual knowledge on the globe,
on the other hand, it values them all,
it synthesizes them.
It presents things in a structured form,
in order to give us conditions
to undertake a gigantic task,
the task of inner reform,
of our structural reform,
a reform on the inside.
There's an advantage, but also a challenge to that.
The advantage is that we have on our hands
a unique knowledge,
but that brings a challenge.
We may become arrogant.
And what's the root of arrogance?
The root of arrogance is believing
that evolution takes place
only with our own hands.
It's clear that the work
of spiritual evolution
is work that counts
on the greatest percentage
of our personal effort.
No benefactor, not even the Master,
will do the work for us.
The biggest part, the foundation of the work
depends on our hands,
but depending on our hands
doesn't mean it depends
exclusively on us.
There is no evolution without spiritual support,
especially the support
of the Lord of Life, who is God.
Without the divine mercy,
without the support from our Father,
the Creator, there is no evolution.
There is no evolution.
It's not very difficult
to get to that conclusion,
we only need to think this:
our hands were not the ones
that created this universe.
Our hands were not the ones
that created planet Earth.
Our hands were not the ones
that created our body.
Not even our physical body
is a work of our hands,
therefore, the most part
of the gifts we receive
comes from On High.
Evolution is a process that is driven,
supported,
ultimately, by God,
and by His delegates.
In the Earth's case, by our greater Master,
by our guide and model,
who, throughout millions of years,
sends out missionaries,
sends out new knowledge,
renews possibilities,
renews opportunities...
To believe that our growth...
That I will enlighten myself
only through my personal effort
is dangerous
and reveals a state of self-sufficiency,
of arrogance.
Dangerous. Why dangerous?
Because it make us impervious
to divine help.
Those who think they're self-sufficient
are not open to being helped,
not even by God.
Because, if I find myself self-sufficient,
what will I need help for?
If I think I already have everything...
I'm already convinced
that I'm capable of everything
I'm already convinced
that my view can reach the infinite.
So I think: "No... I am capable
of seeing the infinite,
I don't need any help,
I don't need anyone to guide me.
For all eternity, I already know the way."
Of course that attitude
is a delicate attitude.
And it represents a crystallization of the soul.
A crystallization of the soul
in a profound ulcer,
which is the ulcer of pride.
An ulcer that sometimes takes 3.000, 4.000,
5.000 years to be treated.
It's difficult to treat that ulcer
and sometimes it's difficult for people
to see they have that ulcer.
So Jesus warns him: "Simon,
you won't get far without my help.
Don't find yourself superior.
Don't think you're better than anyone.
Place yourself as someone who receives
and I will help you.
That was the lesson,
but it wasn't easy to understand.
He didn't learn.
He didn't learn it from words.
Jesus tried to teach him with words,
but words many times
are not enough.
In Simon Peter's case,
words were not enough.
He didn't understand.
He didn't understand that he was before
the guide and model of humankind,
he didn't understand he was before
the Christ of God,
that spirit who has done
what we will do in a distant future.
The road we'll tread
billions of years from now
Jesus has already trodden.
It's difficult to understand that.
I don't mean here,
I mean here,
with the heart.
Because when we understand with the heart,
we place ourselves before life
as apprentices.
Apprentices.
That... that was the lesson
of Simon Peter's whole incarnation.
That was the lesson of an entire life.
He took a life...
Good it was only one, right?
Leaving out the ones before,
I mean this one in which Jesus
taught him directly.
A life, to understand that lesson.
When Jesus tells him:
"You will not experience
the joy of redemption without my help."
He calmed down.
So Humberto de Campos says that
"... the old Capernaum fisherman
calmed down a little, quieting the voice
of his almost childish generosity."
Because he was generous,
but it was a generosity
that needed to mature,
a generosity that needed
to gain more experience.
But he quieted down.
When he quieted down,
Jesus washed his feet...
He said “never”, right?
But “never” lasted very little.
It lasted a couple of minutes.
And he allowed it, Jesus washes his feet
and in that rapture, he says: "Master,
you can wash my feet, my head,
my arms... You can wash my whole body."
And Jesus says:
"It is enough to wash your feet, Peter.
If I wash your feet,
your whole body will be clean."
Another lesson.
If the feeling's foundation is clean,
the rest is ok.
If you work on the foundation,
the rest will take care of itself.
If you don't work on the foundation,
the work is compromised.
Another grand lesson of the passage.
Many times we throw ourselves
in Spiritist work
or any kind of work,
we make plans, we gather people,
we devise a project,
but rarely do we examine
the feelings that are behind it.
And if we don't examine the feeling
that's motivating us,
our work is not safe,
no matter how many resources
we have on our hands.
So here Jesus
details the lesson for Simon Peter:
"Simon,
if your emotional intentions are pure,
if they are pure,
90% of the problem
is solved."
Let's think a little bit.
You go talk to someone
about a problem.
You may make use of the finest
education in the planet.
You may use the sweetest words,
but if your intention,
if your feeling is not pure,
it's no use.
Because people capture feeling.
If your feeling is genuine and pure,
even if you are
confusing when you speak,
people will capture the feeling.
That's what Jesus is saying to Simon:
"Simon, the work of the Gospel
is purifying intentions.
The work of the Gospel
is purifying feelings."
Because, if the intentions are pure,
the work will be pure.
The work will naturally improve itself,
because people with pure intentions
will get to the right place.
People with bad intentions
will never get to the right place,
because bad intentions
change people's course,
no matter how well-prepared they are.
Very well.
Jesus, realizing
things had calmed down,
begins to narrate... Imagine that.
At the Easter supper,
he begins to tell them:
"The time is coming
for my very last testimony."
At the table, that intimate moment,
with only the twelve,
Jesus opens up his heart.
"There comes the time
for my very last testimony.
I know beforehand
that all of you will be dispersed
at that supreme moment."
If Jesus knew that the twelve
would be dispersed,
why did He gather them for supper?
It makes you wonder...
Jesus' love is so unconditional
that He keeps loving in the same level,
even knowing He won't be corresponded.
With us it's the opposite.
When we're dating, for instance.
You put love way up there, right?
Then time goes by...
One, two, three years...
There's usually a little fall.
When our partner withdraws a little,
we withdraw a little too, right?
It drops over there,
we let it drop over here,
and as it drops over there,
we let it drop more over here.
Or when we let it drop over here,
our partner lets it drop over there.
Because our love is still regulated
by reciprocity.
I only love if I am corresponded.
I'm good if the other person is grateful.
If the other is ungrateful,
I withdraw my kindness.
So who controls my kindness
is someone else, not me.
My kindness is in other people's hands.
I arrive with a smile.
The person enters the Spiritist center with a smile.
If I frown, the other person frowns.
Then I'm the one who controls your face.
It's someone else who has control
over our affection.
Not in Jesus' case, no.
He loves unconditionally,
with as much love as possible.
It doesn't matter what other people do,
His love is unchangeable.
It's challenging.
Even knowing that the twelve
would leave him alone,
He shares the table.
He lives the joy of the moment.
"It's natural...", He explains to them:
"It's natural, because you are
not prepared yet,
only for learning."
My friends!
Learning Spiritism is one thing,
giving testimony is another.
There are many people
who teach Spiritism from the pulpits,
only until it's time for the testimony.
Because it's the testimony
that evaluates human creatures.
Sitting here in front of people is very easy,
speaking from here is easy,
learning is easy.
Difficult is when
a loved one discarnates.
Difficult is when you test
positive for cancer.
Difficult is when you lose
a son or daughter.
Ready to learn and ready to teach
are a crowd of people.
But very few to testify.
It's the testimony that sets apart.
It's important to have that in mind.
Because today you go to YouTube,
there are people criticizing Chico Xavier,
people combatting Emmanuel,
people saying all kinds of things.
I want to see at the hour of testimony.
At the hour of testimony, we will know
the spiritual stature of those creatures
and our own.
Of all of us.
So here Jesus reveals
in all His wisdom:
"You are only prepared
to learn."
No one here is prepared
to testify.
To testify,
it must be me alone."
Tough lesson.
Tough lesson. But the lesson is not mine.
I'm only passing it on.
It's tough for me too.
"However, before I depart,
I wish to leave you a new commandment."
They already had 10.
Ten commandments written in stone.
Jesus leaves them a new one:
"That you love one another
as I have loved you."
Someone might say: "That lesson was already
there in the 10 commandments..."
No. In the 10 commandments
there's the lesson, in short...
If we study the 10 commandments,
we will realize...
It's not explicit,
but it's implicit
the commandment: "Love your neighbor
as you love yourself."
But the commandment here is different.
Jesus is not asking us to love our neighbor
as we love ourselves. He's asking us
to love our neighbor as He loves.
It's a higher level.
It's the 11th commandment.
It's a sublime love.
"That you may be known
as my disciples
not from superiority in the world,
from the demonstration of spiritual powers
or the clothes you wear in life,
but from the revelation
of the love with which I love you..."
"Revelation of the love with which I love you."
Jesus was saying:
"I want you to reveal to the world
my love.
I will love, from now on,
through you.
You will be instruments of my love.
Through you, I will love.
So He says:
If someone asks your for water and you give them water,
it's me you are doing it for,
because when you give water,
I love the thirsty person through you."
That's what He's saying.
You are transformed into an instrument
of the Divine Love.
"...for the humility that shall
decorate your souls..."
Because we think of humility
like a burden,
but humility is a piece of jewelry.
It's a piece of jewelry
that only superior souls wear.
Humility is a piece of jewelry that embellishes,
embellishes the higher spirits.
"... and for the disposition
to sacrifice oneself."
Because the proof of love
is sacrifice.
Mothers know what I'm saying.
Mothers know what that is.
Right? Because they go through labor,
they go through breastfeeding,
through the pain
during breastfeeding,
sleepless nights etc etc etc.
And after the children grow...
They say it's like this...
It's a definition:
a child is something you take out of the womb
and put in your head forever.
When they're in the womb,
it's fine; after they get out,
they're in their heads forever,
because mothers are always worried.
They're always worried.
It doesn't matter how old they are,
their children are always present
in their heads and in their hearts.
And then, when Simon Peter
hears this tough speech,
he says: "But what's that all about?
You're going to be alone? How about me?
Master, you haven't seen me."
Then he asks:
"Where are you going?
Where are you going, Master?
I want to know, because you
are saying that I'm not going...
I want to know how many miles..."
Jesus looks at him
with a serene look and answers:
"You do not find yourself
ready to follow me yet."
And he doesn't say where he's going.
He goes to the core of the matter: "Peter,
you are not ready yet."
"The testimony..."
Remember He began saying:
"The time is coming
for my very last testimony"?
He will explain.
What testimony is that?
Going to the temple of Jerusalem
making a statement?
Writing a document?
Giving a lecture? Recording a DVD?
No. "The testimony is of sacrifice
and extreme selflessness.
And only much later, much later...
you will come into possession
of the indispensable strength."
Right?
"Simon, to follow me in that testimony,
you must be strong, Simon...
Take it easy, you'll get there.
I'll help you, but the time hasn't come yet."
And indeed it came.
When his day came,
he was prepared,
but it took many decades.
And then, look how interesting...
Look how interesting
it is what Humberto de Campos will say:
"Simon, however, wishing to prove
with words to his companions..."
It wasn't for Jesus.
He now wished to prove,
through words,
to the other apostles,
the value of his dedication.
He said: "I can't follow you?
Master, can you by any chance doubt
of my courage?
Am I not a man then?
There spoke
the voice of the patriarch, right?
Of male chauvinism.
"Master, am I not a man?
Are you saying I am not a man?
For you, I will give my own life!
Jesus smiled and pondered: "Peter,
your restlessness deserves
new teachings.
You know what I find
most interesting in this dialogue?
Jesus never answers the question.
At no point He says:
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to Jerusalem." No.
"Are you doubting me?"
"I'm not doubting."
He never answers the question,
He always goes to the core.
So He didn't say...
He didn't doubt the courage,
He didn't say he believed or didn't believe,
He said: "Your restlessness..."
He went to the core of the feeling,
because the feeling of Peter at that time
was not courage, it was restlessness.
He was restless, rash.
"Experience will teach you
better conclusions."
So now it's no longer
a lesson through words.
Jesus will now let
experience teach.
"Verily, I assure you that tonight..."
Tonight. Not tomorrow, no. Today.
"... the rooster will not crow,
before you have denied me three times."
The rooster here... crowing...
it's the symbol of daybreak, right?
In fact,
it's an idiomatic expression.
Jesus is telling him:
"Look, before the night is over,
before daybreak,
you'll have denied me three times, Peter,
not one, no. Three times."
Before this day is over.
Today. But that was the experience.
That was the experience he needed.
"'So you think I am such an evil
and hardened spirit?'
Asked the fisherman, feeling offended."
Feeling offended by Jesus.
He thought... Funny, isn't it?
From what he felt, he even thought
that Jesus was offending him...
At that moment,
Jesus makes a direct intervention:
"'No, Peter! No. No...'
Sweetly anticipated the Master:
'I do not suppose you are ungrateful
or indifferent to my teachings,
but you will learn, this very day...'"
"...you will learn this very day..." What?
What was the lesson
he was going to learn that night?
"...that the man of the world
is more fragile than perverse."
It's not about meanness,
it's about frailty.
The question is:
how many mistakes have we made
in this incarnation out of frailty?
It wasn't for meanness...
We just didn't resist,
we just did it.
We acted out of impulse.
Frailty.
And many times we see
all human mistakes
through the lenses of meanness.
We believe that human beings
only fail out of meanness.
Of course many of our mistakes
are a result of meanness. Sure.
And sometimes a lot of meanness.
We are capable of acts
that are very mean, sometimes,
but not everything is meanness.
Many times it's frailty.
For that reason... For that reason,
the sensation of superiority is dangerous.
Pride is dangerous,
because it blinds us
to our frailty.
Every time we surrender to pride,
we don't see our defficiencies,
our weaknesses. And we risk ourselves
beyond our spiritual forces.
That's the point.
The rest is experience.
Jesus is taken...
When He's arrested,
what's Simon's first act?
The act of frailty,
because violence is always a symptom
of frailty, of weakness and cowardice.
No one who feels strong
uses violence.
I'm speaking of real strength.
When He's arrested,
Simon Peter draws his sword
and cuts the soldier's ear off.
Frailty.
Need to prove courage.
Need to prove manliness.
Need to prove aggressiveness.
Need to impose oneself,
to stand out: "I am the brave one,
I am the defender, I will defend!"
And how many times do we hurt in order to defend?
It's a question.
Does the truth need people
to wound others in its name?
Does the truth need fighters
who are willing to hurt?
If the truth will impose itself
inevitably...
Inevitably.
When he cuts the ear off,
Jesus intervenes once more and gives
the hard lesson: "Simon, put your sword away.
Put your sword away, because those
who live by the sword, die by the sword."
Careful with violence.
Violence in words,
violence in attitudes,
violence in thoughts,
because every act of violence
attracts violence.
Every time we do something violent,
our adversary does the same,
that's a never-ending fight.
Never-ending.
That's why Spiritism and the Gospel
always recommend
that we never enter fights,
especially verbal fights.
Because there are no winners in fights.
In a dispute only pride wins,
never the truth.
Because it's impossible
to understand the truth in an atmosphere of war.
The truth is only understood
in the atmosphere of peace, of fraternity.
Simon then feels lost
and his restlessness carries him
to an unnecessary situation.
Unnecessary.
All the apostles dispersed.
Even John the Evangelist, who later on
comes back to the cross with Mary,
staying a bit far away...
Very young, frightened...
He's the one who remains closest,
together with Mary.
All the others are scattered...
But Simon's restlessness
puts him in a delicate situation.
He stays away, but at the same time
he wants to be in the scene.
He doesn't run away completely,
and by doing so he puts himself
in an embarrassing situation.
He's at courtyard of the high priest
and a few people identify him:
"But aren't you the disciple of the Galilean?
Look, people, this one here
is the follower of the Messiah!"
He says: "You're wrong,
you're mistaking me for someone else."
First denial.
And it goes on,
until he has denied three times.
When he denies it for the third time,
it was dawn already...
The day was breaking. The rooster crows.
When the rooster crows...
Simon goes through a very painful experience.
The experience of one who is proud.
When we are very proud,
when we believe ourselves
much superior
to what we truly are,
before a fall, it gives us
a very great sensation of impotence.
An enormous sense of failure,
because we thought we were 6-feet tall,
but we're only 5-feet tall.
We thought we could take
a one-mile step, and we see it's one foot,
one inch... Not one mile.
So at that moment
it's as if the world had fallen off,
because at that moment
Simon Peter's lesson
was to face his own frailty.
But it was important,
because Simon Peter's intolerance
was fruit of his incapacity
to see his own frailty.
When we don't see
our frailty,
we are generally intolerant.
If you think you are perfect,
it's difficult for you to tolerate imperfection.
So our incapacity
to see our own frailty
makes us intolerant.
And at that moment Simon felt frail,
felt he deserved compassion,
and that, to him, was humiliation.
Says Humberto de Campos...
He was at the courtyard
of the house of the high priest
and Jesus locked up in a cell
that faced the courtyard.
At that moment, he looks at Jesus
and Jesus looks him in the eye
with the same smile as usual.
Not the slight gesture of recrimination.
At that moment, he enters
a very intimate process of reflection.
He goes almost into a state
of sleepiness, of numbness...
And he feels, he feels...
through his spirit,
not through his physical body,
as if Jesus told him:
"Peter, the man of the world
is more fragile than perverse."
More fragile than perverse.