Dear friends, good afternoon to all of you.
I feel very honored
to be in the town of Araraquara,
to be welcomed by such affectionate friends,
who organized this event in such a professional,
such a devoted manner.
And to be able to embrace these people,
to commune and exchange experiences
is a spiritual blessing to us.
So we want to thank everyone
who organized this event,
represented here by Orson,
and all the anonymous workers
who made this event possible.
And say that our presence here today
is just in the sense
of conducting a profound reflection
on the Gospel of Jesus
in the light of the Spiritist Doctrine.
The theme of our meeting today
is in the preface to the book “Vineyard of Light”,
psychographed by Chico Xavier
and dictated by the spirit Emmanuel.
Emmanuel wrote this famous quote:
“The Gospel is the sun of immortality,
which Spiritism wisely reflects
to the world of today.”
When we meditate
upon such a profound quote,
we are invited to consider
that 2.000 years ago,
when Jesus addressed
that group of people
who lived in Judaea and Galilee,
he naturally did that
using a kind of language,
referring to a kind of lifestyle
which is not ours anymore.
We don’t speak the language Jesus spoke.
We don’t live anymore like a Galilean
at the time of Jesus.
There is no temple of Jerusalem anymore.
Our social,
individual and family customs
are much different.
So when we think of the Gospel
as the sun of immortality,
and in using the word “immortality”,
Emmanuel wants to recover the sense of eternity,
it is because we, spiritists, have learned
that the essence of Jesus’ teachings
is in the divine laws
that he came to reveal to each one of us.
The divine laws that Jesus made concrete.
That’s where Emmanuel’s quote
intends to lead us,
to that reflection on that theme.
And when Emmanuel refers to the world of today,
it is just that, if the language has changed,
if our lifestyle has changed,
if the way we behave has changed,
the problems remain the same.
The deficiencies of the spirit are the same
at any time of the planet’s evolution.
We have been stumbling
throughout many incarnations
on the same difficulties.
What has been keeping us
still enslaved to the physical life,
what has been keeping us
distant from the divine paternity
and from the divine laws
which rule over our spiritual destinies,
is the same way we stand emotionally,
psychologically and spiritually.
The same way we stand.
The Phariseeism of yesterday is the same of today.
The harshness of yesterday
is the same of today.
If yesterday we had
a Roman senator, Publius Lentulus,
resisting Jesus’ amorous invitation
because he was stuck
in the webs of worldly power,
it is so today as well.
How many are not able
to open the doors of their heart
and let Jesus in,
because they are still susceptible
to the siren song of worldly power?
Still today
it is timely
to speak of the rich young man,
who looked for Jesus in earnest to follow him,
to listen to his message,
but emotionally
was clinging to his worldly goods.
How many of us today
spend most of our time
and worse, the noblest part
of our spiritual energy,
simply on perpetuating
or conserving material wealth?
Only to wake up in a profound nightmare
in the spiritual world,
when death summons all incarnates
to account for the goods they received
and more than that,
to transfer all that they have to their descendants.
The problems are the same,
because the spirits are the same.
The spiritual evolution is the same.
And it’s in that sense that the Spiritist Doctrine
has come to really recover
the true Jesus.
It’s natural that many incarnates still
see in Jesus
the figure of a simple religious leader.
It’s natural that out there
someone sees Jesus
as just somebody on a cross,
symbolizing religious rituals and practices.
And it’s expected, it shouldn’t surprise us
the fact that some see in Jesus
just the figure of a political revolutionary,
whose intention
was to set the Hebrew people free.
That’s natural,
but not in the spiritist circles.
Not coming from the mouth of a spiritist.
Because the spiritist learns
that God is the supreme intelligence.
The spiritist learns
that God’s creation is endless.
The spiritist learns that,
beyond earth, there are countless worlds.
And the spiritist learns there is no vacuum,
there’s no uninhabited space.
The whole universe is inhabited
by corporeal
and incorporeal beings.
The spiritist learns about the multiple worlds,
the multiple lives,
that we reincarnate
time and time again,
in order to purify our spirit,
until it is in condition
to have an essentially spiritual life,
with no need of corporeal incarnations.
The spiritist learns that.
Therefore, much will be asked
of him who has received much.
One expects from the spiritist
a deeper understanding of Jesus.
One expects
the spiritist does not fall victim
to the fantasies of researchers
exclusively based on human material
who approach the figure of Jesus.
And we should feel very sad
when a spiritist indulges
in lies and illusions,
imagining Jesus married Mary Magdalene,
that he had children,
that he went through experiences which are typical
of us, human beings in evolution.
Because that makes us
incapable to evaluate
the spiritual value of the figure of Jesus
and the importance of his coming to the planet.
We all know that a general,
a governor,
is not present
at all ceremonies of State.
When an event counts
on the presence of a figure
of such responsibilities,
it’s because that’s an event
that has meaning, purpose,
or at least it should have.
If the spiritual governor of the planet
decided and came to the world
accepting all the limitations
we, incarnates, have
it’s because that could only have
a universal purpose.
A Christ does not incarnate on a planet
if behind that there isn’t a plan
to regenerate the entire world.
But unfortunately, for 2.000 years,
we have grown and evolved
by receiving shocks.
A shock in the cradle and another in the tomb.
A shock in the cradle
because we experience
the loss of spiritual memory.
When we incarnate,
we leave affections in the spiritual world,
friends,
guardians,
beloved people
who live with us
and some who guide our evolution.
We forget previous existences,
we take on a new body,
so the moment that precedes incarnation
is always tense for spirits,
a moment of great expectation.
And it has been the same
when we discarnate,
because when we go to the tomb
it’s also when we say goodbye,
it’s when we deliver spiritual assets.
You may have conquered half the world,
but at the time of death
you’ll have to hand in all you’ve gained.
Including your own physical body.
And today, in a materialistic world,
discarnating has become very difficult.
Very difficult because some incarnate spirits
have lost the route to their spiritual lives.
There are beings who spend two thirds of their days
devoting themselves to their bodies.
And when they discarnate,
they have to deliver their bodies to the tomb.
Imagine the despair of those who spend 10 hours a day
devoted to their physical bodies, when they lose them.
Imagine those who work 14, 15 hours
with the sole desire to accumulate worldly goods,
those who live for their assets.
And when they discarnate
they are forced to transfer everything they have.
Everything!
Imagine those who have lived a life
as if the incarnation were a festive ball,
and at the moment of death,
for the first time,
they are forced to think of something serious,
profound.
It's not for any other reason
that the torment of our generation
is the word death.
The torment of our society is death.
And we see multiplying
in the world
the panic disorder,
depression, phobias... Why?
Because we have lost confidence.
When we don’t lose more,
when we don’t lose
the meaning of our own existence.
It’s at that moment of spiritual coldness,
at that moment when people shiver in fear,
that the sun of immortality rises,
the sun of the Gospel.
But the sun that we mean
is not a sun of outward religion,
the Gospel that Spiritism presents to the world
is not a Gospel of rituals,
it’s not a bunch of prayers you’ll say.
The Gospel,
paraphrasing the great theologian Karl Barth,
he said:
“The Gospel is not only religion,
it’s a lifestyle.”
At this serious time,
the Spiritist Doctrine presents
an unknown Christ,
undiscovered,
Christ of everyday life,
and it’s that Christ
that we’d like to talk about.
That’s the Jesus that Spiritism presents
in the “Gospel According to Spiritism”,
and especially Emmanuel,
in the preface to the book “The Way, the Truth and the Life”,
received by Chico on September 2nd, 1948...
He firmly states:
“The Gospel cannot be reduced
to a breviary for the kneeling-board.”
That is, the Gospel is not a prayer book
for people to kneel down.
“It is an indispensable script
for legislation and administration,
for service and obedience.
Christ does not draw lines
between church and workplace.”
We drew that line.
"Workplace is one thing
and church is another." No!
Who drew that line?
Who divided that?
“The whole earth is simultaneously his prayer altar
and his work arena.”
The whole earth.
“By praising him in the churches
while denying him in the streets,
we have become shipwrecked a thousand times
due to our own fault.
However, any place
can be consecrated to divine service.”
Any place:
the hospital, the courtroom,
the market, the school,
the stage...
Any place can be transformed
into a place of divine service.
But how?
He says:
Christ hopes that all of us may make
his Gospel of Love and Wisdom
a prayer companion,
a textbook for our daily learning experience,
an inspiring source for our humblest actions
in our daily work,
and a code of good manners
for fraternal interaction. “
What to do?
How can we do that?
How can we break that line?
Here we turn to the Gospel.
When Jesus passed by Galilee,
the smallest gestures
and the smallest circumstances of his life
already point to this lesson.
If he was the spiritual governor,
and could choose any kind of programming,
including the home he’d be born into,
why does he choose the home of a carpenter
and a housewife,
in an agricultural region of Judaea, which was Galilee,
in one of the less expressive towns to live in,
such as Nazareth?
And why does he,
who could have chosen
any cradle to be born in,
who could have been born in Caesar’s family,
in the family of a high priest,
why does he choose a manger?
The first lesson that Christ
wanted to leave for humanity:
it doesn’t matter where you come from,
it only matters where you’re going.
“Nobody can go back
and make a new beginning,
but anyone
can start now
and make a new ending.”
It doesn’t matter how many deficiencies
you may have,
it doesn’t matter the set of trials
you have brought from the spiritual world
for your present incarnation.
It doesn’t matter the difficulties
you had to overcome in order to be here today.
It doesn’t matter how much you had to struggle.
And most of all,
it doesn’t matter how great the flaws
you’ll have to turn into virtues.
None of that matters.
Only one thing matters,
your decision
to conform your life
to the life of Christ.
That is a proposal
which is absolutely universal and broad.
All it takes is good will
and perseverance.
And Emmanuel goes on...
He prefers to work with his father as a carpenter
than to participate
in the perverted formation processes
of the temple of Jerusalem.
And he when he decides to go out into the public,
which place does Jesus choose?
A temple? A theater?
A synagogue? No.
The first public appearance of Jesus’ mission
happens at a wedding party.
At a family party.
In an ambiance of the most profound
domestic joy.
And here begin the lessons of the Gospel,
in this view that Emmanuel brings us.
Who separated church and workplace?
Who divided them?
It’s in an atmosphere of joy, at a wedding party,
that Jesus begins to bring his sublime lessons.
And he says to Simon Peter, in the book “Boa Nova",
when Simon Peter questions him,
because Simon Peter’s mind was like ours,
spinning around outward aspects.
We worry about appearances
and lose the notion of essence.
So Simon Peter asks:
“Master, when you turn water into wine,
aren’t you inciting drunkenness?”
He didn’t understand anything!
And Jesus, setting aside superficial matters
and focusing on the essence,
asks Simon Peter:
“Simon, do you know the joy
of serving a friend?”
Have you ever experienced
the spiritual joy
of being able to be useful to a friend?
Because the groom was a friend of the family,
Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Do you know the pleasure of serving?
First lesson!
The Gospel that the Spiritist Doctrine restores
is that Gospel,
the Gospel that stimulates us to be best friends.
The Gospel that leads us to serve
the people we love,
to never run out of the wine of joy,
the wine of good will,
the wine of affection.
Because what happens to us?
Intimacy
spoils our relationships.
André Luiz, in “Agenda Cristã”, even says:
“Treat your family members as if they were visitors.”
You have visitors over, you pull the chairs,
you offer them water,
let them help themselves first.
We give them the VIP treatment,
but to the people we love the most,
those who are with us everyday,
we serve water,
not the good wine.
We serve the worst.
It’s what the maître says to Jesus at the wedding.
Every person who gives a party
serves the good wine first
and then starts to serve the worst.
When you’re dating,
you only serve the best wine.
It’s that tender tone of voice,
always a complimentary word,
always overlooking the flaws...
It’s enchanting!
10 years of marriage,
nicknames change.
At the beginning they were cute pet names,
but as time goes by, the animals change.
At first it was “my baby”, “my teddy bear”…
Later on... my God!
It gets wild.
Within our family, it’s the same thing.
So Jesus chooses,
since he knows of our difficulty,
since he knows of our difficulty, what is it?
We let our relationships rot.
We don’t know how to maintain our relationships.
And I don’t mean just romantic relationships.
We allow time to rust
all our relationships:
family, professional, spiritual relationships...
So the Gospel that Jesus brings
is a Gospel that restores
human relationships.
It’s his first lesson:
let’s restore relationships.
Sit down with your father and mother,
if they are still here.
Ask for forgiveness.
It doesn’t matter what they did,
they already gave you life.
It’s the most precious thing.
All that you’ve conquered,
you wouldn’t have if they hadn’t given you life.
After that, they don’t have to give you anything else.
Come back, be grateful, ask for forgiveness.
Restore.
Serve the wine of joy again,
the wine of kindness, of love.
Do that to your husband,
to your wife, to your children.
To your coworkers.
Because the real Gospel
is the Gospel of human relations.
It’s who I am in relationships.
The lesson began. And what does he do?
Simon Peter, Andrew, John,
James went fishing and he went along.
Where was the Gospel taught, from a high chair?
At a university? No, in a boat.
Fishing, in everyday life.
While the apostles worked,
they learned the Gospel, have you imagined it?
You at your work and Jesus by your side.
If you’re a shopkeeper,
someone comes in and he’s by your side,
watching you and teaching you
to serve customers better,
to be less authoritative,
less aggressive,
more merciful, more compassionate,
in everyday life...
There’s a sensational quote
from chapter 2 of the book "Boa Nova",
when Humberto de Campos says:
that Jesus chose to work with his father as a carpenter
and he filled the house
with this contagious joy.
Because what we remember from Jesus
are the tears of the cross.
Most of us find it hard
to think of Jesus smiling.
We can easily imagine
Jesus admonishing a Pharisee,
Jesus setting Simon Peter straight,
Jesus crying on the cross
or on the Mount of Olives...
But that, that is exception!
The rule in the Gospel is Jesus smiling,
sweetly and softly welcoming people.
It’s Jesus living together,
never running out of good spirits
and hope.
That Jesus we have forgotten.
And what happens when that Jesus leaves our home?
Our home becomes a sad place.
It becomes heavy.
Because I burden my wife,
my husband, my kids, with my demands.
I burden the people I love with my demands,
my stiffness, my strictness.
I become heavy, sad.
When the Gospel invites us
to bring joy,
mercy, affection,
kindness,
forgiveness.
Because that brings joy to your home.
That brings light,
it brings people close to you.
If you’re critical, demanding, harsh, people get away.
They don’t want to be near you.
And you become lonely, sad.
That’s why Jesus starts the Gospel
at a wedding party.
Once a person came into Chico’s house
and he was sweeping the yard.
But the person was amazed because
Chico was dancing around with the broom and singing.
Chico Xavier, the medium...
You go visit Chico and he’s sweeping the floor,
dancing with the broom and singing.
It was a popular samba song.
The lady was startled and said: “Chico!”
He said: “What is it, my daughter?”
“That song you’re singing!"
He said: “Child, that’s the hymn of the spiritists!"
“Get up, dust yourself off and bounce back.”
And recently I read a powerful quote of his.
He said:
“Decades and decades of suffering
and painful experiences
have taught me that everything passes."
Everything passes.
Hope.
So Chico was spiritual
in the manner he grabbed a cup to drink coffee.
He was spiritual in the manner he ate with people.
Not when he was psychographing.
When psychographing,
anyone here is spiritual,
it’s a moment of concentration.
If you can’t be spiritual
when you’re saying a prayer, you need help.
That’s not difficult.
What’s difficult is to be spiritual
while driving in the traffic of Belo Horizonte.
It takes a lot of spirituality.
A lot!
You know when you need spirituality?
A mother with a child of 4 and another of 2,
and pregnant with yet another.
Preparing baby bottle, coffee...
That’s spirituality,
it takes a lot of it to keep joy,
hope and sweetness before such demands.
That’s the Gospel,
the true and genuine Gospel
that Jesus revealed little by little,
because Jesus waited for things to happen
in his disciples’ life in order to teach.
For example,
He waited for a storm in the sea of Galilee,
when all went desperate and thought they’d die
to teach them the lesson of trust.
Jesus waited to be arrested,
attacked and all that situation,
when Simon takes his sword
and cuts off the ear of Malchus, the soldier.
What for? To give the lesson of nonviolence.
He heals the ear and remains serene.
Everyday gestures,
that’s what Emmanuel’s saying.
That’s why Alcyone tells us,
in the book "Renunciation":
the Gospel, not the written one,
not the Bible you have in your hands,
the divine lesson brought and lived by Jesus...
That Gospel is "a long upward path,
a long upward path
whose end we cannot reach rightly
without understanding and applying
every detail."
Detail.
That’s why Alcyone tells us:
“Christ’s message
must be learned,
pondered, felt and lived.”
Felt and lived.
And I propose a test now.
A silent one, each of you with your conscience.
Each one.
I heard it from a friend, Anna.
Let’s take that test.
Make a list right now...
Don’t say it out loud, for God’s sake.
The 10 biggest mistakes in your life.
Make a mental list
of the 10 biggest mistakes you’ve ever made.
I ask you:
have you ever done wrong
because you were merciful?
Have you ever done wrong in life
because you were kind?
Ever done wrong because you were charitable?
No! Why did you make mistakes?
Because you thought more than you felt.
You thought more of yourself than of your neighbor.
You thought.
Because in thought everything makes sense.
Everything makes sense, because the idea accepts everything.
I know I’m going to harm Orson,
but then I create a theory
to justify my action, which will hurt him.
I only needed to feel
and put myself in Orson’s place.
I only had to feel that he’s my brother.
I’d put myself in his place and say:
“I won’t do it, he’s my brother.”
“I can’t do that to him.
If someone did that to me, I wouldn’t like it.”
So if the Gospel is not felt,
it doesn’t make sense.
If we don't read it with feeling,
feeling,
it doesn’t turn into life.
That’s the challenge,
that’s the reason we’ll tell this story again.
After the crucifixion,
did anyone understand anything?
Nobody understood anything.
Nobody understood anything that Jesus did.
Why didn’t they?
Is it possible for you to walk beside a man
and 10 lepers come to him...
Ten lepers...
I don’t know if you’ve ever visited a place
where there are lepers in an advanced stage.
Some don’t have noses, ears,
the tips of their fingers... why?
Because they fall off...
Ten came to Jesus, he imposed his hands on them
and they recovered parts of the body
which they had lost!
Have you ever imagined that?
What would be your reaction?
The reaction of the apostles.
You’d be staggered.
Staggered.
All of the apostles knew a person,
a man who had been born blind.
The man was blind from birth.
They saw him blind at the age of 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 10, 12...
Everybody knew, blind!
He was born blind!
However, he comes to Jesus,
Jesus imposes his hands, and he begins to see.
You, what would be your reaction?
You’d marvel at this.
Imagine a place
with as many people as we have here now.
There are five loaves of bread and some fish,
the disciples come to Jesus and say:
“Master, send them home,
we only have food for us.”
And Jesus says: “But they are tired,
they came a long way.”
They look at the bits of bread and fish:
“It’ll be tough... There’ll be fighting.”
So he begins to break bread
and hand out fish.
Break bread and hand out fish,
break bread and hand out fish,
break bread and hand out fish…
Suddenly they realize
they’re all being fed.
What did they think? They were staggered.
If you’re next to someone like this,
you think nothing bad will ever happen to you.
If you’re next to someone like this,
you say: “I’m only gonna see wonders.”
This world is gonna change right now.
He’s gonna snap his fingers and the world will change.
Then... He says to them:
“I must go to Jerusalem and I won’t return anymore.”
And Simon Peter says: “How come, Master?”
“How come? Don’t say that.
You don’t know the power you have.”
And what does he say?
“I am eager to eat this Passover with you.”
And he calls the apostles over to a table.
To a table.
And what does he do?
He does something unexpected.
Because, in the ceremony of Passover,
it’s the oldest patriarch who presides over it,
or the most illustrious wise man.
And, just like in birthday parties in Brazil,
the first piece of cake
goes to the person you want to distinguish.
At Passover, the first piece of bread
goes to someone you wish to pay homage to.
Jesus then breaks the bread
and who does he honor?
Who gets the first piece?
Judas.
That’s odd.
Very odd.
And they eat,
and Jesus takes Judas’ hands,
squeezes his hands with the bread,
puts them in the bowl with gravy and says:
“He who dips his hand in the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.”
Because Judas was worried
about Israel’s political future.
Just as we have many spiritists here today,
worried about Brazil’s political future.
But Judas wasn’t worried
about his relationship with Jesus.
Many here are anxious:
what’ll be Brazil’s political future?
But I don’t worry about my kid at home.
And about our relationship.
I worry about that which does not concern me
and I forget that which is my duty.
And to answer a political ideal
he betrays... the person he lives with.
Because he ate from the same dish as Jesus.
And the Master proceeds.
And at the last moment on the cross,
at the last moment...
What does he do?
They give him vinegar.
He, who started the Gospel
by turning water into wine,
when he’s thirsty,
they offer him vinegar.
What an irony!
They complain there's only water,
and he turns water into wine.
He gives his best.
When he only asks us for water, we give him vinegar.
And Longinus takes his spear
and thrusts it into his side.
At that moment,
after he had been wounded,
and been given the vinegar,
Jesus ends the lesson of Calvary:
“Father, forgive them, they do not know what they do."
So in the final seconds,
Humberto de Campos tells us,
Calvary is filled up
with heavenly creatures.
Some soothe his body with balms,
others sing hymns, sing songs...
Others write down the names of those responsible,
for atonement in due time.
But a swift angel
comes alone, lonely, speedy,
comes near Jesus, looks into his eyes,
puts his ears next to Jesus’ lips,
Jesus mumbles something
and he swiftly leaves in another direction.
And Humberto de Campos says:
“It was the angel of charity."
And Jesus asks that angel
to go see Judas,
who had just committed suicide.
And on the road to Emmaus,
when they are all saddened,
all out of hope, just like the spiritists of today.
Because the spiritists are out of hope,
saddened, faithless, disheartened.
Walking in Emmaus.
Jesus appears as a pilgrim
and starts to talk to them.
And they don’t even realize.
But as he explains,
as he explains all that happened,
as he opens the Old Testament
and shows them the prophets’ lessons one by one,
that all of that had to happen,
that all of that made sense.
They start to feel a tad of hope.
They wanted to keep on talking,
so they ask the pilgrim to stay over.
And when they sit together at a table,
the pilgrim takes the bread and breaks it.
At that moment, they recognized Jesus,
not by his lecture,
not by his speech, not by his intelligence,
not by his interpretation,
but by the everyday gesture
of which Jesus always made such a point.
He always liked to break the bread,
and hand out bread to everyone first
and eat last.
And if we want
the Gospel to be known,
we’ll have to learn to share
and offer bread to our neighbors.
Returning in this second part,
we’d like to expand
our reflection on that theme
of the “Gospel, sun of immortality”,
but with two different approaches:
concluding this aspect of the Gospel
in our individual world
and then reflect
upon the Gospel in our society,
the collective aspects of the Gospel’s influence
in regenerating the world.
So I ask permission
to read a preface.
The preface of the book “Renunciation”.
A preface by Emmanuel in which he refers
to one of his incarnations in Spain,
especially in the city of Avila,
where he was able, as Father Damiano,
to be in contact with Alcyone.
It goes like this: "Old memories...
Who can withhold from others the old memories
that illumine the pathways of eternity?
I remember Alcyone
from the days of her childhood.
I used to see her walking with Father Damiano
in an old Spanish churchyard at sunset.
She would look up at the sky with her innocent face
and ask thoughtfully:
‘Father Damiano, who made those clouds?
They look like big, heavy flowers
that never fall to the ground.'
'God made them, my child', the priest would say.
Now, in the heart of a little child,
there must be no overlooking
of simple, humble things,
so she would ask again:
‘And the stones?
Who created the stones on the ground?’
‘God made them too.'
After pondering these matters
with her gaze lost in the vast twilight,
the little girl would exclaim:
‘Ah! How good God is! No one has been forgotten!'
It was really something to see her remarkable kindness,
her interest in a duty fulfilled,
her dedication to the truth and the good.
Early on I understood that the loving family in Avila
was made up of strong friendships,
whose origins were lost in time.
The years – minutes on the clock of eternity -
went by busily and filled with love.
The child of yesteryear
became a benefactor filled with wisdom.
Her life was not just a string of normal activities,
but an ongoing testimony
of sanctifying selflessness.
From childhood,
Alcyone had been a center of affection,
a source of living light,
where one could glimpse
the majestic glory of heaven.
In joy and suffering,
in happiness and hardship,
her conduct was a wonderful lesson
in every circumstance.
I believe that even though she never satisfied
a single desire of her own,
she was always
mindful of God’s will.
I never found her to be concerned about her own happiness;
instead, she was fervently interested
in everyone else’s peace and welfare.
She was unusually careful
about keeping her expressions
of spiritual perfection from the gaze of others,
but she always strove to bring out
the noble ideas of those around her
so that they would feel loved, optimistic and happy.
My lifetimes have passed slowly
through the mysteries of Time;
the death of my body has placed me on new pathways,
and yet
I have never forgotten that sweet angelic figure
in transit on earth.
Later on I was able to kiss her feet
and come to understand her divine story.
The result of that knowledge
resonates in this simple effort,
which has no pretensions of being a literary work.
Rather, this is a book about sentiments.
This is a book about sentiments.
It is for those who appreciate the human experience
from their heart.
In particular,
it speaks to those who are imprisoned,
condemned,
oblivious to the fact that love
does cover a multitude of sins,
as Jesus taught.
Most students of the Gospel
allow themselves to be completely taken
by ideas of a difficult redemption -
an eye for an eye -
or by concerns about rewards
on earth or in heaven.
Here, criminal reincarnations are addressed;
there, only bitter weeping is anticipated;
over yonder, hearts longing
for peaceful, idle repose.
Hope and responsibility
seem to be forgotten treasures.
Of course, the incorruptible character
of Justice cannot be denied;
however, we must not forget optimism,
trust, dedication
and all the energies
that love seeks to awaken
at the heart of consciences.
For sincere souls
who weep in the bonds of discouragement and dismay,
Alcyone’s story is a comforting balm.
It is only natural that,
like a loving vision from the eternal spiritual world,
she emerges from the luminous pages
of her life
to ask the reader
who feels oppressed and exhausted:
why?
why are you holding on to the idea of implacable punishment,
when our Father
is offering us the inexhaustible fountainhead of his love?
Why ascribe so much importance to suffering?
Stand up!
Have you forgotten Jesus?
The sinless Master suffered for all,
so who are you that you do not feel pleased
at doing some kind of work out of love for his name?
Alcyone’s psychological makeup is far more complex
than one might imagine at first glance.
In the greatness of her dedication,
we see love renouncing the glory of the light
in order to become immersed in the world of death.
With her divine gesture,
earth is not just a place of expiation,
of bitter exile;
it is also a sublime school,
sublime,
worthy of being visited by celestial spirits.
Within the horizons of the planet,
there is still darkness, death, tears…
that is indisputable.
But whoever follows the paths that Alcyone walked
will change that entire inheritance
into fruitful treasures leading to everlasting life.
Here then, we offer you, dear reader,
such old memories.
But please understand that, albeit old,
they are invaluable, nonetheless.
They are sacred legacies
for the heart’s coffers,
priceless jewels
that we will distribute randomly,
bearing in mind the fact that
if many think
they have enjoyed resounding success
and elusive happiness in the vast fields of the world,
in fact
they have not yet won
the victory of peace
in the sacred life
that goes on within the walls of a home.”
The message is up to date,
because nowadays there seems to hover
over the spiritists in Brazil
a cloud of bitterness.
Spiritists get home,
turn on the TV
and all they see are news of corrupt politicians
embezzling public funds,
embezzling huge amounts
for the stingy personal interest of selfishness.
Why?
Because we feed a materialistic society
in which people are worth what they own.
We have created a society
in which people believed
they would be happy if they owned things,
and that created a mad race for the gold of the world,
in which people get physically and spiritually ill
in order to hoard things,
leading to corruption from the simplest streets
to the highest ranks of power in our country.
And if you change the channel,
you’ll see an overwhelming crime wave,
drugs, narcotics...
Drugs have taken over the youth of Brazil.
Many young people coming from illustrious families,
rich families,
who were given everything,
the best schools, all the comfort,
the best trips...
They live in the best houses, in the best neighborhoods...
And they barely turn 14
and indulge in crack, cocaine,
and other drugs presented at parties,
staying up all night.
And that’s frightening.
And from drugs to crime it’s a very short step.
Why? Why?
Because we teach, inside our houses,
inside the spiritist homes,
even inside the spiritist homes...
We’ve created a culture in Brazil
that says you're a good father
when you give expensive sneakers to your son.
When in the past we learned…
and there are many here
whose parents gave them nothing, because they had nothing.
Many here who were brought up in homes
where they barely had a piece of meat to eat.
However, they were so deeply loved
they were given such a strong sense of dignity
that they became moral persons,
honorable, ethical, hardworking.
And today,
after having conquered
all material comfort,
they look at their parents, who had nothing,
with nostalgia and gratefulness.
Because those parents taught the essential.
And the parents of today want to replace their mission,
the mission of conveying values
for the simple act of handing out material things.
And then we are frightened
when our children…
Because there isn’t one family which doesn’t have a case
of someone addicted to drugs.
It’s the hardest thing to find.
We all have a story to tell.
All of us.
Near or far, we all have a story.
So we see a great amount of spirits
who have barely reincarnated
but haven’t been guided,
they were not taught moral values,
they were not given the lights of faith,
of belief.
They were not stimulated to develop
the potentials of their souls,
their intrinsic and spiritual values.
So looking at this picture of bitterness,
many spiritists have lowered their heads,
believing,
even though they are spiritists,
that Jesus has lost control of the globe.
That Christ is not strong enough
to steer this boat,
that the process is irreversible.
My God!
Do you know how many billions of suns
there are in the Milky Way?
Around 100 billion.
Any doubts, I’ll ask my friend Otaciro here.
100 billion suns,
each sun with an average of 10 planets.
Multiply that!
It’s a hundred... I’ve lost count already.
10 times 100 billion.
10 times 100 billion planets.
Is it possible that one small planet,
one… will represent
failure to God?
One…! In the Milky Way only
there are 10 times 100 billion planets.
Only one will make God fail.
But I’ll tell you more,
it’s believed there are around
200 billion galaxies.
Multiply that. We’re speaking of trillions!
Trillions of planets evolving!
Earth is one of them.
On earth there are
around 500 thousand species of plants.
Not one of them breaks the Law of God.
We have almost millions of animal species,
the human species is one of them.
One of them.
Has anyone here seen a lion with an identity crisis?
Crying, saying it wanted to be a zebra?
No such thing.
Only the human being has identity crisis,
you know why?
Because the bee knows why it was born.
It knows what it has to do,
and it knows to be happy.
But we, human beings,
have lost contact with God.
We have lost touch with the Divine Law.
And what is worse, we have lost touch with ourselves.
You know why?
Because we make decisions with everything
but our hearts.
The heart points a certain way,
but we take another one, out of convenience.
And we suffer.
And then
the spiritists themselves have created the figure
of an accountant God.
The spiritist God is an accountant God.
He calls you and says:
“How much do you owe? How much do you own?”
“How much do you owe? This much.”
“How much do you own? Umbral!”
"Next! How much do you owe and own?
I’ll make you a concession here.
Is it like that?
Then please explain something to me.
Explain to me Alcyone leaving Sirius
and coming down here for love.
Explain to me which law of cause and effect
compels an angel to incarnate.
An angel has no debts.
Explain to me why the mother of Andre Luiz
went to see Clarencio
and said: “Clarencio, bring my son here.
He doesn’t deserve to be in the town,
but I’d like to put in a good word for him.
He’s a good boy."
To every mother, right?
Every mother...
I’ve learned to respect mothers
in a very special way,
very special.
When you sentence a criminal,
the first person that shows up is the mother.
And she usually comes crying, devastated.
And I’ve learned to address them with the utmost affection,
with the utmost tenderness.
Because I am sure
that she’s the one who’ll rescue her son.
So what do we believe in?
In a God that calculates?
So let’s think together here.
Because that’s what’s Emmanuel’s proposing.
Tonight you’re gonna sleep
and you’ll ask to have access to your case file.
It’s an electronic case file,
they’re very modern in the spiritual world.
But the thing is you’ll only ask…
You can ask for as many incarnations as you wish,
I advise you to examine only the 10 last ones.
I’m telling you as a friend.
But if you want to ask for more, be my guest.
Only the 10 last ones.
On these 10 last incarnations, you’ll examine
how much you own and how much you owe.
I don’t mean to underestimate anyone,
there might be some angel here watching.
But if you’re someone like me,
I’ll tell you something.
I have no merit to be in this incarnation.
No merit whatsoever.
For me to be here, someone signed the promissory note.
And it wasn't me, I'm a bad payer.
Someone vouched for me.
Then you're gonna ask:
“So how did you come here?”
Have you ever heard the word love?
Ever seen a child falling in a swimming pool,
and the mother jumping in to save the child?
And after she gets out of the pool,
do you think she felt cold?
Do you think she thought anything?
No.
Have you tried asking a mother
how much are worth the nights she stayed up
with her feverish child in bed?
If we were to measure...
Then let's measure it, let's measure it.
The mom holds the child, starts to breastfeed it,
her nipple gets sore, starts to bleed,
she goes on breastfeeding. How much is it worth?
How many hour-bonus is that worth?
Tell me.
Then how do you count love?
Alcyone having left Sirius to come to earth,
how much is that worth?
So I've learned that love is of infinite worth.
Infinite worth.
If you love, you set yourself and others free.
You set yourself and others free.
When you get home, open the book "Hail, Christ!"
and you'll see a Christian in Rome with his two kids.
A soldier comes on a horse and kills the kids.
He kneels down,
gathers the bodies
and starts to say a prayer.
For his children?
No, for the soldier who killed them.
How much is that worth?
If that father was able to forgive the soldier,
I'll ask you a question:
do you think he's able to forgive himself?
Then you open the Gospel
on the Sermon of the Mount,
and Jesus says:
“Forgive our debts
in the same measure as
I forgive my debtors."
Why?
Because the day I am able
to forgive any offense,
I will be able to forgive myself.
The day I am able to forgive myself,
my conscience is clean, pure.
Because I can still remember here
Honorio Abreu's voice saying:
“My son,
if you add up all the debts
of your past incarnations as a human being..."
Forget the vegetable and mineral kingdoms.
"If you add up all your debts,
you'll never pay them off."
You'll still have to spend one, two,
three thousand incarnations paying?
Is God an accountant?
No. God is an educator.
Educator.
So what Emmanuel is saying here
and the Gospel teaches
is that love covers a multitude of sins.
So
Andre Luiz's mother, a housewife,
raised a son, a doctor,
doing her best,
cooking for him, making his bed,
everything for him to graduate in Medicine.
Meanwhile the father had two lovers, two.
The son discarnates, goes to the Umbral.
The father goes to the Umbral, with the two lovers.
The mother goes to a colony that's superior to Our Home.
How do you solve that?
You're the judge. How do you solve that?
How do you solve it, my friend?
Do you know how it was solved?
To make any judge feel dizzy and disoriented?
The mother came back and said:
"I'll be his wife again
and receive the two lovers as daughters."
How do you calculate now?
Did you count on that?
Did you count on a pay-off like that?
You had pictured for Andre Luiz's father
a tenebrous, painful redemption...
You had pictured a vindictive God,
who hurts his sons, only God is an educator.
Then the mother said:
"I'll go, I'll receive them both as daughters."
And then...
that raging passion of those two characters
will be turned into daughterly love.
That which was sensual love will be purified
and transformed into fatherly love
and daughterly love.
And when the father is there with Andre Luiz's mother,
the girls will go to their bed
and they'll hug the two daughters.
Because God dissolves our shadows with light.
God dissolves our handcuffs of hate with love.
But he only asks us one thing,
only one.
Love!
Love the person that's inside your house.
Love the person that's part of your family.
Love your mother-in-law!
I want to send mine a kiss.
Yesterday was her birthday.
I love my mother-in-law.
I want to send her a kiss.
Love!
Because when God puts two opponents
under the same roof,
it's because he wants to erase
or to rewrite a story of hate with love.
But if you come with your intellect only,
if you only study the Law of Cause and Effect,
you won't do what you're supposed to in this incarnation!
You know why?
You'll surrender to hate again.
And your home becomes hell.
So,
the Spiritist Doctrine is called
the Promised Consoler,
and it teaches us not to love suffering,
but to believe in mercy.
To believe that God moves the pieces around.
There's a passage written by Emmanuel
in the book "Vineyard of Light" that goes like this:
“We are immersed in the divine love."
It's the "Cosmic Matter" song:
“Of his deeds of love in love immersed.”
And Emmanuel says:
“And God may alter everything,
everything,
to our benefit."
We know that.
In 10 seconds, your life
can change completely.
But of one thing we are sure,
what we get is always the best,
pedagogically speaking.
That's why Emmanuel writes the preface of this work,
he writes a novel,
a love story to tell
of the infinite powers of love
and renunciation.
Of love and renunciation.
If you open the book "Between Heaven and Earth",
that book starts with the prayer of a child.
Have you thought of that? A child,
looking at her home, which was tragic.
The mother had discarnated,
the father brought the lover to the house,
the brother died because the lover was negligent,
the mother, who was discarnated,
became the obsessor of the current wife,
and the home was hell.
And this child stops...
A child who was connected
to the spiritual colony Our Home.
In the midst of that whirlwind,
my God, a whirlwind of adults
who had lost their way in their incarnations,
as I have seen many spiritists
lose their way in their incarnations.
With "The Spirits' Book" in their hands!
With "The Spirits' Book" in their hands,
losing their way in their incarnations.
A child says a prayer.
Who does she pray to? Her mother.
Little did she know her mother was the obsessor in her house.
But a prayer is a prayer.
The prayer reaches where it has to reach.
It always does.
Clarencio hears the prayer.
And says: "I'm going to handle this case personally."
I won't tell the end, I want you to read.
I don't want to tell.
Everything, everything she asked was conceded.
All her requests!
Because we don't know how to pray anymore.
You want what? What do you want?
Say your prayer! What do you want?
Make a list of what you want.
Is that really what you want? Think it over!
She asked, everything was conceded.
You know how long it took? Two years.
Two years.
Because the prayer of a child
made a minister leave Our Home.
My God, that's in the spiritist books...
My brothers, why have we lost hope?
Why are you upset?
Why are you sad? For God's sake!
Why are you hopeless?
You think your incarnation is all made of debts?
You think it's all just karma?
Where is the love?
Where is it?
We've left loved ones up there.
Dearly beloved ones, who are looking at us now.
You looked them in the eyes,
you made promises up there, before you came here.
You made promises!
What now?
What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna act out of love?
Are you gonna honor the vows
you made in the spiritual realm?
Because there's a lot of expectation up there.
A lot of expectation.
The Gospel, then,
is this source of hope.
Of hope.
Because I know that, if God allows
pain to enter my home,
it's because he trusts the pedagogic resources
that it carries.
The Father knows I will come out of this wiser,
stronger and more human,
after I've gone through such pain.
Because human beings,
after going through pain, become more human,
more compassionate, more amorous.
That's it.
But if the lesson is unnecessary,
the pain won't come.
It will either be taken away or reduced.
That's what we've learned.
And when we look at the world today,
to politics, to economy,
to the legal system,
to the institutions...
We are scared.
Because we imagine
that men are the ones who rule the world.
But some friends have revealed to me
that in the 1950s
Chico Xavier told a few people
that in a few decades they'd be astonished
at the spirits that would reincarnate on earth.
These would be times of moral decay, of brutality.
But all according to divine planning.
Why?
Because in the spiritual world,
there's a phalanx of thousands,
millions of enlightened spirits
at the service of Jesus.
Millions!
The Master only has to give one command.
One!
One command to Ishmael.
One order.
If he gives this order, do you know who reincarnates here?
You know who might reincarnate?
Dom Pedro II,
Cairbar Schutel,
Yvonne Pereira,
Chico,
Bezerra...
I'm just gonna mention those we know.
Ishmael may open the map of Brazil and say:
“I want 10 enlightened spirits
in each Brazilian city."
I have two bits of news for you:
there'll be no work for us.
No work.
I wouldn't be here speaking.
Second bit of news:
they'd do in 10 years what we'd take 200 to do.
Why?
Because there is a transforming mechanism of Earth.
You know what mechanism is that?
That mechanism is called "cradle-tomb".
There's a key that opens the cradle,
and there's one that opens the tomb.
If a few tombs are open, a lot of people will go.
A lot of people.
A lot of people with the pretension of dominating the world...
With the pretension of wreaking havoc...
They can go in 10 seconds.
Only there's another key,
it's the key that brings people.
A few openings
and we'll see being born among us
spirits whose greatness we have no idea.
The big question for the spiritists is:
why hasn't it happened yet?
I answer with another question:
who told you it hasn't?
Who told you?
Do you know the spiritual story
of all the children who were born
in the last 10 years in Brazil?
No, you don't.
Do you know the list of who'll discarnate
in the next 5 years?
I hope you don't!
If you do, don't tell me.
I don't wanna know.
So... it's an illusion to think
that incarnates are in control.
We're executing, we're not in control.
The control is not in our hands.
So we must trust patience
and divine mercy.
And more than that,
we must respect our vocation for peace,
respect and religiosity.
We, Brazilians, haven't been called
to destroy public property on the streets.
Much less, God forbid, the spiritist.
We have been called for educational work.
Let's transform Brazil? Let's!
So let's go, let's educate the drug addicts.
Do you want to transform Brazil?
Then let's evangelize the penitentiaries.
Let's take "The Gospel According to Spiritism"
and let's read it with the prisoners.
Let's go teach spiritist art in the slums.
Because what I have seen
is 10-year-old children going to sell drugs
because they can't do anything else.
Why don't we call them to the spiritist choirs?
Why don't we take
the educational force of the spiritist doctrine?
Because I believe that what Ishmael expects
of the Brazilian spiritists today
is educational work for the masses.
And for the upper classes.
For the masses and for the upper classes.
Why for the upper classes?
Because there's a lot of people with a lot of money
not knowing how to use it,
because they don't have the Gospel in their hearts.
If they had the Gospel in their hearts,
the money they have
could be at the service of the common good.
And if the masses were receiving
a Spiritist-Christian education,
who knows we wouldn't have a different story?
Spiritism has done wonderful things for this country.
How many wonderful things the healing mediums
have done in the small towns of this country?
How many charity institutions
were set up in Brazil?
Spiritist hospitals, orphanages, nurseries...
Such wonderful work!
But now is the time
for the Gospel's educational work
in the light of the Spiritist Doctrine.
Because the Gospel educates forever.
If we evangelize a child,
it's one more spirit in the lines of good.
One more.
I would like to leave that message to us.
May Ishmael count on us.
May he have the support of our hands
in the spiritual education of the Brazilian people.
Education, formation of the Christian mentality
of revived Christianity.
Thank you very much for your attention.
May Ishmael protect us.