Guard the Good Deposit
"Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you." Paul (II Timothy, 1:13)
Distribute the resources that Providence provided to your working hands; however, do not forget that the consoling words to the sickly represents a direct service from the heart in the cultivation of righteousness.
The bread from the body is an alms for which you will receive proper compensation, while a friendly smile is an eternal blessing.
Send messengers to the fraternal aid; but above all, at least every now and then, do not overlook visiting the sick brother and personally listen to him.
The expedition of assistance is a gesture that will make you likeable; however, your direct intervention of assistance to the needy, will provide you with the spiritual preparation to face your own battles.
Climb the platform and teach the path of redemption to all; but interrupt your discourse, every now and then, in order to listen to the laments of a companion through his personal human experience, even if it comes from a child of despair or of ignorance, so that you do not lose track of the proportions in your path.
Cultivate the flowers of the private garden of your loved ones, because, without the flowerbed of experience it is difficult to follow the noble and intensive task; however, do not flee from the human forest, fearing the worms and monsters that inhabit it; as, it is crucial that you prepare to advance, within it, in the future.
In the circles of life, do not forget the necessity of engraving the teaching within you.
Just as it is impossible to receive individual nourishment through a substitute, or to learn a lesson, by storing it in someone else's memory, you will not be able to present yourself in front of the Supreme Forces of Wisdom and of Love, by way of victories that you have not personally lived or personally achieved.
"Guard", therefore within you "the good deposit that was entrusted to you."
XAVIER, Francisco Cândido. Our Daily Bread. By the Spirit Emmanuel. Spititist Alliance for Books, 2003. Chapter 97.
Precisely Because of This
"I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it." (I John, 2:21)
The interchange, each time more intense between "the living" and "the dead," in general, constitutes a great event for the Evangelical Organizations.
It is not solely a realization for the Spiritist Organizations; it belongs to the entire Christian community.
At this time we notice that here and there, organized dogmatic protest exists; but, the revivification of the truth demands it.
Every acquisition has a price and any renovation encounters spontaneous obstacles.
The day will come when the various subdivisions of Evangelism will comprehend the divine finality of the new concert.
The movement of spiritual interchange between the two spheres widens each day. The devotion demonstrated by the discarnates provokes the attention of the incarnates.
The Lord permitted a worldwide Pentecost for the readjustment of the eternal reality.
It is worthwhile to notice that the moving and motivating voices from on High commonly reiterate formulas of the Revelation and recall the wisdom of Earth intent on extracting the most respectable concepts regarding life.
It is at this point that we remember the words of John who sincerely questioned: "Do the dead communicate with the living because individuals ignore the truth?
Not so.
If the departed once again speak to those that remain, it is because they are aware of the path of Redemption with Jesus, but, they are neither inspired, nor are they encouraged to thresh out a path.
XAVIER, Francisco Cândido. Our Daily Bread. By the Spirit Emmanuel. Spititist Alliance for Books, 2003. Chapter 96.
Questions 37 to 42 - The Formation of Worlds
Spirits's replies to Allan Kardec
The universe is comprised of the infinite number of worlds we can see and those we cannot see, all animate and inanimate beings, all the heavenly bodies moving through space and all the fluids that fill space.
"Obviously, the universe did not create itself, and if it has existed from all eternity like God, then it could not be God’s work."
"To borrow a well-known expression: by the divine will. Nothing can better portray that all-powerful will than those grand words from Genesis: ‘God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’"
"All that we can say and the only thing you can comprehend is that worlds are formed by the condensation of the matter scattered throughout space."
"That is correct, but it is absurd to believe in their influence; I mean the influence commonly attributed to them, for all the celestial bodies play their part in influencing certain physical phenomena."
"Yes. God renews worlds just as God renews living beings."
"I cannot tell you anything about that, for only the Creator knows. Anyone who claimed to have such knowledge or to know the ages and ages it took to form them would be very foolish indeed."
KARDEC, Allan. The Spirits’ Book. 3.ed. International Spiritist Council, 2011.
This Is the Message
"This is the message you heard from the beginning; We should love one another." (I John, 3:11)
All over the world we feel this tremendous anxiety to receive new messages from Heaven. Dynamic forces of the mind insist on receiving modern expressions to old truths, rehearsing varied mental creations. We notice, however, that art seeks new experiments and it becomes filled with negative images. We also notice that politics invents ideologies and processes that are unheard of in governing, and expands the course of destructive war, and that Science seeks to defer higher flights and institutes disrupting theories of well being and harmony.
Large religious orders achieve heroic work demonstrating the eternity of life, begging for spectacular signs from the invisible kingdom to the common man.
We agree that there shall always be benefit in the elevated aspirations of the human spirit, when sincerely seeking vibrations of a divine nature. However, we must realize that if there are many substantial constructive illuminating messages on Earth, the greatest and most precious of all, from the origin of the planetary organization, is the one regarding fraternal solidarity in "We should love one another."
This is the primary recommendation. By feeling it, each student can examine in life's daily circle of struggle, the index of understanding that he already holds regarding the Divine Designs.
Even though this or that person has not, as yet, understood it, initiate the execution of the paternal advice within you.
Extend love always. Do good always. Start out by having esteem for those who do not understand you, convinced that they, much sooner, will do better for you.
XAVIER, Francisco Cândido. Our Daily Bread. By the Spirit Emmanuel. Spititist Alliance for Books, 2003. Chapter 95.
Sex
"As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regard something as unclean, then for him it is unclean." Paul (Romans, 14:14)
When Paul of Tarsus wrote this observation to the Romans, he was referring to the nourishment that at that time created harsh discussions between the Gentiles and the Jews.
As time went by, food ceased to awaken dangerous discussions; however, we can use the argument and project it on other sectors of false opinions.
Let us refer for instance, to sex. No other area of activity on earth suffers greater treachery. Profoundly blind of spirit the individual in general, fails to discover in it one of the most sublime motives for his existence. The most exquisite achievement in the planetary struggle is the uniting of the souls for motherhood and fatherhood, the creation and the reproduction of the forms, the extension of life, and beautiful stimulus for work and for regeneration were made possible by the Father to His children by means of the sexual emotions; however, the individuals spoil and lessen the "saintly place," populating its altars with the phantoms of excesses.
Sex established the home and created the name of mother; but, human selfishness exchanged it for absurd animalistic experiences, thereby initiating cruel trials for itself.
The Father offered a sanctuary to His sons; however, their lack of comprehension constituted an offering on their part. It is due to this that painful and distressing romances have existed in all Continents on Earth.
And still, in spite of being submerged in deplorable deviations, the individuals ask for sexual education, insisting on programs, which could be useful, but only, when the saintly notion of the divinity of the creative power is spread throughout. As long as filth still remains in the heart of he who analyzes or in the heart of he who teaches, the methods will not be other than the same lewdness.
XAVIER, Francisco Cândido. Our Daily Bread. By the Spirit Emmanuel. Spititist Alliance for Books, 2003. Chapter 94.
Allan Kardec's remarks:
Reason tells us the universe could not possibly have created itself, and since it could not possibly be the work of chance either, it must be the work of God.