Felinto Elízio Duarte Campelo

The blind man and Jesus

It was the third decade of the Christian era, and the city of Jerusalem was in darkness, it struggled between pain and sorrow, with the consummation of the infamous execution of the Lord.

On Golgotha, crucified between two men of misconduct, Jesus suffered public execration suffering an endless and suffocating moral pain by seeing sheep of his flock astray from the right path that He lovingly preached and exemplified.

After some time of immense torture, at Calvary remained soldiers of the Roman guard and some curious who insisted on staying on.

That is when, all of a sudden, a blind man appeared asking about the convict. Informed that it was the Nazarene - the Exalted Disseminator of the Kingdom of God – he exceeded himself by accusing Christ of being a revolutionary impostor, corrupter of men, a women charmer, and a highly dangerous element.

At the height of his revolt, the mentioned blind man – body and soul blind - asks a soldier to put the tip of his spear in the chest of Jesus so that he could bleed Him. From the open wound, in streams, gushes the blood of a Righteous, who was by negligence, immolated, with hands and feet nailed to the cross and on the forehead a crown of thorns surmounted by the inscription: JESUS ​​OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS.

Blood flushes on the man's face covering his eyes. Even more incited in his anger, shouting insults, he cleans his face with his garments. Surprised, however, he sees a faint light piercing his eyes up to then opaque, and soon after he clearly sees the local landscape, as well as the witnesses of the painful scene. He sees the spear still with blood, and when he lifts his face, for a moment, his gaze crosses and merges with the serene gaze of Jesus.

A soft and surrounding light penetrates the innermost feelings of the former blind.

Stunned, not well understanding what is happening, he sees Christ attached to the infamous tree, but his arms lengthen and embrace him affectionately. Despite the physical distance that separates them, he ecstatic hears a soft whisper, "I forgive you, my son."

At that moment, touched in the inmost of his being, the former blind man bends his knees, shedding a torrent of tears, sincerely repents his mistakes and disappointments, and begs forgiveness and the opportunity of a new life of love, work, and regeneration. Thereafter he feels a new man: the old man and his ills were buried. 

Prayer is the luminous link that connects us to the Creator

Today, nearly 2,000 years after the memorable occurrence, we still hurt our Master of love and kindness with the ingratitude like  a cold steel dagger that we stubbornly shelter in our hearts; we strike Christ with the sharp spear of selfishness that overwhelms us; we flog Jesus with the poisonous stylet of the vanity that corrupts us; we mercilessly cut open the chest of the Lamb of God with the sharp blade of indifference that sedates us; we daily sting the heart of the Lord giving harbor to evil thoughts, keeping wounds, promoting discord, spreading doubt.

And what is the reason for so much foolishness?

-      Lack of vigilance and prayer.

Prayer is the luminous link that binds the creature to the Creator, when said with the purity of the soul. Speaking to those who listened to Him, so said Jesus about the qualities of a prayer:

"When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites, who pray affectedly standing in the synagogues, and on the street corners, to be seen by men. I tell you, in truth, they have already received their reward. When you wish to pray, go to your room and shut the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, who sees what is happening in secret, will give you the reward. Do not think of much to ask in your prayers, as the heathen do, who think that by the multiplicity of words they will be attended. Do not become like them, for your Father knows what you need before ye ask him". (Matthew, Chapter VI).

And Jesus added:

"When you prepare yourself to pray, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Father who is in Heaven, also forgives you for your sins. If you do not forgive, your Father, who is in Heaven, neither will forgive you your sins". (Mark, Chapter XI).

In our life, it is important to pray and practice vigilance

Prayer is not simply a bunch of memorized words, accompanied by rites and recited without a deep sense of faith. And, almost always, it is how we pray every day when we say:

"Our Father who art in Heaven" - and our thoughts stay hopelessly stuck to things and material interests without being able to fly in search of heavenly possessions;

"Hallowed be thy name" - and we act disrespectfully to the name of the Lord;

"Come to us your Kingdom" - and nothing of ourselves do we give the Kingdom of God;

"Be done your will" - and we rebel against the plans of Heaven;

"Our daily bread give us today" - and selfishly relegate our neighbors suffering from hunger;

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" – we just say we forgive, but in our heart we keep the gall of bitterness;

"Do not let us fall into temptation" - and we constantly seek frivolities and impure emotions;

"But free us from evil" – and this evil we keep with pleasure and insist on keeping it in our hearts, in the course of many centuries.

Imperious is to watch our actions, whether at work, in society or at home. Our acts are living examples for those who live with us. Also watch our thoughts - headquarters of our actions - because through our thought we attract spiritual companies: unhealthy Spirits if our mind houses impure thoughts; good Spirits if the vibratory rate is high.

It is important to cultivate prayer and vigilance for the improvement of our souls, because for us to become good, in the evangelical sense, is a multi-millenary task from which we are still very far.

According to Jesus, God is good 

Matthew, in Chapter XIX, Luke in Chapter XVIII and Mark in Chapter X tell us:

"Then came to him a young man and said: Good Master, what good must I do to reach eternal life? - Jesus answered: Why do you call me good? Only God is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. - What commandments? - Said the young man. Jesus said: Thou shalt not kill, do not commit adultery, and do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The boy said to Him: I have kept all these Commandments since I came to youth. What is it that I still lack? Jesus said: If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have and give it to the poor and you will have a treasure in Heaven. Then come and follow me”. 

If Jesus himself stated that only God is good, it is our duty to work our personality, with boldness and faith until we reach some spiritual chipping, respecting and keeping the Commandments of God's Law:

 "Thou shalt not kill" - not only in the sense of taking the life of our neighbor, but in the larger concept of not sacrificing our time with trifles laboring on the sowing of good, love, peace, and concord among men;

"Do not commit adultery" - not only in the sense of one spouse betraying the other, but in the broader understanding of never misrepresenting the truth in our own benefit or of groups and castes;

"Thou shalt not steal" - not only material goods, but above all the opportunity to intellectual growth, and the moral and spiritual welfare of our rear brothers;

"You shall not bear false witness" - not only in the criminal sense of denouncing an innocent person, but of basing your life according to the Christian norms in an eloquent testimony of the adoption of Jesus as our Master and guide;

"Honor thy father and thy mother" - not only by helping them in their material needs, but also with love and affection that we must give to those who gave us the opportunity of reincarnating in the great search of perfection, repairing the mistakes we did in our previous wrongful life.

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as yourself" - similar to the Commandment "Love God," as Jesus taught us, which strengthens our souls and opens consoling hope for the Spirits eager of progress.         

Elijah and John the Baptist, two missions for the same Spirit 

Now, we talk about reincarnation. Is the theory of multiplicity of lives an unquestionable fact? Once again we consult the Gospel:
 

(After the transfiguration) "His disciples then asked him: Why do the scribes say that first it is necessary that Elijah must come back? Jesus answered them: Is it true that Elijah will come and restore all things; but I declare to you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him and treated him as it pleased them. This is how they will make the Son of Man suffer. Then, his disciples understood that He was talking about John the Baptist". (Matthew, Chapter XVII, Mark, Chapter IX).

It is clear and evident that Jesus referred to Elijah reincarnated as John the Baptist.

In John, Chapter III, we find:

"Now, among the Pharisees, there was a man named Nicodemus, a senator of the Jews, who came at night to Jesus and said: Master, we know that you came from God to teach as a doctor, because no one could make the miracles you are doing if God were not with him. Jesus answered, Verily, verily I say unto thee, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. Nicodemus said to him: How can an old man be born again? Can he enter the womb of his mother again to be born a second time? Jesus replied: Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man is not born again from the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said you need to be born again. The Spirit blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes or where it goes to; the same happens with everyone who is born of the Spirit. "

Other doctrines interpret the words of John as a teaching of man’s regeneration of the baptism water. This is because, according to scholars, some translators of the Holy Books replaced the phrase "if man is not reborn of water and the Spirit" by the following translation: "if man is not reborn of water and the Holy Spirit," in a clear misuse regarding the purity of the original text, a disrespect to the Commandment "You shall not commit adultery", which induces us not to distort the truth to suit personal interests, groups, caste, or even to adapt it to doctrinal convictions.

The Gospel of Jesus is a love poem

It is known that the old people, poorly informed about the physical sciences, believed that Earth came out of the water, thus considering water as a generating element of all material things, including our bodies. Water was the symbol of material nature. Thus, the expression "if man is not born again of water and the Spirit" means reborn in a new material body animated by a Spirit pre-existing to the physical body.

We also have "what is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit." Therefore, it is established the distinction between body and Spirit and confirmed the principle that the body comes from the body, and the Spirit, whose existence is prior to the conception of the body, does not depend on it.

Then we find: "the Spirit blows where it wants; you can hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes to”. If the soul is created by God at the same time as the body, we would know where it came from, because its beginning would be known.

By this clarification, we understand that the reincarnation doctrine is ratified and consolidated by our Master Jesus, and accepted and professed by ancient civilizations prior to Christ.

Jesus is the model of life, and His Gospel is a love poem, a code of ethics, a secure roadmap that shows us the way of good. The blind man is the symbol of a redeemed man that one day we can be when we are touched by the sincere repentance and replace our vices and evil by a good conduct supported by the principles of charity, as well said the Spirit of Scheilla in her message "Alms Forgotten" received by the psychic Chico Xavier, with which we end the story of “The blind man and Jesus":
 

"Give what you can, as you can, and as much you can, for the benefit of others, but always remember the forgotten alms…
The fraternal tone of voice with those who you do not like...
The welcoming smile for the unexpected visit...
The minute of goodwill in a friendly explanation...
The simple reassuring conversation with the person whose presence displeases you…

The generous silence when provoked by those who still do not understand you...
The insignificant kindness in the street...
A good reference in favor of those who are absent...
The simple service to an unknown...

A prayer for an enemy...
The consideration for the older...
The support to the child...
The quick visit to the sick...
The affectionate note to a needy brother to cheer him up…
The loving care at home ...
The help to those have lost their inner strength…
The good word for those who hear you...
The edifying reading...

The respect before situations which are unknown to us...
The help towards Nature...

The help with no other intentions…

Do not move away from the blessed service to all.

The small spontaneous gestures of true brotherhood are a safe foundation in the building of the Kingdom of Love."

May we everyday prodigally share with our traveling companions, peace, love, understanding, harmony, and all those forgotten alms of which Sister Scheilla told us about.

In prayer we call the Master saying:
 

Jesus, blessed Christ of God,
Help us in our needs,
Cure our spiritual blindness,

Guide our faltering steps…
Show us, Oh Lord, that You are
the PATH to be followed,
the TRUTH to be sought,
the LIFE to be imitated.
So be it.