The thought above is by our guest this week, Adailton Barreira Moura (photo), who lives in Gama, an area of the Brazilian capital, Brasilia. He became a Spiritist at the age of 24 and has, since 1988, worked as a volunteer in the local Spiritist Movement. At the Nosso Lar (Our Home) Spiritist Centre, he has worked in study groups, in children’s groups and as director of several departments. He is the Spiritist Centre’s current president.

In this interview, he speaks about his introduction to Spiritism and his experience in the Spiritist Movement.

How did you first come into contact with Spiritism?

In 1986, I met a friend who was already a Spiritist. His wife took part in the activities of an Umbanda group [an Afro-Brazilian religion], which I joined for a while. I met someone there who eventually became my girlfriend. She also attended at the time the Nosso Lar Spiritist Centre, in Gama, which I didn’t know then. One day she gave me The Spirits’ Book as a present and I fell in love with it. I began reading more books and studying. I eventually joined CENOL (as the Nosso Lar Group is known) and I’m still there.

What attracted you the most about Spiritism?

It has shown me that life never ends and we are immortal beings. That was crucial to me, to realise that God is fair and that there are no punishments or rewards. Each one of us will reap what we have sown. That makes us inevitably work for the implementation of good on Earth.

Tell us a bit about the history of the Nosso Lar Spiritist Centre (CENOL).

It began with a group of friends who got together every week in the house of CENOL’s founders to do the Gospel in the Home. Eventually, with more people attending they realised that they would need a bigger space. They raised funds and bought a plot of land in the southern part of Gama, where the Spiritist Centre was founded on September 18th, 1978. Since then, we managed to buy an adjacent plot of land, where we now have the main building. Later, we decided to open branches of CENOL to help other communities. The first one was in the Residencial Brasilia, one of Gama’s poorest neighbourhoods, and later in the neighbouring city of Pedregal and eventually in Santa Maria, another poor quarter in the outskirts of Brasília.

What assessment do you make of your experience in the Spiritist Movement?

The experience we get in the Spiritist Movement is one of constant learning. As we spend more time in Spiritism, we begin to see, hear and do things that in the beginning we didn’t think we would be able to. We learn gradually to remain silent and not to let our pride take over… Very often we get offended by very little, but we end most of the time putting in to practice the old teachings, which we had certainly heard in previous lives.

And what have you learned from your experience as president of the Nosso Lar Spiritist Centre?

It’s been a very difficult experience, demanding skills that I wasn’t in the habit of using. You need to listen to people all the time and talk to them with great care not to hurt their feelings. These are volunteers, working out their good will, who need to be encouraged and motivated. Very often we cannot demand much from them and, if we do, they frequently don’t take it very well. Many people don’t understand what the president of the Spiritist Centre wants, his views and his reasons. In my opinion, that is one of the most if not the most difficult jobs in Spiritism.

What are the main challenges that need to be overcome for someone in that position?

To keep quiet and remain silent when necessary and to know the right time to speak, putting into practice the lessons of Our Master Jesus Christ. We need to respect different opinions and to work harder than others, being the first one to arrive and the last one to leave the building. And, more than anything else, we must never expect to get any recognition or praise.

Tell us about your experience with the groups that give soup and assistance in general to those in need.

Over the years in the Spiritist Movement, I’ve been to many places and I have learned about the needs and experiences of so many people. One thing that I’ve come to realise is that people who are better off don’t realise that even here in the Brazilian capital there are people starving. For most of those people in need, a bowl of soup, a basket of food staples or a simple glass of water are often worth more than winning the lottery. People come to tears when the assistance comes at the exact moment when their hunger seems to become unbearable.

Please leave us with your final thoughts, bearing in mind that humankind is still suffering the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic has shown us very clearly that we need to love, help and support one another. The Spiritist Teachings are the pathway to our liberation. We, Spiritists, cannot and must not become prisoners of fear. Jesus counts on each one of us to provide assistance to our brothers and sisters, and not only inside Spiritist Centres, but also in our daily lives. May we be the ones who are always there to open our arms to those in need and to help them. This is a time for hard work, not for fear.