Our guest this week, Marco Antonio Maiuri Miranda (photo), is one of the directors of the Meditação e Caridade (Meditation and Charity) Spiritist Centre in the Brazilian city of São Paulo. He has a degree in Business Administration and works as a commercial rep. In the Spiritist Movement, he volunteers as a public speaker and medium, as he explains in this interview.

When and how did you become a Spiritist? 

My parents were already Spiritists when I was born and my mother was a dedicated member of the local Spiritist Movement. When I was five or six years old, my mediumship started to become evident. From the age of eighteen, I started to read the books of Allan Kardec and joined the Spiritist Movement as a volunteer. I felt the clear feeling then that I had already read those books.

And how did you realise you were a medium? 

As a child, I could see the Spiritual Benefactors around me. But from the age of eighteen, my faculties began gradually expanding, as I took new responsibilities within Spiritism, always with the support of Natanael, the Spiritual Benefactor who for a long time has provided me with the necessary support.  

Why did you choose to focus on issues of the Gospel in your talks and lectures? 

Firstly, because I felt an increasing need to cultivate the message of Jesus inside my heart, in order to overcome my own imperfections. And secondly, because of my immense love for Jesus.

What is the strongest point of the Teachings of Jesus? 

The power of His words! The consolation and peace they bring us! His Teachings provide straight answers to the demands of our Spirit.  

And how about Spiritism? 

Its message, which is comforting and enlightening, adds good deeds and reason to our faith.

Tell us a bit more about the Spiritist Centre that you are linked to, the Núcleo Espírita Meditação e Caridade.

The Meditação e Caridade (Meditation and Charity) Spiritist Centre was founded in 1972 in the city of São Paulo. I joined in 1992. It does a great job in helping so many people under the inspiration of its motto, suggested by our mentor, Natanael: Simplicity, research and hard work.

Your message during your talks and lectures is one of consolation and comforting. How does the public react to it? 

Spiritual happiness is the overwhelming reaction. Even with my limitations, I feel that I’m doing something important and also helping in my own inner reform. A few years ago, thanks to the benevolence of the Spiritual Benefactors, I begun carrying out healing through my speech, with a process of magnetisation of the words

From all your memories in the Spiritist Movement, is there anything in particular you would like to share with our readers? 

I’m touched in particular by the visualisation of the work carried out by the Spirits in the name of Christ. I’ve been doing this for many years, but every single day I express my gratitude for the opportunity of working for Spiritism -- “the Consoler promised by Jesus” -- through my spoken words, writings or mediumship…

What would you say was your most moving moment in Spiritism? 

I’ve always had many reasons to rejoice in my work as a Spiritist, but I felt that I was really doing something meaningful for Spiritism when I gave my first talk. And as a medium, when I wrote in trance for the first time. And when I began working on healing, during visits to people who were ill and other spiritual treatment sessions.

Is there anything else you would like to add? 

I am immensely grateful to Jesus for allowing me, with all my insignificance, to do work within Spiritism, or Reborn Christianity. We must carry on with our work, keeping Jesus as our model, always, and Kardec as the author of the books that guide us and direct us to fulfil our spiritual responsibilities.