Márcio Antonio Dias (photo) is a public sector worker, graduated in Business Administration, who lives in the coastal city of Bertioga, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. He is the current president of the Caminho da Luz (Pathway to the Light) Centre for Spiritist Studies, which works closely with the local community, as he explains in the following interview. 

How did you become a Spiritist?

It all began when I was 12 years old. I lived in the city of São Paulo and there was a neighbour, a lady who lived next door, who was an avid reader. As I also enjoyed reading. I became curious and asked her what she was always reading. She said it was Spiritist books. She then lent me a book called Sinal Verde (Green Light), which I finished reading in a few hours, without putting it down. Her daughter-in-law was a member of the Book Club in the city of Araras and she gave me all the Spiritist books that she had already finished, about 70 books. I suddenly wanted to know more about Spiritism and I found out there was a Spiritist Centre in my street, which I then joined. And I’ve never looked back. 

What attracts you the most in Spiritism?

The coherent answers that Spiritism gives to all our questions. Its rationality and common sense fascinate me. I’ve always been a curious person and the religious affiliation I followed as a child didn’t provide the answers that I needed. Everything began making sense to me when I got introduced to the Spiritist works, especially the books by Allan Kardec. They filled a void. And we must also emphasize the charitable aspect of Spiritism, which provides consolation to so many people. Everything makes sense when we finally understand that we are always under the protection of Divine Goodness. 

Please tell us a bit more about the Spiritist Centre and your involvement in their activities. 

I am the current president of Centro de Estudos Espíritas Caminho de Luz (The Pathway to the Light Centre for Spiritist Studies) in Bertioga, which will celebrate its 17th foundation anniversary in May. We focus mainly on the study of the Spiritist books and for that reason we keep different study groups that meet every day of the week. We follow the courses and textbooks approved by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation. Some of our study groups concentrate on reading and discussing particular Spiritist books.

And how do you organise the social projects, which benefit people in need in the local community? 

There are two types of people in need: those who require material assistance and those with spiritual needs. We have a project set up at the beginning of the coronavirus to help those who lack the basic material goods. We began with 50 vulnerable families in Bertioga and we have expanded that project now to attend 70 families in total. We provide them with a bag of groceries and staples, as well as personal hygiene and cleaning products. Our Fraternal Assistance programme, which deals with the spiritual needs of those who come to us, has been helping an increasing number of people. 

And how did you adapt to the constraints imposed by the pandemic?

When the pandemic began, we were initially lost. But we quickly adapted and began offering all our activities and courses online, via WhatsApp or Google Meet, with the exception of our children’s study groups. We set up a WhatsApp group, called A Time to Meet, posting Spiritist messages, an opening prayer and extracts from the Gospel and all elements of our sessions, including healing and the final prayer. More than 200 people from across Brazil and other countries have signed up. And even with the resumption of our normal activities here in our facilities, we have decided to continue with that WhatsApp group, which has helped so many people. During the pandemic we also created a podcast, called A Morning with Jesus. We post an audio message with comments in the light of Spiritism to more than 1,300 people who have signed up via WhatsApp and Telegram. 

What other lessons have you learned from this recent period?

We had been receiving for a while different messages from the Spiritual Benefactors telling us to prepare, as the number of people who would seek help in Spiritist Centres, especially in the post-pandemic period, would shoot up. The pandemic hasn't even finished and we are already seeing a significant increase in the demand. I’ve noticed that most of the people who are coming to us for the first time are in a state of total emotional imbalance, caused mainly by issues associated with the pandemic. These are people who have lost family members or close friends, who are going through a difficult time in their relationships or who are struggling financially because of the pandemic. 

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us from the lessons learned during this period? 

Every time that the thought of giving up even crosses my mind, and that is something natural as the negative forces will always try to undermine those working for good causes, I am inundated with messages that are clearly connected. Those ‘coincidences’ surprise me every time. I joke with other Spiritist volunteers at the Centre that the Spiritual Benefactors always find a way of sharing with us the issues that we need to study and work on at this particular time, both as individuals and as a group. It's as though they are setting up a knowledge trail for us.