In the path of Love   “Excuses have always been the escape door for those who have abandoned their obligations.” (2)
Álvaro Múnera

Divine calling has been a constant throughout the ages for all mankind, which however has put it in the background, in favor of materialistic interests.

- “I’m still too young”...

- “I’m too old”...

- “I’ve got many commitments and cannot answer the calling”...

- “My household takes up a lot of my time”...

God calls human creatures to take possession of spiritual assets, but those who are invited and don’t accept, cannot be fed spiritually, not because nourishment is denied, but because they are not interested in receiving it. Their attention is geared at satisfactions of a material kind. The excuses for not answering the calling are vehement and so convincing, that an undiscerning listener are convinced they are before people who are suffering, and so unable, that they eventually help them in this escape. However, fooling themselves, they end up waking up to disastrous commitments, consequences of their recklessness and embarrassed enough, claim for the opportunity to reincarnate.

Human beings, naturally, seek happiness and personal fulfillment. It’s like an intuition regarding the future, even though in a shady way. Even without assurance we all seek it, as something whole, ignoring that, truly, this is our destination as the immortal spirits that we are.

The fact is that we don’t have, yet, the perfect understanding of our identity. We don’t know who we are, where we come from or where we are going. We ignore our condition of sons of God, spiritual beings, bearers of gifts, faculties, latent forces that we gradually develop through our own effort. Beings holding our own divine essence that, transiently under carnal vests – only passing through this world – seek enrichment with new experiences which are offered by the material realm, improving our condition. 

To die is to travel, and we take only what we are 

However, our attention, always absorbed by material interests, blurs the vision of our infinite life, and we remain deluded, deeming that happiness lies in the satisfaction of our immediate desires; thinking that we can be happy just by owning this or that; for enjoying this or that social status; for retaining some kind of transient power, oblivious to our spiritual reality.

If our material needs, transient as they are – are important for our material bodies, a whole lot more important are the spiritual ones, because they are eternal, for we continue to live, even more intensely, after the grave.

It was once told by one Spiritual Instructor that living is traveling and what we take with us is what we are. Therefore, all acquired knowledge; all the virtues and gifts developed in our material life are eternal assets of the Spirit. It is the treasure that does not get lost, does not get stolen and cannot be devoured by moths. Jesus taught us to seek before the Kingdom of God and His Justice, for all the rest will be given by extension of His Mercy. For this reason, all knowledge, all virtues and moral qualities represent spiritual power, which reflects, immediately, in the material life, transforming our life completely, into a more beautiful life, in harmony with Divine laws.

And the path to transforming our reality is the path of the love of God and your neighbor as we love ourselves. In sum, it is the practice of Good.

The religious feeling that we possess, although sometimes without a religion – as we define it - leaves us in a privileged situation in order to answer the divine calling. 

The cradle is only the beginning of a laborious journey 

As far as a Spiritist goes, particularly, it’s even more true, because we count on the knowledge of a spiritual life and the consciousness that there is no absolute fatality in the happenings around us, because we know we are not puppets, once we are given free-will, reasoning and intelligence.

We already understand, perfectly, what it means the evangelical teaching “God will give to each person according to his deeds”, endorsed by the Superior Spirits as the Law of Cause and Effect and confirmed by Human Science as the Law of Action and Reaction, universal law which calls us to the responsibilities of our acts. We are aware of the affirmation of Jesus who said, good begets good, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. We are then free to act upon and modify, at any time, our path.

Faced with the knowledge that the Spiritualistic Doctrine provides us with – through studies conducted with such nobility – we don’t see the idea of reincarnation as an ancestral religious dogma, but as a proven fact, scientifically, by Transpersonal Psychology; we acquire the knowledge that we are all immortal Spirits; that the cradle is only the beginning of a laborious journey for the soul in need of experience; that we will continue living after fulfilling our planetary task, which is due by Divine Mercy; that it is constant the communication and the solidarity between the two levels of life; that when we pray, thinking about the loved ones who are at the spiritual dimension, we benefit and strengthen them with our message of love and peace, at the same time we are supported by them, often without our knowledge.

The light that Spiritualism sheds on our minds makes us have no more doubts about the existence of many homes in the house of the Father – whether physical states or of our  consciousness. 

What are we doing with our acquired knowledge? 

After learning about the works of the Decoding of the Spiritualist Doctrine, through the messages of The Gospel according to Spiritualism, Heaven and Hell, The Book of Mediums and The Genesis, and other contemporary works, received by serious and selfless mediums, and honest scholars, providing us with detailed information about the many different worlds, that extend to infinity, in perfect alignment with scientific discoveries of physics, astronomers, who open up a Universe in expansion, the planet Earth – which is now our world – unveiling like a tiny little dot in space, located on the outskirts of a very humble galaxy, the Milky Way, among billions of other galaxies.

With all this knowledge, why do we still doubt our immortality? Why do we still cling to materialistic interests that in the end just bring sorrow, when not used with common sense and benevolence? Wouldn’t it be that, with all this information, we are already able to answer the questions that follow our journey, such as: “Are we fully happy?” “Are we accomplished creatures?” “How are we living?” “What are we doing with the acquired knowledge in our benefit and the benefit of those who have been placed under our care in order to learn?” It is important to ponder about the struggle that men face in order to solve the social problems of addiction, crime, illness, for it is an inglorious one, insofar that we collect a countless number of failures, because it has until now been based upon materialistic concepts.

Man, ignoring his spiritual reality, hasn’t yet realized that all these problems are originated in the Spirit – pride, selfishness, ambition, greed, possessiveness, to name a few – and, therefore, only by the Spirit these evils can be conquered. 

We all have the capability to do Good 

Emmanuel tells us that we’re going through many difficulties, but if we do not ignore that our reality today is the consequence of our deeds yesterday – by the law of Cause and Effect, which operates mechanically throughout the Universe -, we shouldn’t forget that we have today conditions to create, by the same Divine Law, a new destiny for ourselves.

We must have the conscience of the possibility to start over, always, since we truly desire, for every awakening is a new opportunity that life offers us. But it is important to be steadfast in this restart. It’s indispensable not to cultivate bitter memories, let go of pessimism, early mistakes and the afflictions that keep us from improving.

We all have the conditions to do Good. The pitfalls we went through in the past, and that many times puts us in the position of less worthy creatures – so we think -, in which remorse, feelings of guilt and inferiority complexes makes us get stuck in the yesteryear, stifles our actions towards the future.

The relief we seek for our freedom, we find it in Jesus, in His calling to come to Him, as afflicted as we are, for He will relieve us.

When accepting the invitation, it is inevitable our meeting with the consolation, the hope, the resignation and, moreover, the understanding of our potential to walk on, with assurance, on our own feet, towards a much happier future.

All of us, with no exception, still have moral limitations to be able to walk alone. However, when the Gospel touches our hearts, we find ourselves turned into the Good that we still can accomplish, undoing the evil of the past, because love covers the multitude of sins. And calmly, patiently and with the safe guidance that Jesus’ teachings provide us with, we’ll build a higher life more compatible with our condition of God’s sons.

Bibliography:  

1 - EMMANUEL (Espírito), Fonte Viva – [psicografo por] Francisco Cândido Xavier – 16. ed.; Federação Espírita Brasileira, Rio de Janeiro/RJ – 1988, lições 17, 55, 82 e 83.

2 - Palavras de Vida Eterna – [psicografado por] Francisco Cândido Xavier; 20. ed., Comunhão Espírita Cristã – Uberaba/MG – 1995, lições 127 e 128.