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Special Portuguese Spanish    

Year 8 - N° 358 – April 13, 2014

JOSÉ PASSINI
passinijose@yahoo.com.br
Juiz de Fora, MG (Brasil)
 

Translation
Eleni Frangatos P. Moreira - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br

 
 

José Passini

Words to the evangelists of childhood 

"Embodying, in order to improve himself during this period, the Spirit is more approachable to the impressions he receives, which help him in his evolution, and those who have the mission of educating him must concur for this purpose." (The Book of Spirits, 383).


The Spiritist perspective about the child differs fundamentally from that sustained by the doctrines that preach the oneness of corporeal existence. For these religions, the child brings at birth, only its biological ascendants, which were inherited from its ancestors, near or remote. The Spiritist conception also differs from other reincarnation doctrines that consider the return of the Spirit to the material world only for punitive purposes or, at best, to fulfill a mission.

Spiritism does not deny the missionary reincarnation. It teaches that what is seen as a punishment is only a consequence of the law of cause and effect. However, it goes further, broadening the understanding of life itself, when revealing the evolutionary aspect of reincarnation.

Seen in this light, the child is an immortal Spirit, with a huge baggage of experiences, heir of herself, who returns to Earth in order to acquire new knowledge and, especially, to redesign its course of action, adjusting it as much as possible, to the principles of the Gospel of Jesus. Thus, we learn, in Spiritism, that we reincarnate to continue our evolutionary journey. Kardec asked the Superior Spirits what is the use of going through the phase of childhood. They explained that not only the parents are responsible for the child's education. Those who, through teachings and examples, help the child to acquire new knowledge are also responsible. With this assistance the child is able to redesign its course of action, i.e., to re-educate itself through a conscious effort, to reach its enlightenment, a divine heritage with which all Spirits are gifted according to the teachings of Jesus (Mt 5: 16). 

School of Evangelization: Outpost of the Spiritual World - Among these "tasked to educate it," (the child), using the words of the Spirits, we are child evangelists linked to these brothers, newcomers from the Spiritual World, not by ties of consanguinity or kinship, but by the most sacred ties of the noble task we accepted before the Greater Evangelist. Therefore, we understand that we were given a mission that is the continuation of the work begun in the Spiritual World, preparing the Spirit for his return to Earth. When we consider the Spiritist School of Evangelization as an Outpost of the Spiritual World, we must meditate on the scope and responsibility of the task that is assigned to us.

Aware of the great responsibility of enlightening consciences, it is urgent that we prepare ourselves properly, through sincere prayer, quiet meditation, and edifying studies. Only then, will our words pass to others the magnetism based on our deepest convictions, contrary to surface information. Thus, we will touch the little ones, because the one who is not convinced of what he says can rarely convince anyone. As an example, it is worth remembering the words of the Benefactor Alexander, mentioned in the book "Missionaries of Light," on page 311: "The one, who teaches virtue, living this greatness in himself, has his word strengthened by a positive magnetism, spiritually building up the souls of those who listen to him. Without this feature, indoctrination always becomes vain." Thus, the soft but firm word will open the doors of the child's understanding, giving us the opportunity of sowing the Gospel lessons, now explained in light of the Spiritist Doctrine.

Three major concerns: thinking, feeling and doing - We should be aware that the Spiritist School of Evangelization - affectionately called the "the little school" - is the school that most clarifies, despite the short time we have with the child, and despite the misunderstanding of many leaders of spiritual centers and material difficulties. This is the school that provides the implementation of a new time, of liberating teachings, which are able to change mindset, and which will enable the child to effectively work for a fairer, more fraternal and modern society, as foreseen by the Spirits.

We should also remember that Spiritism, when it brings us back to the teachings of Jesus, in its simplicity, objectivity, and original strength, takes away from us that mystical feeling of attending the temple - the so-called house of God - and reveals the world as a workshop of our religious experience, and of our improvement. It also takes from us another religious reference, beyond the temple - the figure of the priest, the pastor, the guru.

Keeping this in mind, we must think about what we mean to a child, who watches us effectively as a religious reference, although we are engaged in showing the child the venerable figures, who have, through time, contributed for man's enlightenment, and here we emphasize the greatest figure of all, Jesus.

Therefore, we must strive with all the power of our understanding, to develop ourselves more and more to be able to accomplish our work with the child. This enhancement involves three main aspects that should be the focus of the concerns of evangelizing: thinking, feeling, and doing

Spiritist centers must consider Evangelization of the Child the most important work - Thinking makes us reflect, and we become fully aware of the value of our work. When we think of our work in the infant evangelization, we must evaluate the level of our commitment to the task, the time we dedicate to it, how many hours per week do we spend working on the preparation of the message we will take to the child. The child expects our guidance in order to walk safely through this so troubled world. We do not think we are great missionaries or enlightened Spirits, but we do have the conscious of the relevance and importance of our work, even though our team of children attending evangelization classes is small, and it does not matter if the class has "only one!" In addition, when we feel any doubts about our effort, we must remember that in the psychic work of obsession, which should be called "evangelization of the disembodied," several people strive, sometimes for quite a while, with the purpose of guiding a single Spirit, which is on a wrong path, often by not having been evangelized in childhood.

When we examine the results of the work developed in the Spiritist centers, it is evident that Evangelization of the Child is the most important activity. It benefits the Spirit from the infant stage, influencing his course of action, offering him guidelines, which will help him not only on his passage through Earth, but will also serve as a beacon to enlighten his conscience in his life as an immortal Spirit.

That is why, recognizing the value of other tasks developed in Spiritual centers, we easily arrive to the conclusion that the Evangelization of the Child should take precedence. This activity should be viewed with greater responsibility on the part of the leaders of Spiritist institutions. It is the continuation of the work, which started in the Spiritual World, when the Spirit was being prepared to reincarnate.

We all have love in us, in a state of latency - When we are discouraged, we ought to remember the irreplaceable value of our task, specially dealing with the misunderstanding of the leaders of the Spiritual centers, lack of physical space, of suitable material, the lack of cooperation of the parents themselves, the difficulties with the child. All these obstacles were meant to withdraw us from the blessed harvest for which we were summoned.

The Evangelist must also engage in the development of his capacity of feeling. We all have love in us, in a state of latency. This divine heritage, which is revealed through successive centuries, can be externalized quicker by creature's conscious effort. In addition, the Evangelist is challenged to love, because who does not love is not capable of teaching the little ones the meaning of love. Thinking is very important, it is essential. However, to think without feeling can lead us to a very cold attitude, very calculated, and which although it is mathematically correct within purely pedagogical parameters, viewed in the academic angle, it is inconsistent with the spirit of the work of evangelization, which should excel by encouraging the development of the virtues established by the Gospel. Having this in mind, our "doing" guides us through the effort in the preparation of lessons, with respect to the content being taught, the material to be used, but mainly through the effort of preparing our capacity to feel, to love, enlightening us so that our work can enlighten others too.



 


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