José Sola Gomes

Adolfo Bezerra de Menezes: the man and the missionary

He lived the Philosophy, as well as the Science, but
he did not forget to practice Charity 

Part 2 (Final)

 
One year had passed over the disembodiment of his wife and, in 1864Bezerrade Menezes was reelected councilman and married D. Candida Augusta de Lacerda Machado, the sister of his first wife. They had seven children and remained together until the time of his death. He gave continuity to his political career. In 1867he was hailed and elected general deputy.

He had to fight some political battles, and was known as a public man, who did not compromise his principles to reap favors or positions.

As is the case withall honest politicians, a torrent of injuries covered his name with insults. However, evidence of the pureness of his soul came when, abandoning public life, he lived for the poor, where there was an illness to be taken care of, there he was taking to the afflicted the comfort of his good words, his knowledge as a doctor, and the financial help with the very little he had, thus to benefit those in need.

When temporarily away from political activity and engaging in business ventures, he created the Railroad Company from Macaé to Campos, in the then province of Rio de Janeiro. Then he engaged in the construction of the railroad of St. Anthony of Padua, a necessary step to fulfil his wish, not accomplished, to take this railroad up to Rio Doce. He was one of the directors of the Architectural Company, which in 1872 opened the "Boulevard September 28," at the then district of Vila Isabel. Its name paid homage to Princess Isabel. In 1875, he became President of the Rail Company of St. Christopher.

After keeping away for a short time, he returned to political activity and was then elected councilor in 1876. In 1878 he was re-elected and became the Mayor (corresponding to the current position of Mayor) and leader of his party, remaining in office until 1881.

Some Spiritist brethren, knowing that I defend the premise of soul mates, questioned me to know which of the two women would be the soul mate of Bezerra de Menezes: was it his first wife or the second?

Dr. Bezerra de Menezes, the businessman

Logically I have answered as I understand it is, because Dr. Bezerra never made any comments in this regard. Answering the question, I said that probably neither, because it is likely that Bezerra’s soulmate is already experiencing much greater progress, since, although it is not a rule, women commonly evolve faster than men, as is the case of Emmanuel and Livia, or Carlos Kenaglan and Alcione. But what we must remember is that we do not reincarnate only with our soul mates, because we liveseveralreincarnationswith otherSpirits, due tothe need to haveother experiencesoreven being attractedby thesensualityof the opposite sex, because we only become aware of the concept of soulmates when we become mature regarding our feelings and, even so, almost always this awakening happens by means of strong suffering and pain.

From what we can see, our friend Bezerra de Menezes, in addition to being a physician, was also a businessman, and a politician. In short, he lived a dynamic life, and became President of the Companhia Carril de Sao Cristovao. Dr. Bezerra held positions in politics, and he was a congressman and Mayor with the same projection of a today’s Mayor.

It turns out that when we mention this information in his resume, some less informed confreres imagine that Dr. Bezerra spent his time in petty politics. Well, we cannot consider politics and petty politics the same thing, since politics in a social need to administrate a county, state, or nation. Politics is an intrinsic part of an individual’s. Even when we say the famous phrase "I am apolitical", we are defending a political principle of ours and we do not accept others. On the contrary, petty politics regardspartisan interests, to obtain personal and financial benefits, and the individual forgets completely the common interests of society.

There surely have beenmany honest politicians in our country, but today it is difficult to find any, although there are much more politics in Brazil presently than there was at the time of Dr. Bezerra.

Augusto Elias da Silva and the creation of the FEB (Brazilian Spiritist Federation)

If our friend Bezerra was dynamic, an achiever, working in several areas of life, this happened because he manifested his love in everything he did. Having accepted the Spiritist Doctrine, his love and dedication were unlimited, and this love for Spiritism was fruitful, as we know, and he had a fundamental role in the Brazilian Spiritist Movement.

By that time Spiritism in Brazil was trying to organize itself.

In 1876 the first Spiritist society appeared in Rio de Janeiro. In 1883, Augusto Elias da Silva, interested in the dissemination of the Spiritist teachings, founded the magazine "Reformer" and went down to look for collaborators.

Spiritism suffered, however, great persecutions and was fought vehemently. The press was a daily source of fierce criticism; sermons filled the pulpits of insults and insinuations against the Doctrine. Elias da Silva went to Bezerra de Menezes to advice with him on how to fight back all the animosity against Spiritists and the Movement. The answer given by Dr. Bezerra was not to follow the path of attack, not to fight hatred with hatred, but rather fight hatred with love. The keynote of this advice guided Bezerra’s life and work, inside and outside the Brazilian Spirit Movement.

Besides the external attacks, in 1883 there was a downright distracting environment within the Brazilian SpiritistMovement and those, who ran the Spiritist centers of Rio de Janeiro, felt the need for a better structured union, thus becoming in a certain way almost indestructible.

The split was then deep between so-called "mystical" and "scientific", or Spiritists who accepted Spiritism in its religious aspect and those who simply accepted it based on the scientific and philosophical side.

On December 27, 1883, Augusto Elias da Silva held a meeting with the 12 comrades who helped him in the "Reformer". At that meeting, they decided to found a new institution, which was neither mystical nor scientific, but ideologically neutral.

Thus, on January 1, 1884 the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) was founded. It promoted the indoctrination, discipline and exchange of experiences between the various existing centers.

Dr. Bezerra de Menezes, the journalist

Bezerra was among the first to be invited to be the President of this organization, but he did not accept it, since he did not consider himself capable of such responsibility. Its first President was the Marshall Ewerton Quadros and the magazine "Reformer" became the official organ of the FEB.

In 1887 the Doctor of the Poor began writing a series of articles called "Spiritism - Philosophical Studies”. They were published every Sunday in the newspaper "O País", under the pseudonym of Max. It is worth recalling that at that time this was the most read newspaper in Brazil. He maintained this series until Christmas of 1894. He would write later, with the same pseudonym, in two other newspapers, always in defense of the postulates of Jesus Christ, based on the Spiritist vision.

In 1888, at the beginning of these series of articles, Dr. Bezerra lost two children.

He reacted and continued working. For five years he wrote on the Doctrine, elucidated many people and so many herded to the Spiritist ranks.

We have met some confreres who feel aversion when they hear the word "controversy"; however we must not forget that Bezerra de Menezes was a missionary of the Spiritist Doctrine in Brazil, so relevant was his performance in the Spiritist movement, that we Spiritists nicknamed this wonderful Spiritist as the “Brazilian Kardec". Bezerra de Menezes was humble throughout his life, infinitely charitable, did not go into controversies to show off, but because he wanted the truth duly clarified.

Those who wish to understand these polemicsmust acquire the Philosophical Studies, volume 1 and volume 2, published by FEB, because I am unable to transcribe them. When you become acquainted with them, you will see how the polemics were very properly approached and discussed by Bezerra with the priests and bishops of the time. This will be very useful to all those, who believe that to sustain a serious polemic is the same as to sustain petty polemics.

In 1889 Ewerton Quadros Marshal was transferred to Goias, being unable to stay in front of the FEB. To replace him, Dr. Bezerra de Menezes was elected. Three years before he had shocked Rio’s society with the news of his conversion to Spiritism.When they elected him, the intention of the members of FEB was to put a prestigious person with moral power in the presidency, in order to strengthen the unification process.

Dr. Bezerra said he was a born Spiritist

Bezerra de Menezes publicly announced his conversion to Spiritism, so great was the emotion that he felt in his soul - and we cannot forget that at that time Spiritism suffered intense persecution by the press as much as from the Roman Catholic Church.

Indeed, it must be recognized: Dr. Bezerra was not wrong when, while reading "The Book of Spirits," he told himself he was a born Spiritist.

As the Brazilian Spiritist Federation’s President, he tried at all costs to promote the unity of all Spiritists, inspired mainly by the message dictated psychically by Allan Kardec in January of that year, through the medium Frederick Jr., called "Instructions of Allan Kardec to the Spiritists of Brazil".

He fought hard in an attempt to eliminate differences that occurred in the Spiritist area and its purpose was to promote leadership that would house all the Spiritists of Brazil. The more increased the divisions, the more increased were his efforts and work.

Since there were few Spiritist Christian preachers, he assumed the function himself. Therefore, he started on May 23, 1889, a weekly session in the Federation for the study of "The Book of Spirits" and the results were the best possible, with the large number of people who attended there eager for knowledge and information.

Dedicated to the cause, he also held conferences and meetings in a Spiritist House called "Union". He founded a house called "Center" to promote the study of the "Gospel" and "The Book of Spirits," in an attempt to reconcile the different currents of the Spiritist thought. And he still worked at another house where people were treated for spiritual obsession.

The message "Instructions" by Kardec had provided the guidelines for the work of Dr. Bezerra. At one point Kardec asks: "Where is the school of mediums?" And this question remains engraved in the mind of Bezerra. In fact, he did not find a school of mediums anywhere. The solution was for him to startsuch a school.

Many opposed the idea, but he ended up installing the "School of Mediums" in the center. As unfortunately no one liked to study, he found himself alone, for even the very members of the executive committee did not attend school. He invited all of them, but no one attended.

The Spiritist Movement thrived, however, in other areas. The Brazilian Spirit Federation inaugurated its building, preparing for the glorious future that awaited it, beginning a journey that was to solidify it as the Casa Mater of Spiritism in Brazil.

Let us never ignore the examples of Dr. Bezerra

Charitable service was instituted and named "Assistance to the Needy". Many people came and it was the complement of one of the three aspects of Spiritism, the moral aspect, since how could the promised Comforter really be indifferent to pain and to the others’ needs?

Dr. Bezerra was still overlooked in the "center", but nevertheless he held firm to his purpose. The situation reached a point where the costs and the institution's expenses became unsustainable, and Bezerra could no longer dispose of his own resources. He summoned each member of the board to seek the solution of the problem, but no one answered the call. The following week, he called them again. No one attended. He went to the house of each one, to summon a last meeting. Even so they did not turn up. Bezerra was then, alone, and so he went to seek shelter in another Spiritist center, where he was welcomed. A good welcome, however, did not last long, as the divisions would appear again between the currents of Spiritist thought. The Spiritist Movement continued lacking union.

Spiritists, however difficult the Spiritist situation may seem, let's follow the example of this wonderful Spirit, that at no time stopped in front of the difficulties and fought fearlessly trusting in the victory of Light over darkness.
We strive, in turn, in an attempt to preserve the legitimate and pure Spiritist Doctrine, living for the cause with all our love, as exemplified by Dr. Bezerra, because Spiritism is the universal religion of love and wisdom that beats in the heart of each creature, the appointment with the lessons of the Christ of God, as Emmanuel teaches us.

Let us apply ourselves to demystify those who believe that Spiritism should be just a science or a philosophy, since Spiritism is, above all, a synthesis of divine morality, the morality taught by Christ, because we cannot forget that Jesus was the medium of God in this Earth, not incorporating the Supreme Being of the Universe, but translating for us the Divine Laws, which express the thought of the Creator manifesting itself in life, throughout eternity.

Let us not forget, finally, that Dr. Adolfo Bezerra de Menezes lived the Philosophy, and also the Science, but did not forget to practice Charity, because is it worth to have a head full of dreams when we stand still with our hands free? When we fail to practice charity, we show that we are still immature in the field of sentiment and love.