Editorial
By Allan Kardec Vancouver Society's Board of Directors
This past year was a very special one, filled with gratitude and renovation in our hearts. Our group has received several gifts.
Earlier this year, we've had the pleasure to receive Miriam Masotti, coordinator for the Children's Evangelization program under the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB). Miriam travels across Brazil and all around the world encouraging spiritist centres to deepen their evangelization work with families.
We also had the satisfaction of receiving Alírio de Cerqueira Filho and Afro Stefanini II, facilitators of the Espiritizar project that promotes the Spiritist Doctrine, based on the Gospel of Jesus. They brought us great insights around Spiritism, Jesus and the Christianism. Additionally, we were able to launch projects, such as the Evangelization and the Xavier, our soup for the soul, which is already in its fifth month.
Also, we started a new study group for beginners (ESDE 1), thanks to the greater demand of people looking to learn more about the Spiritist Doctrine. The purpose of such study is to expand our skills around Spiritism, as well as to develop the reasoned faith, self-knowledge and inner change.
And to close 2016 with style, we will be hosting our First Annual Christmas Dinner Party on the 23rd of December, with a play and a choral featuring our kids from the Evangelization Group and a visit from Santa! We will also be hosting a special lecture on the 30th, with Professor Cosme Massi, an expert on Allan Kardec's works for over 30 years now. He's also the mind behind the Kardecpedia. Cosme will speak on The Moral and Ethical Aspects of Spiritism in Times of Change. You can register by sending us an email to contact@allankardec.ca with your full name and phone number.
We would like to wish you all a Joyous Christmas and a New Year full of love and peace. Here's to another year together, learning each day, and practising the teachings of our beloved Jesus Christ.
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Christmas with Jesus
By Tatiana Barros
'Tis the season! Christmas is just around the corner, and so are the traditional Starbucks red cups, Christmas carols, the rush to find the perfect gift, etc.
However, what truly makes this season so special are not the gifts neither the pumpkin spice lattes, but the call we get from the bottom of our hearts, inviting us to the deepest reflections around love. Somehow, it is as though we are more exposed to intense waves of love.
On the 25th, many will remember the passage of Jesus Christ on our planet. In the book The Genesis, by Allan Kardec, it is stated that the Christ, a spirit of a very high order, can be placed very above the terrestrial humanity concerning His virtues. Undoubtedly, His incarnation on Earth must have been one of the missions that God only entrusts to their most direct messengers.
When Jesus rose, He summed up the existing commandments in just two: "Love God above all things and your neighbour as yourself". The teachings of this beloved Brother, who still watches over us, are the constant calls that knock at the door of our conscience as an invitation to exercise true love while performing our internal change.
Jesus also taught that true life is not this short experience lived here on Earth, but rather the life lived in Heaven; meaning that we are all passing through this planet. What would it be like if we took this brief moment in eternity to give ourselves up to the Messiah's call? May we, therefore, embrace this invitation to exercise love, recognising that this is the only path that will lead us to God.
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Merry Christmas! ❤️
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Did You Know?
From the book "Espiritismo Fácil", by Luis Hu Rivas, Editora Boa Nova.
The "table-turning" phenomenon was very common in Europe, especially in France, between 1850 and 1855. People would either place their hands on the table or just stay around it and then wait for the movements or turns to begin. At the time, the occurrence would be seen more as a form of entertainment than a serious matter. The phenomena caught the attention of the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, later known as Allan Kardec. He participated in several meetings, observing and finding that spirits were provoking such movements. From there Allan Kardec began his serious investigation about the interactions between humans and Spirits.
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Questions from Readers
Why does God allow less enlightened spirits to inspire us to do evil? (Anonymous reader)
First, it is important to remember that God is sovereignly fair and good, as quoted in Allan Kardec's Spirits' Book. Second, God gives us free will so that we are responsible for the choices we make while evolving as immortal spirits. Therefore, our less enlightened brothers are instruments to test our faith. It is important to highlight that if adverse influences approach us, it is because we attract them.
However, let us not forget that we are blessed beings, with 24/7 protection from the enlightened spirits, which are always there to inspire us and to guide us during our earthly journey. The more we vibrate love, peace and kindness the more connected we are to these enlightened beings. The choice is always in our hands.
You can find more answers to inquiries related to this subject in Chapter 9 of the Spirits' Book, especially on question #466.
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Questions? Suggestions? Email us at contact@allankardec.ca.
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