SOWING

Your generosity will call the goodness of others to your aid. 

Your simplicity will solve problems for many people. 

Your complexity will give rise much insincerity in others. 

Your indifference will produce visible coldness in others. 

Your sincere desire for peace will guarantee tranquillity along your path. 

Your belligerency will bring forth fruits of anxiety. 

Your blunt frankness will provoke rude responses. 

Your refinement will inspire correct manners in those who follow you. 

Your superior spirituality will motivate sublime spiritual achievements. 

We sow and we reap daily. Life is also a soil which receives and produces eternally.

Excerpted from Chapter 21 of "Christian Agenda" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit André Luiz)

INTERCESSION

"Brothers, pray for us." - Paul (I Thessalonians, 5:25)

Many human beings smile ironically when we speak of the assistance received from intercessory prayers.

Mankind has become so habituated to automatic theatrics that he has difficulty in understanding the sincerity if profound spiritual manifestation. The intercessory prayer, meanwhile, continues to provide benefits of inalterable value. It would be unjustifiable to believe that this type of prayer would be a flattering praise intended for an earthly monarch in order to obtain certain favors.

A prayer soliciting an intercession is surely one of the most beautiful fraternal acts, and can trigger the emission of benefical and illuminating forces. Such forces, when originating from a sincere spirit, go straight to the proposed objective as a blessing of comfort and energy. The results, do not occur as a gift, but rather, as a consequence of just laws. It is difficult for man to believe in the existence and influence of invisible thought waves, but he is in the midst of sounds which his material ears do not register. He solely understands tangible assistance; however, in Nature one can observe venerable trees that protect and preserve grass and shrubs receiving life's blessing without ever touching their roots or their trunks. 

Do not overlook the blessings of an intercession.

Jesus prayed for His disciples and followers in the culminating hours.

Excerpted from Chapter 17 of "Our Daily Bread" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit Emmanuel)  

NATURAL CONCLUSIONS

The patient person never despairs. 

The anxious sooner or later complain 

The brave endures difficulties, overcoming them. 

The reckless confront dangers without ponderation. 

The enlightened person stands out. 

The theorist talks excessively. 

The friend studies ways to help. 

The adversary watches for means to hurt. 

The common man helps according to his inclinations. 

The Christian always help.

Excerpted from Chapter 20 of "Christian Agenda" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit André Luiz)

A MATTER OF CHOICE

Look for a delinquent and you will find many offenders. It is necessary, then, for you to possess an immense reserve of love in order to reform them without becoming criminal yourself. 

Seek to identify a fault and you will find innumerable ones. Faced with that situation, it is essential that you be sufficiently enlightened so as not add your error to the errors of others. 

Try to locate one thorn and you will encounter various thorn bushes. In such case, it is necessary that you remain very well balanced in order not to hurt yourself. 

Place too much attention upon a stone in the road and, shortly, the ground will become very stony to your eyes. After that, you will need a great deal of resistance not to succumb to the roughness of the journey.  

Approach goodness, look for it with determination, and kindness will illuminate your path. Only then will you be perfectly equipped to win the war against evil.

Excerpted from Chapter 19 of "Christian Agenda" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit André Luiz)

WHO DO YOU OBEY?

"And once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." - Paul (Hebrews, 5:9)

Every human being is obedient to someone or to something.

Nobody remains without an objective.

Even rebellion submits itself to the correcting forces of life.

Man is obedient at all times. However, if he has not been able to define his own submission as a constructive virtue, it is generally due to being influenced by impulses of a lower nature, resisting the opportunity for his inner elevation.

He usually transforms the obedience that could save him into slavery that will condemn him. The Lord delineated the graduation of the path; He established the Law of personal effort, in the acquisition of the supreme values in Life, and determined that man must accept this design in order to be truly free. However, man preferred to go along with his inferior condition and created his own imprisonment. The disciple must carefully examine the field in which he is to realize his own task.

Who do you obey? Do you perhaps first attend to your human vanities or to the opinions of others, prior to observing the recommendations of the Divine Master?

It is always advisable to reflect in this regard, because only when we follow the living teaching of Jesus in every sense, can we liberate the enslavement of the world in favor of eternal salvation.

Excerpted from Chapter 16 of "Our Daily Bread" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit Emmanuel)

USEFUL REMINDERS

Do not continually ask for spiritual guidance. If you already have tuppence worth of Christian concepts, then you understand enough to know what to do. 

Do not waste your energy trying to straighten out others by imposition. When we straighten ourselves out we realise that the world is administered by Divine Wisdom and that the obligation to cooperate continuously toward goodness is our fundamental duty. 

Do not blame the discarnate spirits for your failures in life's struggles. Note the rhythm of your own life, examine your income and expenditures, your actions and reactions, your manners and attitudes, your obligations and decisions, and you will recognise that you have the situation you sought and that you reap exactly what you sown. 

Do not appeal systematically to your spiritual friends with regard to petty everyday tasks. They are equally busy and confront problems greater than yours and their responsibilities are more grave and immediate. Within the common struggles on Earth, you would not have the courage to ask a generous and kind professor to perform the functions of a baby sitter. 

Do not wait for death to solve the problems of life, nor claim sickness or old age as an excuse to stop learning, because we are still very far from Heaven. The grave does not bring a miraculous transformation, but opens a wider door to our own conscience.

Excerpted from Chapter 18 of "Christian Agenda" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit André Luiz)

IN TRUTH

The saint does not condemn the sinner. He helps him without being presumptuous. 

The wise person does not ridicule one who is ignorant. He instructs him in a brotherly manner. 

The enlightened person does not insult those walking in darkness. He illuminates their path. 

The instructor does not blame the stumbling apprentice. It is the insecure sheep which most needs the shepherd. 

The good person does not persecute the one who is bad. They assist them to better themselves. 

The strong person does not malign the weak. They help them to raise themselves up. 

The humble person does not avoid one who is proud. They cooperate silently in their favour. 

The sincere person does not disturb others. They bring harmony to all. 

The unpretentious do not criticise the vain. Whenever necessary they help without ostentation. 

The Christian does not hate or hurt. He follows Christ, serving the world. 

Otherwise, titles of virtues would only be external coverings which time would destroy.

Excerpted from Chapter 17 of "Christian Agenda" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit André Luiz)

THOUGHTS

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable; if anything is excellent or praiseworthly, think about such things." - Paul (Philippians, 4:8)

All of the accomplishments of mankind constitute the result of thoughts on the part of human beings. Evil and righteousness, the ugly and the beautiful lived, prior to anything, in the mental thought of he who produced them, in the incessant movement of life.

The Gospel projects a generous route so that the mind of man may be renewed on the path to the superior spirituality, proclaiming the necessity of such a transformation towards higher spheres. It will not be by acquiring a higher intellectual level in Philosophy that the disciple will initiate his efforts toward achievements of this nature. To renovate thoughts is not as simple as it may appear at first glance. It requires a great deal of renunciation and profound control of one's inner self. Those qualities are not easy for one to achieve without hard work and heartfelt sacrifice. It is for this reason that many workers modify verbal expressions, judging that they have reformed their thoughts. However, at the moment of recapitulation, due to the repetition of the circumstances, the redeeming experiences, once again, encounter analogous disturbances because the obstacles and the shadows persist in the mind, as occult phantoms. 

To think is to create. The reality if this creation may not come to the surface at once, in the field of transitory effects, but the object formulated by the mental forces live in the inner world, requiring special attention in the attempt at continuation or extinction.

The message from Paul to the Philippians is of a sublime content.

The disciples that were able to comprehend the profound essence in an effort to seek whatever things are true, honest, just, and pure, cultivating them each day, shall have discovered the divine equation.

Excerpted from Chapter 15 of "Our Daily Bread" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit Emmanuel)

SOME DEFINITIONS

A benefactor is one who helps and goes on his way. 

A friend is one who aids in silence. 

A companion is one who cooperates without making us feel uneasy. 

A reformer is one who restores himself to the ways of goodness. 

A strong person is one who knows how to wait within the task of peaceful work. 

An enlightened person is one who knows himself. 

Brave person is one who fears nothing in himself. 

A defender is one who cooperates without causing confusion. 

An efficient person is one who acts for the benefit of all. 

A winner is one who conquers himself.

Excerpted from Chapter 16 of "Christian Agenda" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit André Luiz)

IN DOING SO YOU WILL PROFIT

Comfort the despairing. You yourself will not escape the temptations of discouragement within the circles of struggle. 

 

Lift the fallen. You do not know where your own feet will stumble. 

 

Extend your hand to those who in need of support. Your day for receiving cooperation will arrive. 

 

Help the sick. Your own soul is not using an invulnerable body. 

 

Make an effort to understand the less enlightened companion. Know that you do not always have the necessary means for understanding as could be desired. 

 

Be sympathetic towards the unfortunate. The sky will not always be sunny for you. 

 

Be tolerant and patiently help the ignorant. Remember that there are Sublime Spirits that tolerate us and help us with heroic kindness. 

 

Console the downhearted. You cannot foresee the surprises of your own destiny. 

 

Help the offender with your good thoughts. He teaches us how hostile and disagreeable we are when we hurt someone else. 

Be kind to those dependent upon you. Do not forget that Christ himself was compelled to obey.

Excerpted from Chapter 15 of "Christian Agenda" - Chico Xavier (by the Spirit André Luiz)