Chapter 44 - Life in the Divine Sense

The necessary balance

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1 To everyone his destiny is marked out by his spiritual task and his human task. Both are to be in harmony with each other and strive towards a single goal. Verily, I say to you, I will not only evaluate your spiritual works but also your material works. For in them I will discover merits which help your Spirit to reach me. (171, 23)

2 Until now, man's pride has made him disregard the spiritual part, and the lack of this knowledge has prevented him from being perfect.

3 As long as man does not learn to maintain his physical and spiritual powers in harmony, he will not be able to find the balance that is to exist in his life. (291, 26 - 27)

4 Disciples: Although you live in the world, you can live a spiritual life. For you should not think that spiritualization consists in turning away from what is according to the body, but in bringing human laws into conformity with divine laws.

5 Blessed is he who studies my laws and knows how to unite them with human laws into one, for he will be healthy, strong, generous and happy. (290, 26 - 27)

Good and perishable pleasures

6 I do not tell you to turn away from your earthly duties or from the healthy pleasures of the heart and the senses. I only ask you to renounce that which poisons your Spirit and makes your body sick.

7 He who lives within the law does what his conscience prescribes. He who spurns the permitted pleasures in order to throw himself into the forbidden pleasures, even in the moments of greatest pleasure, wonders why he is not happy nor finds peace. For from pleasure to pleasure he sinks deeper and deeper until he perishes in the abyss without finding true satisfaction for his heart and Spirit.

8 Some must succumb and empty to the last drop the cup in which they sought pleasure without finding it, so that they may hear the voice of Him who always invites them to the banquet of eternal life. (33, 44 - 46)

9 The scientist cuts with a reverent hand a fruit from the tree of science, without first listening to the voice of his conscience, in which my law speaks to him, to tell him that all the fruits of the tree of wisdom are good, and that therefore whoever picks them may do so only for the good of his neighbor.

10 The examples I have given show you why mankind knows neither the love nor the peace of that inner paradise which man should have in his heart forever because of his obedience to the Law

11 To help you to find the same, I am teaching the sinners, the disobedient, the ungrateful and the arrogant, to make you understand that you are endowed with Spirit, that you have conscience, that you can fully judge and evaluate what is good and what is evil, and to show you the path that will lead you to the Paradise of Peace, Wisdom, Infinite Love, Immortality, Glory and Eternity (34, 15 - 17)

12 Man does not always interpret my teachings correctly. I have never taught you to disregard or fail to enjoy the good fruit which my laws approve and allow. I have only taught that you should not strive for the unnecessary, the superfluous, and love it still less; that you should not make use of the corruptible, the unlawful, as of fruits beneficial to the Spirit and the body. But all that which is permitted for the Spirit or the heart and serves it for the good, I have recommended to you because it is within my laws. (332, 4)

13 Much time had to pass for mankind to reach spiritual maturity. You have always succumbed to the two extremes: one has been materialism, through which you seek greater worldly pleasures, and this is in reality detrimental because it keeps the Spirit from fulfilling his task. But you must also avoid the other extreme: the mortification of the "flesh," the complete denial of all that belongs to this life; for I sent you to this earth to live as men, as human beings, and I have shown you the right way, so that you may live in such a way that you "give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." This is the only way to live.

14 I have created this world for you, with all its beauty and all its perfection I have given you the human body through which you are to develop all the abilities I have given you to reach perfection.

15 The Father does not want you to deny yourselves all the good that this world offers you. But you should not put the body above the Spirit, for the body is corruptible, but the Spirit belongs to eternity. (358,7 - 9)

Blessed and unblessed wealth

16 If it is my will to make you owners of earthly goods, I grant them to you so that you share them with your needy brothers and sisters with those who have no fortune or support, with the weak and the sick. But many of those who have nothing on earth can let you share in their spiritual goods. (96, 27)

17 I want all things to be yours, but that you make conscious use of what you need; that you may know how to be spiritually rich and possess much in the material world, if you make good use of it and give to each his true value and rank.

18 How can the Spirit of an immeasurably rich man harm himself if what he possesses is for the good of his neighbor? And how can a mighty man harm himself when his Spirit knows how to withdraw on occasion to pray, and he is in communion with me through his prayer? (294, 38)

19 Do not say to me, "Lord, I have seen poverty among those who follow you. But among those who do not even remember You, nor speak Your name, I see abundance, pleasures and pleasures.

20 My people should not take these cases as proof that he who follows Me must necessarily be poor in the world. But I tell you that the peace that those who listen here and spend a part of their lives doing good do not know those whom you envy so much, nor could they obtain it with all their wealth.

21 Some know how to possess the goods of the world and those of the Spirit at the same time. Others are not given those of the world because they forget those of the Spirit, and still others are only interested in those of the world because they think that divine laws are an enemy of earthly riches.

22 Goods are and remain goods, but not all know how to apply them properly. You are also to know that not all of what many possess, I have given them. Some have received what they have received from me as compensation, just as there are others who have stolen all that they possess.

23 The best proof that men can have of their duty in life is the peace of the Spirit, not the tinkling of coins. (197, 24 - 27)

24 When I say to you, "Ask and it will be given to you," you ask me for earthly things. But truly - for how little you ask me! Above all, ask me for all that is for the good of your Spirit. Gather no treasures on earth, for there are thieves here! Gather treasures in the Father's kingdom, for there your wealth will be safe, and it will serve the happiness and peace of your Spirit.

25 The treasures of the earth are the riches, the power, and the titles of false greatness. The treasures of the Spirit are the good works. (181, 68 - 69)

26 The proud man believes to be great without being so, and poor is he who makes do with the unnecessary riches of this life without discovering the true values of the Heart and Spirit. How miserable are his desires, his desires, his ideals! With how little is he satisfied!

27 But he who knows how to live is he who has learned to give to God what is God's, and to the world what is the world's. He who knows how to refresh himself in the bosom of nature without becoming a slave to matter, who knows how to live, and even if he apparently possesses nothing, he is master of the goods of this life and is on the way to possess the treasures of the Kingdom of God. (217, 19 - 20)

The law of giving

28 If men had faith in my word, carrying me in their hearts, they would always have that sentence of mine present, which I once said to the multitudes who listened to me: "Verily, I say to you, even if you only give a glass of water, this will not remain without reward.

29 But men think: If they give something and get nothing in return, they preserve what they possess by keeping it for themselves.

30 Now I tell you that in My righteousness there is a perfect compensation, so that you never fear to give away anything of what you possess. Do you see those people who collect and accumulate treasures and do not let anyone share in their possessions? Those people carry a dead Spirit within them.

31 On the other hand, those who, until the last breath of their existence, have devoted themselves to the task of giving their neighbor all that they possess, until they saw themselves in their last hour alone, abandoned and poor - these have always been led by the light of faith, which has shown them in the distance the nearness of the "Promised Land," where my love awaits them, to give them a compensation for all their works. (128, 46 - 49)

32 Come near so that I may raise you to true life and remind you that you were created to give But until you know what you carry within you, it will be impossible for you to give to him who needs it.

33 See how everything that surrounds you fulfills the mission to give. The elements, the stars, the beings, the plants, the flowers and the birds-everything, from the greatest to the no longer perceptible, has the capacity and the destiny to give. Why do you make an exception when you are most endowed with the divine grace to love?

34 How much more must you increase in wisdom, in love, in virtue, and in skill, that you may be light in the way of your younger brothers and sisters! What a high and beautiful destiny your Father has given you! (262, 50 - 52)

The fulfillment of duties and tasks

35 In the "Third Age" my spiritual teaching will give the Spirit the freedom to spread his wings and rise up to the Father to offer true worship to Him.

36 But man, as a human being, also has a service to offer to the Creator, and this tribute consists in the fulfillment of his duties on earth, by obeying human laws, showing morality and good judgment in his actions, and fulfilling the duties of father, child, brother, friend, lord, and servant.

37 Whoever lives in this way will honor Me on earth and will allow his Spirit to rise up to glorify Me. (229, 59 - 61)

38 Whoever evades the burden of his task, whoever strays from the right way or disregards the commitments which his Spirit has made to Me, in order to take on commitments according to his taste or will instead, will not be able to have true peace in his heart, since his Spirit will never be satisfied and calm. These are those who seek everlasting pleasures to forget their torment and restlessness, deceiving themselves by false joys and fleeting satisfactions.

39 I let them go their way because I know that even if they go away today, forgetting Me and even denying Me, they will soon understand the meaninglessness of the world's riches, titles, pleasures and honors when reality awakens them from their dream of greatness on earth, when man has to face spiritual truth, eternity, divine justice, from which no one can escape.

40 No one is unaware of this, since you all possess a Spirit who, through the gift of prescience, reveals to you the reality of your life - the way laid out for you, and all that you are to realize on it. But you absolutely want to release yourselves from every spiritual vow in order to feel free and as masters of your life. (318, 13 - 15)

41 Before your Spirit was sent to this planet, it was shown the "fields", it was told that its mission was to sow peace, that its message was a spiritual one, and your Spirit looked forward to it and promised to be faithful and obedient to its mission.

42 Why are you afraid to sow now? Why do you now feel unworthy or unable to do the work that your Spirit so enjoyed when it was given to him? Because you have allowed passions to block your path, thus denying the Spirit the passage, seeking to justify his indecision with childish reasons.

43 Do not come empty-handed to the "valley" from which you came. I know that your suffering would then be very great. (269, 32 - 34)

44 To each one is assigned a number of spirit beings which he is to guide or nurture, and this task does not end with physical death. Spirit continues to sow, cultivate and reap, in the spiritual world as well as on earth.

45 The greater spirits guide the smaller ones, and these in turn guide others of even lesser degree of development, while it is the Lord who guides them all to his obstacle.

46 Now when I have told you that the greater spirits guide the smaller ones, I do not mean to say that these spirits have been great from the beginning, and that the latter must always be small in relation to their brothers and sisters. Those who are now great are so because they have developed and unfolded themselves upward in the fulfillment of the noble task of loving, serving and assisting those who have not yet reached this spiritual level of development, those who are still weak - those who have lost their way and those who are suffering.

47 Those who are still small today will be great tomorrow because of their perseverance on the path of development. (131, 19 - 21)