Believing in the Human Being

Speech given by Paiva Netto during the Illumination ceremony of the LGW’s ParlaMundi building.

Brasília, December 24, 1994.

God is Present!

(Crowd: Hail Jesus, the Christ and the Statesman, who is arriving, in our hearts forever!)

Before anything else, I want to thank Jesus for the good friends I have, which the Legion of Good Will has (an Organization whose slogan is for a better Brazil and a happier Humanity). These great friends of Jesus are all of you who fill this immense square. You left your homes where you could be now in the bosom of your families celebrating a traditional Christmas dinner to dine with the entire Humanity, dine with the Christ of God, our merciful Friend, who has guided my entire my life. I was never ashamed of His name, which is why I ask for everyone to repeat with me: Jesus, cure Brazil and free Humanity! Grant Brazil and all peoples, as You promised, the Peace that the world cannot give us. Whoever trusts Jesus doesn’t waste time! Whoever trusts Jesus doesn’t waste time! Whoever trusts Jesus doesn’t waste time!

For this reason, going against the wishes of so many friends of the LGW, I did not accept the generous proposal to inaugurate the World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity on March 2, 1995, my birthday, exactly because it was the World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity, the Parliament of Peace. It could never, ever, under any circumstances, be inaugurated on any date other than the birthday of the Head of Humanity, Our Lord Jesus Christ, precisely the Lord of Peace; Jesus, the Supreme Ruler of Planet Earth and, therefore, Brazil. And it is while thinking of Him—recalling the Book of Genesis in which when creating the world in the beautifully symbolic but revealing language of Moses he related what the Creator of the Universe had determined: “Fiat Lux,” and light was created—that today we illuminate the World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity, the ParlaMundi, with human light, but certain that the Spirit of God will illuminate these walls, this environment, so that this here is not a dream, but a tangible reality, which touches hearts, so that everyone can discover that above the intellect is the heart, because the heart hears the Word of God faster than the human brain.

May this World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity, the ParlaMundi, unite the intelligence of the brain with the intelligence of the heart. (...) We have two legs; if we miss one, where will our balance be? May we have balance here; may Human Beings never be disrespected even for one second, in any of the environments of this Ecumenical Parliament, as it never occurred in the Temple of the Unrestricted Ecumenism.

It is a mistake to say: I live in that apartment, that home, that hut. That is a tragic mistake. To tell the truth, we do not live in any apartment, in any home, in any hut. Before anything else we inhabit the planet Earth. And if we do not love it properly, certain of our improvidence, our lack of love, our lack of attention for eternal things (which needs to become normal in each Human Creature’s life and all nations), we will lose the great and beautiful home that God gave us through His Mercy.

I am stubborn. I believe in the Human Creature and I know that the Will of God is expressed through those who love Him. Science crawls on this orb, because the Earth is still in the level of an elementary school and will only move to a higher stage when Love really guides our actions. Today we illuminate this Parliament, where creatures will love one another. Men can read many books, find a thousand explanations for human and social problems, but as long as they do not respect each other true solutions will never be found.

Love, which is God, is the most powerful weapon in the world. At this time, with the Spirit raised to the Supreme Creator, we are awakening in everyone’s hearts such an enormous power that will silence all armaments. Am I dreaming!? Why not try to make it happen?

But it is not only the voice of weapons that shoot when their triggers are pulled. We are struggling to silence the sinister armaments of slander, hate, infamy. Everything that summarizes in the disaffection that causes hearts to become dry.

A law will operate in this House: Love. Ecumenism will silence the millenary specialty of intolerance in the hearts of the religious.

The late Alziro Zarur (1914-1979), Founder of this House, once said: “The greatest criminals in the world are those who preach hate in the name of God.”

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) revealed that “The greatest key to democracy is solidarity”.

Gandhi (1869-1948) noted: “Differences of opinion should never mean hostility. If they did, my wife and I should be sworn enemies of one another”.

Love is not an illusion. It is the energy that moves the worlds. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) perceived this in his Divine Comedy. Love is the Supreme Power. It created the Universe. So how can it not resolve the petty problems that separate men and nations on Earth? Words should, from now on, cease to hide human thought.

No one will dare to conquer any position so they can exploit their kind; nor use intelligence to maintain creatures in ignorance. It is necessary, using a language that everyone understands, that Humanity feels ashamed of itself; that Humanity creates judgment. And many people who still do not believe in God, but one day will have faith, have more judgment than many of those who proclaim to be religious.

Based on certain behaviors, politicians, the military, scientists, and artists may even say: if there are religious people who believe in God but are still the greatest preachers of misunderstanding, then all our actions against our peers are justified.

Once a journalist friend of mine questioned me in Goiás, in 1982: “Paiva, you are wasting your time. You speak of Love when violence grows in the world”.

I replied: My dear Brother, do you want me to speak of Love when everyone loves each other?

We have to think like Confucius (551-479 B.C.) and dig the well before our thirst comes. That is what the Legionaries of Good Will are doing.

It is time to learn to love and sustain this vital knowledge. Beginning with Religion and then Science, Philosophy, Politics, Economics, Art, Sports, because every advance made by Love reduces the area of activity for hate. Either we learn to respect each other or no one will remain to tell the story.

People speak of Love but think of venereal diseases. What provokes these diseases is not Love. Love is not the torpid expression of desire. In the definition of John the Evangelist, who learned this lesson from Jesus, Love is God. The Divine Master came to bring us the definitive, perfect, discerning form of Love that the world had never known.

Which is why we say that Jesus is Humanity’s Great Statesman. He is, therefore, the true inspiration behind the World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity, the ParlaMundi.

Therefore, let us greet Him as the Magnanimous Pacifier, since Jesus is not responsible for any fanatic action taken during the course of history in His name. He commanded: Love one another!, and not loathe one another.

What advantage is there in loving that which already loves us back? A privilege for the Man of common sense, even if he is not among the so-called Christians (despite the Legion of Good Will considering all Humanity Christian, that is, consonant with Christ’s universalist vision, free of any human sectarian belief), is to love those who still do not understand us and may eventually hate us.

We cannot enter the Third Millennium with the primitive mentality of the Neanderthal man. Either we correct that or soon we will not be able to consider ourselves Human Beings. As long as hearts remain armed, war will be like Damocles’ sword hanging over our heads.

Today we celebrate the most beautiful Christmas Dinner of our entire existence. And the food is Love.

The World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity is illuminated with the humble lights of Human Science.

Each one of us will now make a wish, a Christmas wish to God, to Christ and the Holy Spirit, while the Choirs, beginning with the children, will sing Silent Night.

We will see who wins the great battle of all times since the existence of Humanity: hate or Love.

I believe in Love as a positive form of action. Not cowardly Love, but a courageous, active, vigorous, realizing Love. So significant is Love as an opener of paths that it is the only solution for Humanity’s survival in the face of so many madmen who have governed it over the course of centuries.

What we are asking God, Christ and the Holy Spirit—since we have materially illuminated the World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity—is that His Divine Clarity be present throughout this entire notable architectural construction and in everyone (Men and Spirits) who are gathered here, or those listening through the hundreds of radio stations that transmit our word, so they can know Them (the Holy Trinity) as an irrefutable instrument of human and spiritual accomplishments that have, even if obstinately, led people forward. Because the only thing that is worthwhile in the world is to love! That is, to act with a strong sense and firm determination for Humanity’s most complete progress: body allied with Spirit. One cannot be developed and the other forgotten. That has only provoked imbalances among people. The greatest suffering is the absence of Love.

To love in Religion, Science, Politics, Philosophy, and at home. In the Apocalypse, in his Message to the Church in Laodicea, Jesus invites us to this great feast: the epopee of loving.

So let us greet the Supreme Exponent of this Ecumenical Parliament, the great Commander, the True Conductor of the Legion of Good Will and of all of us: Jesus, Our Lord!

In his Gospel, Christ says: “Let the little ones come to me, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”.

However, the little ones are not only those who are small in age. They are also people who become simple at heart, capable of understanding the message that only those who love can understand.

Each person should make their wish now, during this prayer.

Mine is this one: Jesus, illuminate with Your Love this Ecumenical Parliament that belongs to You.

To the heavenly song of Silent Night, which begins like this: “All is calm…”, we will certainly take an enormous step by integrating ourselves with this Peace that neither governments nor bayonets can give to nations. Those who think the greatest strength is the material or human one, are totally wrong. The supreme strength, the undefeatable power is of the Spirit.

So, to my Catholic, Protestant, Spiritualist, Esoteric, Muslim, Umbanda, Candomblé, Hare Krishna, Baha’i, Vale do Amanhecer and Atheist Brothers – in short, Humanity –, let us pray for the best, according to our faith, so that mothers do not need to send their children to war, so that no one is exploited anymore. Is this an illusion? Is this a utopia? But this electrical lighting that has beautified the ParlaMundi for a short time was once utopia as well. Airplanes were once utopia. Everything is utopia before it becomes reality.

As the old adage says: “When the disciple is ready, the Master appears.”

Everyone now make, in your own way (and I don’t need to know how), your wish, your most beautiful wish, at this Christmas Dinner that is the World Parliament of Ecumenical Fraternity, which the Legion of Good Will offers from its heart to Brazil and to Humanity.

(Good Will Ecumenical Choir interprets the song Silent Night.)

Nobody accomplishes anything alone. Without you all I cannot realize anything. The best speech of a man is his deeds. Let us have Good Deeds, as Christ asked us. Good deeds that lift the fallen, dress the naked, feed the starving, medicate the sick, help the abandoned. Because in each of them we find Jesus! Hail the Permanent Christmas of the LGW, for a better Brazil and a happier Humanity!

Whoever trusts Jesus doesn’t waste time. Does not waste it at all! Does not waste it!