Issue nº 73

The two Gods | Who wants to go to heaven?
The fuel | Our possibilities

The two Gods
     There are two Gods:
     The God that our teachers taught us about and the God that teaches us.
     The God that people usually talk about and the God that talks to us.
     The God we learn to fear and the God that talks to us of mercy.
     The God on high and the God that is part of our daily life.
     The God that makes demands of us and the God that forgives our debts.
     The God that threatens us with the punishments of hell and the God that shows us the best path.
     There are two Gods:
     A God that drives us away because of our faults and a God that calls us with His love.

Who wants to go to heaven?
     A priest - who saw the devil in the pleasures of life - went to the town tavern and asked everyone there to attend church that evening. Everyone obeyed. With the church filled to the last pew, the priest roared out:
     - Stop all this drinking! All those who want to go to heaven, raise their right hand!
     The entire congregation raised their hand - everyone but Manoel, who was held by all to be a dignified man who fulfilled all his duties.
     Surprised, the priest asked:
     - And you, Manoel, don't you want to go to heaven when you die?
     - Of course I do. But I still haven't experienced the life that God has given me, and you want to take it away from me already!

The fuel
     - Master, what is faith?
     The master asked the disciple to light a fire. The two of them sat in front of it and contemplated the flames.
     - That is faith - said the master. - It is the firewood in the fire. The fuel that keeps the flame of God alive in our hearts.
     - But the firewood needs a spark to change it into light.
     - There are many sparks. The most common one is called Will. Just wanting to have faith is enough for it to appear in our path.
      - Even when we spend all our life without believing in anything?
     - We always believe, even without knowing or accepting it and that is why it is so easy to awaken the spark. And furthermore, the more we live, the closer we grow to God: old firewood burns more easily.

Our possibilities
     I note down in my computer something said by Ken Casey that I read in a magazine on the plane:
     "How odd the human race is - so alike and yet so different! We are capable of working together, build the Pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the cathedrals of Europe and the temples of Peru. We can compose unforgettable music, work in hospitals, create new computer programs.
     "But at some moment all this loses its meaning and we feel alone, as if we belonged to another world, different from the one we have helped to build."
     "At times, when others need our help, we get desperate because that prevents us from enjoying life. And then there are other times when nobody needs us and we feel useless."
     But that is the way we are, complex human beings just beginning to understand ourselves; it's no use despairing on account of that."