More articles

The Noble Destination of a Crystal

June 1, 1989, marks the day on which the Sacred Crystal was placed on the pinnacle of the Temple of Good Will (TGW), one of the Seven Wonders of Brasília (Brazil), a few months before it was inaugurated on October 21. The idea of having a stone at...

Ecumenism and hard work

To join forces aimed at the solution of social problems Under the lemma "Education and Culture, Health and Work with Spirituality", the Legion of Good Will is renowned for the contribution given to the Ecumenism field of action. In the 50’s, the...

A Message to Garcia

Some readers who honor me with their patience have requested the presentation of a story told by Elbert Hubbard, which I published in the first volume of O Brasil e o Apocalipse [Brazil and the Apocalypse] (1984). The page...

Ecumenism

God Has Many Synonyms

Source: Book “How to Overcome Suffering.” | Updated in January 2023.
Arquivo LBV

Victor Hugo

Everything that is born of Divine Love is truly sublime. Based on such fact, French playwright and poet Victor Hugo (1802-1885) taught us that, “Our mind is enriched by what we receive, our heart by what we give.”

Without Love, which is God, human beings are adrift, far from Truth, which is His Word: “Father, Your Word is Truth” (The Gospel of Jesus according to John 17:17).

If you do not believe in the existence of the Celestial Father, do not feel excluded by my statement. Resort to good sense, for whoever does not exercise it also lives in disorder.

God has many synonyms, such as Love, Fraternity, Solidarity, Compassion, Clemency, Generosity, Mercy, Altruism, Justice, and everything else that values human creatures and leads them to inner Peace, which is extended to all others.

shutterstock

Divine Face

Reprodução BV

Martin Luther

Consequently, the Creator does not approve manifestations of hatred in His Holy Name. Therefore, this quote by Martin Luther (1483-1546) is highly appreciated: “I would not have the Gospel defended by violence and murder. The world is to be conquered through the Word [of God].”

To which God is the Reformer referring? Certainly not to the anthropomorphic one, created in the image and likeness of men, but to that God as defined by John the Evangelist in his First Epistle 4:16: “And so we know and rely on the Love God has for us. God is Love. Whoever lives in Love lives in God, and God in them.”

And Martin Luther had such great understanding of God that his favorite verse in the Bible speaks for itself, to those who “have eyes to see and ears to hear”: “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have Eternal Life” (The Gospel of Christ according to John 3:16).

The old German preacher knew that there is no other path but that of Love, which is a synonym for Charity. Another man of great wisdom in humanity, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), wrote in The Divine Comedy: “Love [is the power] that moves the Sun and all the other stars.”

Arquivo LBV

Dante Alighieri

That is why living apart from Him is to suffer the orphanhood of the Soul. The Divine God has neither mustache nor beard. His Face is Love.

José de Paiva Netto (1941-2025), a writer, journalist, radio broadcaster, educator, composer, poet, the President Emeritus and Consolidator of the Legion of Good Will, and Spiritual Leader of the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. He was an effective member of the Brazilian Press Association (ABI) and the Brazilian International Press Association (ABI-Inter), a member of the National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Union of Professional Journalists of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the Union of Writers of Rio de Janeiro, the Radio Broadcasters Union of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Union of Composers (UBC), and the Academy of Letters of Central Brazil. He became an internationally recognized author in the defense of human rights and in his concepts of Ecumenical Citizenship and Ecumenical Spirituality, which, in his own words, represent “the cradle of the most generous values that are born of the Soul, the dwelling of emotions and of reasoning enlightened by intuition; the atmosphere that embraces everything that transcends the ordinary field of matter and comes from elevated human sensitivity, such as Truth, Justice, Mercy, Ethics, Honesty, Generosity, and Fraternal Love. In short, the mathematical constant that harmonizes the equation of spiritual, moral, mental, and human existence. Now, without the understanding that we exist on two planes―not only on the physical plane―it will be difficult to build a Society that is truly Ecumenical, Altruistic, and Solidary, since we would still be ignoring that the knowledge of Superior Spirituality elevates the character of creatures and, consequently, leads to the construction of the Planetary Citizenship.”