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Spiritual Intelligence

Thinking about the responsibility of parents and educators in the solid, ethical, human, and, mainly, spiritual development of children, I recall on October 10, 1981, talking to Italian journalist Paulo Rappoccio Parisi (1921-2016...

Disarming Hearts

The world is faced with huge challenges—geopolitical tensions, wars breaking out, atomic threats, COVID-19 pandemic, different natural disasters that devastate all nations and make people cry in deep pain. For this reason, journalist Paiva Netto...

Instructing Only Is Not Enough

Intellectual instruction is not enough to form true citizens for the third millennium, which counts on . . . one thousand years to develop a new Civilized Spiritual Era. The brain must be joined by the heart. The Wise Man of the...

Education

Jesus, the Master of Education, in Education as Master

When I make reference to the educators in my talks and writings I try to address myself not only to the heroic professionals of this calling, those who truly deserve this deference, but to those who receive from God (all of us) the mission to place future generations on the right path. So often—History is full of examples—the daily lessons learned on the school benches of life also prepare students for facing up to the challenges of a society that has reached the death throes of its suicidal stance with regard to the environment.

From the Dialectic of Good Will

With regard to the stumbling blocks, even in the Third Millennium teachers are still having to strive on a daily basis to live with dignity, and I recall a passage from my book Reflexões e Pensamentos — Dialética da Boa Vontade (1987) [Reflections and Thoughts — The Dialectic of Good Will] at the time of the communism-capitalism dichotomy, when even then I warned that in fact, teachers are not being treated with dignity. They are orphans by virtue of an inhuman economic system that is in force in various regions on the planet. For the sake of argument, we can say that where they are allowed better material conditions, they are denied the right to think and feel; and where they are not forbidden the action of reason, they are not granted the ability to survive decently...

Ecumenical Educational Proposal
Vivian R. Ferreira

Seizing this opportunity, I would like to bring some reflections I have developed over the years on radio and TV and that today help guide the ecumenical educational proposal of the Legion of Good Will’s schools:

The aim of the Pedagogy of God, of which the Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy and the Pedagogy of Affection are part (a mark of the LGW throughout its 60 years), is to build a free creature through Divine Love, Truth and Justice. According to Christ, it is singularized in “Love one another, as I have loved you. Only by this shall all of you be recognized as my disciples" and in "Then you will know the truth [of God], and the truth [of God] will set you free" (The Gospel according to John 13:34 and 35, and 8:32). Why Pedagogy of Affection? Because the stability of the world begins in the hearts of children.

Tela: James Tissot (1836-1902)

The Pedagogy of God means Jesus, the Master of Education, in Education as Master.

Well now, the same way that we need the bread made from wheat to survive, we also need the spiritual bread, which came down from Heaven, the sustenance of absolute freedom, the food of eternal life for all those who trust in Him, because they respect Him (The Gospel in the writings of John 6:22 to 59).

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.”