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Spirituality

True Citizenship Starts in Heaven

Source: A Reflection of Goodwill taken from the book “Jesus e a Cidadania do Espírito” [Jesus and the Citizenship of the Spirit], October 2019.

Most times, peoples and their countries have skillfully succeeded in subsisting despite the lack of education, the lack of charity, famine, pestilence, or wars. And that is a result of the Immortal Spirit that inhabits all citizens, whether they are aware of it or not. It is crucial that we understand that true citizenship starts in Heaven, from where we originally came, since there is Life before life.

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The Holy Gospel of Jesus reveals, as in John 1:1 to 5: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made: Jesus Christ. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Tela: Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900)

That divine beginning is reflected in the concern and in the respect that spiritual traditions have towards the celestial existence, which precedes and goes beyond matter.

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.”