The children's response

When invited by the Editorial Board of Spirit Sheet to contribute my writing to this prestigious organ for the dissemination of Spiritism, I was overcome with great emotion. Although I am already well-trained in the art of writing, my heart immediately searched its emotional drawers for Marlene Nobre's images, Paulo Severino, Freitas Nobre and Richard Simonetti. As I wasn't born in a Spiritist cradle, over the years I've been enchanted by these pioneers in the dissemination of Spiritism in Brazil and around the world. As I begin this journey in our column, “Words to Eat”, I would like to express my gratitude.

In these times when people are hungry for peace, love, solidarity and joy, I've thought a lot about the satiety that words can provide to a Spirit whose stomach is empty of hope. The hunger of the body is a pain that opens a hole in your belly, but the hunger of the Spirit promotes delusions of power and presumption, as well as robbing you of lucidity. They say that God speaks to men through men themselves, but I particularly believe that he feeds the human Spirit with the nourishing words of children.

A childish response left me dumbfounded at the eloquence of the Almighty giving me words to eat through the purity of a gourmet child. Little Isabella went to a religiously-oriented school, where she and the other children were routinely given words to eat about the God interpreted by these religious educators. With a cognitive capacity that showed total ability to evaluate the facts of her daily life, the little girl was intrigued by the bricklayer's delay in laying the new floor in the small service area of the apartment where she lived. And there were many times when she heard her mother comment during family meals: “It's not possible for that bricklayer to take so long to lay the floor in such a small service area. He's been working for 15 days and still hasn't finished...”

Bellinha's mother's words were digested by the little girl, who remained silent in the face of her mother's complaint. The next day, during school activities, it was time for religious instruction. The nun in charge of the day's lesson stated with conviction that God created the world in seven days, and after telling a short children's story about the creation of the world, she turned to the children and asked if they all agreed.

Bellinha, with her little finger raised, surprised the nun by saying that God couldn't have created the world in seven days. The nun, who was not used to dealing with contradiction, tried to convince the girl. She even went so far as to say that the child was very stubborn and that everyone at school should accept the sacred teachings. Realizing that the girl was chronically stubborn, the school management sent a note to Bellinha's mother expressing their concern about the little girl's stubbornness.

Whenever the child came home from school, her mother would zealously check her notebook to see if there were any notes from the teaching sisters. To her mother's surprise, there was a note about the girl's stubbornness. She immediately called the school and asked to speak to the guidance counselor and was told that the girl had shown a certain rebelliousness with the lesson on the creation of the world.

After hearing the guidance counselor's version, she went to her daughter to talk. Whenever she got home from class, the girl would run to her room and sit on the floor playing with her dolls. In a posture of respect, in which the educator must go into the world of the student, she sat down on the floor with her daughter and began to talk, asking her if she was enjoying the classes and the teachers.

The child said that everything was very good at school, but that there was a teacher who thought that God had created the world in seven days and that she was wrong. The mother was surprised by the child's conviction about the teacher's mistake and decided to ask:

- Bellinha, why are you so sure that God didn't create the world in seven days?

With a stern look on her face and in her words, the girl was categorical:

- If the bricklayer has been here for 15 days and hasn't finished the bathroom, how could God have created the world in seven days?

The mother tried to control herself and burst into laughter at her daughter's response.

Children's words nourish the lives of all those who have the sensitivity to see that God speaks to man through man himself and, more especially, through the mouths of children. Children are special beings who nourish our lives with words to eat.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9).
I would even add: he who has ears to hear, listen; he who has eyes to see, see; and he who has a heart to feel, feel.

Adeílson Salles is a psychoanalyst, writer and speaker

Source
Matthew 13:9