© 2017 Jean Claude Romeuf
© 2017 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
So what will I do this Sunday to pass the time? That’s the question I asked myself this morning when I woke up. The first idea I had was to go to a Malagasy mass to listen to the magnificent religious songs and immerse myself in traditional folklore. As I walked my friend home who was going to celebrate this national holiday with her family, I told her that I would go to church to pray for her. Because, you all know that it is preferable that the person for whom we pray is aware of our intention to do so. But, she told me, I am Protestant and you are Catholic!
Faced with the incongruity of the situation, it seemed preferable to me to choose neutral ground and enter the most beautiful basilica in the world: the ocean! Forty meters deep, I know a small cave. That’s where I will go to pray for her!
I got out my mask, my wetsuit, my parachute, my diving watch and then called my club. The boats weren’t going out to sea today! Too bad, mine was leaving for a visit to Nosy Iranja; so I would mingle with the tourists and say a prayer as I passed in front of the “Sugar Loaf” which for me is as symbolic as a cross planted in the middle of the sea! But burning myself in the sun in a place that I knew perfectly, didn’t really appeal to me.
A week before, I had stolen a Urantia book from a friend to give to another who lived in Ambatoloaka. The latter suggested that I climb on his motorcycle and follow him to the Assembly of God. No sooner said than done: I would go and pray with the Protestants!
This section of Protestantism, in addition to reading the Bible and worshiping Jesus, relies on both the “speaking in tongues” of the first Christians and the Holy Spirit to express one’s faith. Precisely, when we arrived, the assembly was imploring God for the Holy Spirit to permeate all the participants. A facilitator on the platform encouraged everyone with applause and songs. Here are two wasahas (two white men), the only ones among the hundred Malagasy, who like good students sit in the last pew and participate in the coming of the Spirit. There is nothing more praiseworthy than praying for the Spirit to descend upon oneself and others! An indescribable hubbub tore through the room.
In Madagascar, nothing is done lightly; everything is like the unpredictable sea, calm in appearance but bubbling inside. Some of the participants were close to trance or seemed to want to provoke it (the tromba); there were tremors, cries similar to sobs, manifestations of joy and gladness.
Each one, according to his emotion, expressed himself in his own way through gestures and words that had no meaning to me. Nothing seemed organized and yet, everything had been planned. At the signal from the facilitator, there was silence. I understood a little later that all these children of God wanted to speak in “tongues” and that in their own way, they allowed themselves to be imbued with the Spirit!
Do not think that I was shocked by what I saw and heard. On the contrary, I too was sensitive to the Spirit. I felt a lot of tenderness for all these little people made divine by a common faith in the paternity of God which makes possible the brotherhood of men. It does not matter how the worship of God is expressed!
These adults were not childish, but they knew how to pray to God as a child addresses his Father in innocence, respect and trust. Yes, the Spirit blew on me like the sea wind that every evening, here in Nosy Be, brings the fishermen’s canoes back to the shore. I found myself on the welcoming beaches of spirituality.
So, I also started to pray. It didn’t take me much time. I didn’t ask for anything specific. I never ask God for anything, because he knows my needs better than I do. “Hello, Jesus, I’m here. I’m saying hello from earth. You have hello from my girlfriend!”
But most of all, today I was blessed with the coming of the Spirit of Truth. A small voice told me that before presenting the beliefs of The Urantia Book, which many do not need to enter the Kingdom because they are already there, we must first get in tune with the beliefs of other communities and people.
"Thank you my God for this beautiful day. Thank you also for allowing me to know the booklets, because even if I did not need them to enter your kingdom, I acquired thanks to them an extension of my cosmic consciousness and an enhancement of my spiritual perception. Sunday June 25, 2017
Jean-Claude Romeuf