© 2023 Line St-Pierre
© 2023 Urantia Association of Quebec
Line St-Pierre
Ste-Sophie
The day Gaétan became president of the association in Quebec, he asked me what I thought about hosting a study group at home. Knowing that it was a strong desire that he cherished, that of wanting to do something beautiful with this book, I agreed. He told me that it was not something temporary or something that for some was fashionable, but that it would be a commitment as long as we had the capacity! And the journey in this adventure has continued since September 1999.
As a new group, the 5-6 participants that we were, started The Urantia Book by starting at the beginning with the complex papers. During the last hour, the meetings were lightened with the reading of the Life and the teachings of Jesus, while being inspired by the beautiful lessons that we read there and sharing the way they were practiced in our lives, which allowed us to quickly create bonds of camaraderie and to appreciate each other. It took us 12 years to read the first page to the last.
Over the years, we have looked at very specific subjects, we have worked on faith in a group for a presentation during a theme given in Saint-Jérôme, revisited concepts already seen, we have taken course material from the UBIS School of the Foundation and have done the course together during the study group, we have received students from other groups who have presented us with the fruit of their personal work and in 2017 we have established the memorial dinner, every April 6 meeting to share a meal as the master did the day before his death and by Zoom during the two years of the pandemic.
During a study group meeting, we welcomed students from the United States, Belgium and Congo who were passing near us.
So many people gathered around the dining room table; dozens of people and for all sorts of reasons. Some were seeking healing, others came out of curiosity to meet these strange people who were reading this big book, others to understand the book better, and today, all are here to progress spiritually.
Over time, the number of participants varied between six and fourteen readers and everyone in person around the table! For a few years now, there have generally been twelve of us. And then came the pandemic. However, we were prepared to face such an upheaval, because two years earlier, the meetings were set up in two ways, in person and via Zoom.
Accommodating people who wanted to join the group and who lived far from us was also part of our commitment. For those who know Gaétan, all arrangements were made for those who followed us online; a laptop, a 27-inch screen to display the gallery of participants, a microphone in the center of the table and there we were equipped to all see each other and share the joy of being together and progressing in the right direction.
More than 2 years ago, we began studying the Life booklets and the teachings of Jesus again and since then, the friendship and brotherly love that we have for each other has developed, because we know that these bonds will exist eternally.
In booklet 160, Rodan of Alexandria, the art of living that we are studying today, we are told this:
Now it is possible, through personality association, to unite these views of temporal existence and eternal prospects. Thus does the mind of one augment its spiritual values by gaining much of the insight of the other. In this way men enrich the soul by pooling their respective spiritual possessions. (UB 160:2.7)
Becoming a study group host is a very important responsibility, requiring a strong commitment. Twenty-four years have passed and we are still faithful to the appointment on Monday evenings, making the group happy.
Great spiritual power is inherent in the consciousness of wholehearted devotion to a common cause, mutual loyalty to a cosmic Deity. (UB 160:2.8)
