© 2016 Gilles Laverdure, Éric Tarissan, Rolande Martin, Maurice Migneault, Diane Labrecque
© 2016 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ Testimonies to Pierre Routhier
By Gilles Laverdure
Saint-Lambert
Dear Pierre,
It’s been so long since we saw each other that this morning I called your house so I could visit you.
I have only good memories of you and Lise, from the time, towards the end of the 80s, when I didn’t have a computer yet and I had to do technical translations. I would go to your place to use your computer in the basement. I could go there practically at any time of the day or night. One time, I called you because I had an urgent job, but you were in Joliette for the music festival. “No problemo”. I went to get the key to your apartment at the festival where you were in your trailer during the festival.
The best part, though, was when you or Lise were home and we took the opportunity to chat and have a coffee. I must have used your computer about fifteen times during that year.
Since then, we have seen each other again at some readers’ meetings, but not for at least 15 years. So today, I am making an appointment to visit you in the next few days.
¶ Thank you very dear brothers and sisters for your love
Lise and Pierre Routhier
Montreal
Thank you very dear brothers and sisters for your love expressed towards me and for Lise in the Réflectivité.
Looking forward to seeing you again on our eternal journey.
“The God-conscious mortal is certain of salvation; he is unafraid of life;” (UB 156:5.20)
¶ What is for me
The Urantia Book
Eric Tarissan
Quebec
I must first say that a manuscript like The Urantia Book is not like any other. First, anyone who reads this book will meet one of three conditions: he will either have life experience behind him, or a great and sincere curiosity, or at the very least, a spiritual interest.
However, after reading this unique book, I can still say that anyone who wants to see a change in their life will find, through their discoveries, several avenues for reflection.
Personally, I am someone who is spiritually curious and, in my life, I have had the opportunity to read many books such as, for example, on astral travel, the Kabbalah, reincarnation, life after life, Buddhism, “The Life of the Masters”, to name a few. Then, about twenty years passed during which the spiritual dimension of my person remained stagnant, until The Urantia Book came into my hands. At that moment, and during the nine months that followed, it was a revelation. And for good reason, since this book also bears the name “Fifth Revelation”. It would be difficult for me to tell you everything that reached me and enlightened me, because EVERYTHING in this book reached me and enlightened me and, as such, I can now say that to my knowledge, no book on this planet comes close to it, and I weigh my words very carefully. Moreover, it brings to light, in a clear, precise and precise way, realities that are as much cosmic as human and spiritual which, before, had never been so obvious or so simple for me.
In fact, when I read this book, my intellectual, emotional and spiritual horizons literally exploded and, moreover, nothing in this book contradicted my thinking and my intuition, so much did the spiritual intelligence it demonstrated hold up and, ultimately, have no need to be demonstrated. But, you will tell me, how can one believe in something that does not require any demonstration? Well, I would answer you, by experiencing it!
Because it is thanks to this book that I was able to free myself from my intellectualism, by putting into practice truths and realities that had escaped me until then, because I had never seen or understood their foundations, their deep meanings and their eternal values. Moreover, after reading this book, I realized afterwards that it had just freed me from a profound malaise of living. More precisely, from an existential malaise caused by the fear of eternity. This fear that gnawed at my core when I imagined what it could be like once I got to the other side, in the afterlife. When I imagined what it could be like to exist, like that, having, at a given moment, nothing more to say to each other, and this, forever…, for eternity. It disturbed me to the highest degree.
But this book will also have taught me that God who is perfect has divinely and perfectly planned everything by realizing a Plan by which we will never finish improving ourselves and getting closer to Him through the ever-growing, transformative and significant experience in interpersonal relationships. A divine Plan making of his perfect and infinite love, an eternal and authentic living experience of discoveries and realizations.
I still have many things to tell you, but like a film whose ending we don’t want to tell, I prefer to let you discover it.
“When man goes in partnership with God, great things may, and do, happen.” (UB 132:7.9)
¶ Our experience with study groups
Rolande Martin
Quebec
Dear friends,
You sometimes ask me what I got out of these fortnightly studies of The Urantia Book? Friendship, listening, flexibility, humility, patience, long-suffering, and ultimately, taking myself less seriously. The energy of the group carried us. My husband and I formed a second family, chosen that one.
The feelings of other readers were important to me, however they sometimes came up against my personal discoveries, but they often led me to clarify my own ideas. This made me discover other paths of understanding, differently illuminated ones, not that I adopted all their ideas, but they created in me new avenues of illumination and this helped me to go further in my reflections and this gave me more certainties. Everything is not yet entirely acquired, but I am working on it.
In these meetings, I had several contacts with people. Beautiful people both inside and out. It is an art to know how to blossom in Love, in the respect of the personal analyses of each one, but in the end, we all move forward together towards the same goal. I know that there is eternity for this, but in my case I feel that time is pressing.
However, I feel supported by all of you who are very present, alive, palpable, but also by all those who are invisible to us, and that if we ask them for help, for light, it will be provided to us beyond our hopes.
When I look back, I remember at the beginning that I was trembling with fear of having made a mistake, I was also afraid of failing. These new discoveries found in the Urantia Book bathed me in love, reassured me. Before, I could not see myself kneeling in adoration for eternity, because I am more of a girl of action. Aren’t we told that when we have advanced in our spiritual conquests, our celestial guides will have to stimulate us to get us out of adoration… could we have believed it?
I only have to think of all that we have to discover in this Cosmos so great, and find there this small planet that is said to be insignificant, but for me the earth I find it very beautiful. Because fortunately, there was Jesus who chose to come and live his seventh incarnation there and all that he lived to give it its importance. As a result of this, Urantia is now called the world of the cross.
We want to live a healthier, more deserving human life, so we have Jesus as our model. It is up to us to follow him now by adapting ourselves to our century, to the present moment, as Jesus knew so well how to do in his time and with constraints of all kinds. So far from me is this old image of the Holy Family, of Jesus, Mary and Joseph posed as an ideal family and apparently without difficulties. This was of little help to mothers giving birth to a baby every eight months and with so few resources.
Jesus showed us that he was rather the true support of his family and his mother, especially after the death of his human father Joseph. Nothing was spared him and many would benefit from knowing it. Doing the will of his Father was not so easy. So let us take Jesus as an example and stop complaining, because with Mary Jesus also had his share of annoyances. If more people knew about the life and teachings of the Master, this planet would be greatly improved. Our Urantia Book study group meetings are here specifically to spread this great truth. Truly, that is what we are here for, to spread the good news.
¶ PRAISE TO LIFE
Maurice Migneault
AUQ President
[We will all one day lose a loved one, this is a fatality as inevitable as taxes. We may be called upon to give a testimony in church. In anticipation of these solemn moments, here is a little text to keep in reserve.]
Dear…
There is pain in our hearts to see you leave, even if it is for a better world. But let us think of the joy of those who are waiting to welcome you and accompany you to these other places of creation. Let us think of the joy of the Father who watches you take this first step towards His home.
Dear…
You are not really leaving, you are simply going before us. We are all called, like you, to live this necessary transition in our journey. You have now completed the stage of the vehicle of the flesh. These are always the most difficult first steps.
The void you leave behind is not in our hearts, but in the world. What you leave in our hearts is a deep furrow of love.
¶ On the occasion of Easter
I share with you the following quote
“Greater love no man can have than this: that he would be willing to lay down his life for his friends—and Jesus had such a love that he was willing to lay down his life for his enemies, a love greater than any which had hitherto been known on earth.” (UB 188:5.7)
¶ Urantian pilgrimage to the land of Jesus,
Diane Labrecque, director
“The United Family of Urantia”
Hello everyone,
We hope this message finds you in an excellent frame of mind.
In August 2016, The United Urantia Family invites you to join us on a Urantia pilgrimage to the land of Jesus! The journey will take place from August 10-23, 2016, and during this journey, we will celebrate Jesus’ birthday together on Sunday, August 21 in Nazareth—where Jesus lived most of his life as a man among men—as part of the triennial gathering of The United Urantia Family Festival.
This pilgrimage will take you to discover, among other things, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, Bethany, Capernaum, the Mount of Beatitudes, the Jordan River where our Master was baptized by John, Sepphoris, Caesarea, Scythopolis, Nazareth, Cana, Caesarea Philippi, Mount Hermon and the Sea of Galilee!
Our theme for this spiritual journey is “Let’s Celebrate Jesus’ Birthday Together in His Homeland”. To mark this unique event, we will be served a special meal during our visit to the “Nazareth Village” where you will be able to admire an authentic replica of the village of Nazareth as it was in Jesus’ time.
This unique journey will provide us with many opportunities to fellowship and share about the life and incomparable teachings of Jesus and follow in His footsteps as He lived during His bestowal years on Urantia. For more details, visit our website at www.tuuff.org or the direct link for the trip at http://www.tuuff.com/Family\Festivals/Israel_2016/home.html (Please note: since the event is offered to readers of The Urantia Book in different countries with various languages, the site is currently in English. We invite you to contact us for any assistance you may need and we will be happy to call you at the telephone number provided in your email.)
You can also visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/The-United-Urantia-Family144956382184979/ which we will keep updated as the event gets closer, to keep everyone up to date with the latest news.
You can book a place for DOUBLE or TRIPLE OCCUPANCY at the price of $1750 USD per person including all breakfasts and dinners, accommodation, private transportation anywhere in Israel and all applicable fees for visiting paid sites.
Note: You can also book a single occupancy room at an additional cost.
For more information, please contact the organizer and guide of this pilgrimage Diane Labrecque at dianelabrecque@sympatico.ca or at 514-2772308 to make your reservation or Guy Perron at guyperron3@gmail.com or at 438-495-7747.
This price does not include your plane ticket which you will have to book by yourself since the readers of The Urantia Book will come from different countries and cities.
¶ Existential and Experiential
[Extract from the document “Glossary and Tables of the Cosmos” written by Jacques WEISS, first translator into French of the original English Urantia Book.]
The term Existential pertains to all things or persons that exist absolutely, independent of space-time, from the eternity of the past to the eternity of the future. — For example, the Isle of Paradise, the Three Persons of the Trinity, the Thought Adjusters, truth, beauty, goodness, love, and harmony are existential.
The qualifier Experiential applies to things and beings that exist in the relative, in space-time, in relation to existential values. — For example, the Sun, the planets, morality, politics, religion, evolving human customs, men, their souls, animals, nature and personal feelings, are experiential.
Between the Existential and Experiential levels are intermediate levels, such as the more experiential Morontia level, as well as the Absonite levels (more than finite but less than absolute) without beginning or end, transcending time and space, and very close to the existential levels. Example: The nature of the Master Architects and the Universe is absonite.
¶ Thematic
Sunday May 15 2016 (10:00 a.m. — 4:00 p.m.), you are invited to Drummondville for a theme on “Born from the Spirit”.
Looking forward to meeting you in large numbers.
Hotel le Dauphin, 600 Boulevard Saint-Joseph, Drummondville, QC
¶ STUDY GROUPS
This activity allows several readers of different levels of understanding to share and study together the teachings of The Urantia Book. It promotes spiritual progress by allowing its participants to find practical applications of the teachings of The Urantia Book in their daily lives. This important practice helps to maintain a broad perspective on concepts of truth.
You wish to participate or form a study group; we will be happy to assist you. If you wish to have your study group appear in this list, contact the person in charge, via email association.urantia.quebec@gmail.com or at 450-565-3323.
Outaouais Group
Gatineau Region
Tuesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Maurice Migneault:
(613) 789-6833
Group : “Étoile du Soir”
Laurentides Region
Wednesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Carmen Charland: (450) 553-3601
Group : “Le Pont”
Montreal South Shore Region
Thursdays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Guy Vachon: (450) 465-7049
Sherbrooke Group
Sherbrooke region
Every 2 weeks: Tuesdays or Wednesdays (to be confirmed) from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Hélène Boisvenue and Denis Gravelle Tel.: (819) 569-6416
Group: “The Agondontarians”
Quebec Region
Every 2 weeks: Sundays from 13 h 00 to 4:00 p.m.
Guy & Rolande L. Martin: (418) 651-3851
Group : “Laurantia”
Petite Nation region in Outaouais
Sundays from 9:00 a.m.
Denise Charron & Jean-Claude Lafrenière Tel: (819) 983-2113
Group: “Fraternité-Urantia”
Lanaudière region
Wednesdays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Richard Landry & Gisèle Boisjoly Tel: (450) 589-6922
Group: “The United Family of Urantia”
Montreal Region
Tuesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Ms. Diane Labrecque: (514) 277-2308
Group : “Les Débonnaires”
Terrebonne Region
Every 2 weeks: Thursdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Julien Audet: (514) 315-9871
Group: “The Ascendants”
Quebec South Shore Region
Every 2 weeks: Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Guy Le Blanc: (418) 886-2366
Group: “Découverte”
Laurentides Region
Mondays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Gaétan Charland and Line St-Pierre
Tel.: (450) 565-3323
Group : “Vers les Sommets”
Ormstown & Valleyfield Regions
Fridays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Louise Sauvé: (450) 829-3631
Group: “Readers of Mauricie”
Trois-Rivières Region
Mondays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Roger Périgny: (819) 379-5768
Group: “At Maisonia”
Quebec Region
Every 2 weeks: Sundays from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Gilles Bertrand & Louise Renaud:
(418) 871-4564
¶ Réflectivité
Responsible: Normand Laperle
Assisted by: Gilles Bertrand.
(418) 835-1809 (Normand Laperle)
(418) 871-4564 (Gilles Bertrand)
Publication (monthly)
In the first week of the month.
To send us your articles and/or contact us:
reflectivite.auq@gmail.com
Add: Your name and city of residence.
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