© 2016 Alain Nielsen, Jean-Claude Lafrenière
© 2016 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ Theme of May 15, 2016 in Drummondville on “Born from the spirit”
Alain Nielsen
Montreal
Hello everyone,
Recently, on May 15, 2016 in Drummondville, a thematic meeting took place.
Six unique personalities, therefore six unique shares were presented to us around a common theme, “The birth of the spirit.”
My deep impression of this fraternal meeting leaves as an imprint, in me, the desire to know more about those who share the same passion, “God”.
Birth brings consciousness. Self-awareness, God-awareness, and awareness of others.
Of course, I will limit myself to a few words to share with you a much broader perspective of the spirit reigning around each of the tables of personalities present.
Learning to love each of my brothers as a unique expression of the part of God in them is also part of the planetary service that I have set for myself as a life goal and these meetings serve me well as a foundation in order to achieve it. God is a being of relationship, so let us weave relationships and stay grouped.
For those who could not be there on the day, a new live broadcast application via the Internet, called “Livestream”, was set up. From what I could hear, it was a success, as 16 people connected to it.
On my own initiative and from what I can now observe, I say a big “Bravo” to the Urantia Association of Quebec for what it accomplishes as a mission.
“Come and help yourselves, the table is set.”
“Belief is always limiting and binding; faith is expanding and releasing.” (UB 101:8.2)
¶ Speech by Robert Cadieux on “Born of the Spirit”
on the theme of May 15, 2016
I was born in Montreal in April 1948. I am 68 years old. That means that I spent my childhood and adolescence before 1965. I received a Catholic religious education; at home, at church and at school. I understood what religion was. And also, I had a personal religious feeling. But in my journey as a Catholic Christian, I gradually realized that my nature, my character, my personality could not reconcile my religious feeling with the demands of the Catholic religion; religious practice with all its demands, I did not want to integrate that into my life. The dogmas, the constraints, the sacraments, the commandments, the sins, hell. The demands: mass, communion, prayers, the rosary, confession, fasting, Lent, Easter. It was too much. “Out!” At 15, I left everything and let time pass.
Then, from 18 to 20, 21 years old, I returned to religious reflections. I thought about God again and I asked myself sincerely: do I want to believe in God? I wanted to make a decision. And the answer was yes because I had this religious feeling inside me. The combined Spirit was working in me without me being aware of it. So, I resumed a religious search.
And, at age 23, I found The Urantia Book. Sometimes I thought it found me. I think I found it because I was looking for it and I knew it was going to be the book of my life. That’s been 45 years. It’s my main guide and it will be until the end. Why? Because The Urantia Book was given to us by spiritual personalities to reveal the truth about God. And I needed that truth.
With The Urantia Book, I resumed my spiritual growth. I did not yet know what it was to be born of the spirit. I slowly became aware that my personal inner religious feeling was the presence of God within me and that I feel this spiritual influence constantly. It happened gradually, it grew until I knew in full consciousness, through the revelation of The Urantia Book and especially of Jesus that the spirit of the Father dwells in my mind and guides me spiritually.
¶ Born of the spirit through filiation and faith
I believe in Jesus and know that what he taught is TRUE. My path to understanding has been through: the kingdom of heaven, sonship, and faith.
Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven many times, but one of his most concise quotes is this:
“The kingdom of heaven consists in these three essentials: first, recognition of the fact of the sovereignty of God; second, belief in the truth of sonship with God; and third, faith in the effectiveness of the supreme human desire to do the will of God—to be like God. And this is the good news of the gospel: that by faith every mortal may have all these essentials of salvation.” (UB 140:10.9)
The gospel: it is the message of Jesus, it is what he came to reveal to us.
The assurance of filiation is a human feeling. First, the filiation that connects us to our earthly parents, then, the spiritual filiation that connects us to our heavenly Father, the universal Father. It becomes my personal awareness of the presence of the spirit in me.
The religion that Jesus came to teach us is a dynamic religion as well as a personal religion. The great revelation is that it is the religion of the spirit. The Spirit that lives in me that accompanies me—with whom I am associated and with whom I am destined to merge. Sonship and faith are not foreign to me since they are gifts from the Father.
Concerning sonship; Jesus said: “In all your prayers, always remember that sonship is a gift. No child should be concerned with earning the status of son or daughter. The earthly child comes into being by the will of its parents. Likewise, the child of God comes to grace and acquires the new life of the spirit by the will of the Father in heaven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven—the divine sonship—must be received as by a little child. Righteousness—the progressive development of character—is earned, but sonship is received by grace and through faith.
When I take Jesus’ words to support my argument, I know I am standing on the TRUTH. Jesus is the truth. For me, that is the way to go. That is why if I have the assurance of sonship by faith, I am born of the spirit and I am a son of God by faith.
To be born of the spirit is when, through the mind, I become aware of the spirit that inhabits me. It is when, enlightened by my spiritual consciousness, my will decides to live up to the association of the mind and the spirit. That my will has taken a position outside of ease that it has decided to act with loyalty and sincerity.
To be born of the spirit is to marry human desire with spiritual faith. It is to understand the real effectiveness of the spiritual influence of my Thought Adjuster—the source, the origin of my spiritual life.
I perceive that there is a divine plan in the development of humanity. That there is a path to travel and a goal to reach: to find God. The key to the kingdom of heaven is the assurance of sonship with God.
Life is the total mechanism of the universe. It is present everywhere, from the Source to its most distant expression. Human life has been placed in our hands. We manipulate it and make it progress. Life comes from God and it also expresses itself in us. I perceive that God wanted that in the end, life also expresses itself through us, and this is what will happen when we are returned to the Father.
I have discovered my human consciousness, now, as a son of God by faith, I explore my consciousness of the spirit that lives in me.
Faith, sonship, the kingdom of heaven, conscious contact with spiritual reality, my Thought Adjuster, represents the spiritual part of my consciousness. The certainty by faith of being a son of God makes me understand my personal relationship to Him. By this I know that all humans can be sons and daughters of God by faith. To me this is being born of the spirit.
It brings me joy and happiness. Joy is a feeling, it is connected to the senses and to pleasure. Happiness is a state.
I believe that faith is the driving force of the spiritualized human mind.
From The Urantia Book and from personal experience, I now know what spirituality is: It is the experience of knowing my relationship with the Spirit that lives within me and whose purpose is to make me understand my association with God as a spiritual Father and with humans as brothers and sisters in the flesh.
It was Jesus who made me understand the birth of the spirit. Now I live it for myself, as my faith that is personal to me. I know that even if I tell people to have faith, it doesn’t work. You have to find it and experience it for yourself. We were told: “Do you have faith? Then have it for yourself.” UB 99:5.7
In conclusion, I asked myself: Where am I going with this? Where is it leading me? What does the presence of the spirit within me bring me? It gives me confidence and strength. For me, it is moving towards self-mastery.
It was Jesus, our brother and friend, who said: “Your sonship is grounded in faith, and you are to remain unmoved by fear. […] Your secret of the mastery of self is bound up with your faith in the indwelling spirit, which ever works by love. Even this saving faith you have not of yourselves; it also is the gift of God. And if you are the children of this living faith, you are no longer the bondslaves of self but rather the triumphant masters of yourselves, the liberated sons of God…” UB 143:2.7
““If, then, my children, you are born of the spirit, you are forever delivered from the self-conscious bondage of a life of self-denial and watchcare over the desires of the flesh, and you are translated into the joyous kingdom of the spirit, whence you spontaneously show forth the fruits of the spirit in your daily lives; and the fruits of the spirit are the essence of the highest type of enjoyable and ennobling self-control, even the heights of terrestrial mortal attainment—true self-mastery.”” (UB 143:2.8)
So: How can I expect results in my quest for contact with the spirit? The answer for me is through a sincere search for TRUTH. “Jesus laid great emphasis upon what he called the two truths of first import in the teachings of the kingdom, and they are: the attainment of salvation by faith, and faith alone, associated with the revolutionary teaching of the attainment of human liberty through the sincere recognition of truth, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” UB 141:7.6 Jesus was the truth manifested in the flesh, and he promised to send his Spirit of Truth into the hearts of all his children after he returned to the Father in heaven. What is the definition of the verb to set free? It is to set free, to liberate.
I thought that TRUTH is the true link between deity and humanity. The true explanation of reality and meanings. Truth sets us free, it liberates us from human inertia.
How all this? By faith. Faith is the key, it is the spiritual master key. The more I develop it, the more it grows, the more it becomes real in my spiritual experience.
My origin is animal, my nature is human. This proceeds from the divine plan of universal creation which brings forth personalities from the animal kingdom by elevating them to the level of mortal humanity endowed with will and personality with eternal survival value.
My personality individualizes my personal relationship with God. God, who is also a personality, gave me my personality and, through his personality circuit, he is in contact with all the personalities of his creation.
On my part, individually, I am in contact with God because my personality makes me conscious of my association with Him as my divine Father. God is spirit and a fragment of His spirit is in me, indwelling me and guiding me. Since I have been conscious of this, I have been born of the spirit.
We are here as humans on earth to understand, to fulfill ourselves and to help each other. I understand that, now I want to make my action concrete.
Dogmas, constraints, sacraments and commandments can be replaced by morality, ethics and a spirit-inspired sense of duty; which is part of my commitment to do God’s will—to become like God.
For me, being born of the Spirit means having the awareness of God’s presence within me, and with faith I have the assurance of survival and a foretaste of eternal life.
This is what I understood and what I wanted to say.
“The acts of today are the destiny of tomorrow.” (UB 48:7.26)
¶ A Urantian Culture
Jean-Claude Lafreniere
Saint-Andre-Avellin, QC
[During the theme in Drummondville, Jean-Claude sang us his personal compositions inspired by “The Urantia Book”. He tells us about his journey.]
It was during my sixth reading of “The Urantia Book”, in the new 2016 edition, that it appeared to me that the life of Jesus would be worthy of falling into the hands of a good script: what a series, and what a reality!
Likewise, for some time now, I have been telling myself that a good lyricist would find material to compose.
One night I found myself humming a tune, and words from The Urantia Book slipped in nicely. I went back to sleep, and the next day I had forgotten everything, without having taken any notes.
Next time, I don’t want to miss the train and I get up to write down the flow of words that naturally integrates with the tune I have in my head. I take my flute, and my guitar, and write down the melody.
The following Sunday, during our Group meeting, I interpreted everything to my co-chair. And so on during April and May. It was bubbling in there. But what a pleasure to express oneself every Sunday with a new text.
Finally, quite proud of myself, I boldly communicated with Normand Laperle who welcomed me with open arms in my offer to perform at the theme of May 15, 2016, in Drummondville.
The period of tension and uncertainty inherent in such a situation begins. But all this is nothing compared to the pleasure and the artistic need to perform, whatever the reaction of others may be.
Will I be allowed to produce them in Réflectivité? Here I am.
The fact that the texts are based on well-known tunes, or almost, would allow everyone to sing them, to make them their own. From month to month, I intend to deliver one. So, this time, I must move on to the second composition, because the tune used in the first is little known, I believe. Postponed, but I still performed it on May 15 in Drummondville.
So here is this second composition:
¶ To the tune of “Pleasant News”
[Use of verses: The song “Nouvelle agréable” has 4 verses. The small numbers to the left of each verse, below, are there to indicate to us the tune of which original verse we must use.]
(1) Fifth Revelation!
(2) The universe is presented to us
(2) Urantia is told to us
(1) Fifth Revelation!
(2) The afterlife is explained to us
(2) The message is reminded to us
(3) The Blue Book contains
(4) All these truths.
¶ For your pleasure…
Here is a photo of the AUQ CA during one of our work meetings, for your convenience.
¶ Michael’s Day 2016
Sunday, August 21 2016, you are all invited to Michael’s party on Mont-Royal — near Beaver Lake, between the Restaurant and the paid parking lot (around $8 in 2015).
As usual you will just have to follow the instructions with the one-centric circles.
Bring your own food and chair.
Looking forward to meeting you in large numbers.
Bertin Perron and Julien Audet.
¶ 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 gladly 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 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 : “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: “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 (418) 835-1809
Assisted by: Gilles Bertrand. (418) 871-4564
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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