© 2023 Line St-Pierre, Normand Laperle, Robert Cédilot
© 2023 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ Word from the President
Line St-Pierre
president@urantiaqc.org
Revisiting the life and teachings of Jesus always sets the record straight, at least that’s what it does for me. And the amazing thing is that each time the truth becomes more illuminating and more obvious.
The two great motives of Jesus’ mission on earth after his baptism were: to reveal the Father to humans, and to bring them to be aware of their sonship through faith.
Does knowing The Urantia Book make us better sons of God? In any case, that is the goal. And then, does it make us sowers of truth in our family, with our children, with our spouse, with our friends, our work colleagues? That too should challenge us!
All humans are different and we cannot present these truths equally to all in the same way. With discernment and the help of the Spirit of Truth, we build bridges between their beliefs and what The Urantia Book says, we build on a truth already gained and elevate the spiritual conversation. We will gauge what needs to be shared, either by the dropper, the teaspoon or the big spoon. No one can receive these extraordinary teachings in a predetermined format.
This is the responsibility that has fallen upon us since we have had The Urantia Book in our hands.
Jesus . . . becoming the new and living way whereby all mortals may so ascend from humanity to divinity. (UB 196:2.4)
¶ Annual General Meeting (AGM) Presentation of the 2019 balance sheet
Normand Laperle
Lévis
A 2019 AUQ Annual General Meeting (AGM) — by ZOOM — took place on Saturday, June 6, 2020, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. This was a first for the AUQ.
Eighteen (18) people found themselves packed in like sardines…each on our computer screens to learn about what the AUQ had accomplished for us in 2019 and what it plans for the year 2020.
It didn’t smell like human skin. It smelled more like … the joy of meeting in this time of COVID confinement. Person-to-person meetings meet a fundamental human need. Look — in the next photo — at the smiles on people’s faces. A contagious smile. I don’t think it’s an adornment. I see in it the desire to create a meaningful relationship, the simple pleasure of being together.
In the end, there were elections for the renewal of the positions of Vice-President and Secretary. Jean Pierre Cadieux kept his position as Vice-President for another 2 years. The position of Secretary changed from Robert Cadieux to Claudette Gonthier.
If you are interested in the taste of service, next year it will be the turn to renew the positions of president and treasurer.
Think about it. You don’t need to have any experience already. You just need to have a sincere desire to push yourself—just a little bit. The elders will be there to help you and support you in your accomplishments. If you feel the call, it may be that your time has come… Others have done it before you.
¶ 2019 Activity Report
Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ Activities of the Board of Directors (CA of AUQ)
Board of Directors Meetings:
- Seven (7) meetings: January 13, March 10, May 24, June 16, July 12, October 9 and November 14.
Thematic day:
- May 26, with the theme: “Personal religious experience — practice”.
- 23 people were present.
- 4 presentations by: Éric Martel, Guy Perron, Jean Sauvé, Francine Fortin.
- Discussions and animation: Marc Belleau.
Regional Summer Congress:
- August 9, 10, 11, at the “Villa Saint-Martin” in Pierrefonds.
- Theme: “The Supreme and I — Partners in Experience”.
- 5 presentations: Marc Belleau, Hélène Boisvenue, Moustapha Ndiaye, Johanne Séguin, Conrad Lavallée.
- 36 people participated.
This conference was an enriching religious experience shared among us, students of the revelation, and expressed through captivating presentations. Two (2) days spent fraternizing and reflecting on the Deity of the Supreme — in a place of peace on the banks of the Prairie River in Montreal, in an atmosphere conducive to meditation, prayer and spiritual exchanges.
There were moments of discussion, of sharing and moments of healthy relaxation. It is healthy, stimulating and enriching to come together to participate in a common effort “to expand cosmic consciousness and enhance spiritual perception”. UB 0:0.2.
Social meetings between readers:
- August 18: Picnic for the Feast of Jesus at Mount Royal Park.
- About 20 people.
- Organized by Julien Audet and Bertin Perron.
- December 8: Holiday Brunch
- At the Best Western hotel in Saint-Jérôme.
- 24 people.
¶ Study Group Committee
Formed in 2015 — President: Gaétan G. Charland
- Attended ten meetings of the Urantia Association International (UAI) Study Group Committee as a member and reviewed the Study Group Guide.
- Participation of study group hosts in six two-hour Zoom meetings with — in addition — the Senegal readers group.
- Participate in ten Zoom meetings with the Urantia Foundation on the publication of the new revision of the Urantia Book in Spanish.
- Participate in a planning Zoom meeting with the UAI Board of Directors — International Service Board (ISB): Its members are all part of the executive team.
- Participate in eight Zoom meetings for the organization of the Urantia Congress 2020 which was to take place in Vancouver.
- Work on the design of a roll-up banner and see to its production.
- Writing of two resolutions to authorize the cost of expenses for the “Parliament of the World’s Religions” and the purchase of two banners.
- Research carried out to find a simple and user-friendly database for the Urantia Association of Quebec (AUQ) and participate in an online meeting and demonstration of the “MemboGo” database.
- Update of the AUQ website event calendar to announce AUQ activities.
- Live streaming of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the association’s YouTube channel.
- Direct online posting of the 12 presentations made during the Symposium of Cultures which took place at the Urantia Foundation in April 2019.
- Sending an amount of $500 to Jean-Thomas Nelson of Haiti for the acquisition of a visa and the renewal of a passport for the congress.
- Sending of two invitation letters to the Canadian Embassy in Senegal for the acquisition of visas for the person of Moustapha Ndiaye and Doudou Diagne for the congress.
- Sending several Mailchimp invitations for the 2019 Congress and other AUQ social activities.
- Programming a Facebook event about the 2019 Congress.
- Importation of the Quebec readers database to send a postal invitation to the 2019 Congress.
- Recording and video editing of the conferences given during the 2019 AUQ Congress and publication on the association’s YouTube channel.
- Meeting with the webmaster of the AUQ website for an evaluation of the new website integrating a database.
- Renewal of AUQ domain names and website hosting.
¶ Writing
Writing an article (for the Tidings newsletter) about Moussa’s visit.
¶ Women’s Committee
President: Line St-Pierre
-
In March 2019, Line has a week-long meeting in New Mexico at Katharina Becker’s to prepare for their annual activities with the women’s team “The Daughters of God” with whom she works.
In these three-day retreats, it is co-created an atmosphere of trust within a spiritual circle where the exploration and sharing of personal experiences and discoveries on how we respond to this call to dance with God, which is an open invitation to bring God’s love a little more into this world by pursuing a unified, spirit-led life in our present life thus creating our future.
Line facilitated a retreat in Albuquerque, New Mexico from April 4-7, 2019 for 12 women.
- She helped organize a retreat planned in Michigan in September.
- She facilitated a retreat at the Foundation in Chicago from September 12 to 15, 2019 with the theme “Dancing With God — Our Supreme Calling”.
- She participates in a monthly conference call with the women on her team.
¶ Member Support
Line has answered numerous emails from people wanting more information about either participating in a study group, Association meetings and/or obtaining the Urantia Book. Six new people have joined the AUQ and received a welcome letter and their membership card after a telephone conversation.
In the tasks of this committee, Line also takes care of the mail and of making the deposits of donations and contributions of the members.
¶ Communications
- As president, Line wrote 11 messages that appeared in Réflectivité.
- Line follows up on readers’ correspondence; sees to routine telephone communications. She regularly solicits readers to receive articles for Réflectivité, which she forwards to Normand Laperle. Communicates to Marc Belleau all readers’ address changes. For AUQ files, she forwards correspondence and responses to the secretary who archives them.
- Daily reviews the comments on the Association’s Facebook page and comments on it if necessary**.
- The AUQ being affiliated with the Urantia Association of Canada, Line, as president, participated in their Annual General Assembly via ZOOM on March 24, 2019.
- Participated in eight Zoom meetings for the organization of the Urantia Congress 2020 which was to take place in Vancouver in July.
- Line was selected to represent Canada at the Foundation’s Culture Symposium in Chicago which took place from April 11 to 15, 2019. She presented the country’s cultural and social landscape, linked to religious and social development; many aspects of past, present and future culture and their implications for the prospects for the dissemination and progress of The Urantia Book.
In her 90 minute presentation, she addressed the following topics: Belief systems in our culture, attitudes towards spirituality and religion in our culture, personal religion, the importance of family, the value of women, education, the importance of philosophy, the place of leisure, the place of the arts, freedom of expression, all of these themes being part of our culture and The Urantia Book in Quebec.
- Invited and coordinated all speaker correspondence for the regional congress from August 9 to 11, 2019. She was the link with the manager of Villa Saint-Martin where the event took place.
- Line and Gaétan welcomed Moustapha Ndiaye — from Senegal — for 2 weeks and took him to visit readers in the Laurentians and Quebec.
- Line also acts as a French-speaking resource person for the Urantia Association International (UAI) and sometimes the Foundation to follow up on correspondence requiring the use of French.
¶ Translation Committee
Position created in 2017 — Responsible: Jean-Pierre Cadieux (Vice-president)
This committee makes the translations that the AUQ believes are relevant to the interests of its members and the French-speaking community.
Committee work in 2019:
- Translation of the 4 Tidings (per year)
- Translation of the booklet “The Evolution of the Soul” by William S. Sadler.
There is a lack of resources for all the translations that could be done.
We are looking for collaborators to translate from English to French or to proofread after an initial translation. Those who can help are invited to contact us at the following email address: traduction1@urantiaqc.org.
¶ Finances
Our treasurer: Marc Belleau
During the year 2019, our treasurer took care of the following tasks:
- Presentation of budget reports for CA meetings.
- Entry of financial data and member contact details into the database.
- Budget update (continuous).
- Sending thank you letters to donors (continuously).
- Receipts and Disbursements.
- Work with the accountant to prepare financial statements and forms to be produced for both levels of government.
- Creation of expense statements for the various AUQ stakeholders.
- Participation in meetings of the CA.
- Management of the budget for the 2019 congress.
¶ Réflectivité
Exists since 1982. Manager: Normand Laperle
- Eleven (11) issues of this important communication and dissemination link, which were published in 2019.
- Normand Laperle, editor-in-chief, and Gilles Bertrand took care of the collection of articles, the editing, the layout, the transcriptions received in handwritten format, corrections, printing, and postal mailings for approximately 60 people for each edition.
- In January, a mass mailing of Réflectivité is mailed to nearly 300 people in the database, to ensure that we maintain a connection with readers we don’t hear from or see.
- A special issue of Réflectivité with the 2018 activities report was posted in June to the entire database in order to publicize the actions undertaken by the members of the association’s board.
-This is a lot of work. Thanks to these dedicated workers.
¶ Make yourself useful
The AUQ Board of Directors members are looking for help from members or non-members who would like to get involved. It is not necessary to be a member of the AUQ to participate in the various committees or offer help. Anyone can contact us for this.
Those who want to come and support the actions of our association through voluntary work can contact us. We will be delighted to integrate them into the AUQ’s mission.
Everyone is welcome.
¶ The Word of God!
Robert Cedilot
Varennes
In this time of pandemic, many of us, while being logical and normal, are asking ourselves all sorts of questions about what will happen next. Will we have learned something by going through this very exceptional period?
In my humble opinion, if we have the courage and the reflex to see the state of the situation now, I believe it is our duty to search and find the best ways to change each of us personally; it is there and only there that we will be able to make serious and effective changes for the good of our planet. It may even be a question of survival.
Life means very different things to each of us. But what exactly is life? It is also important to realize that life is not the result of chance, but was thought out, designed and planned by a Great Creator called God.
But who is this God and where does He live?
This Almighty God lives in the very center of the universe in the part we call the Island of Paradise. It is an immeasurable space that has existed forever and will always exist. This eternal island in its entirety is made up of pure energy that allows God to breathe all the reality of this great Creation.
At the same time this God is present in us with all his identity of love, intelligence, goodness, wisdom, peace, longanimity, benevolence, joy, patience, understanding, gentleness and all this in a spirit of sharing with his brothers and sisters.
In addition, this God of infinite goodness has given us free will as a bonus. By this gift, he shows us that he is not a dictator. We are free to believe in him through a living faith or to reject him, with no other consequence than to find ourselves in nothingness. It is utopian to believe that a God of Love could have created a hell to burn them eternally.
This almighty God has always had as his ultimate goal to instruct us through the prophets and the various revelations. He even sent his son Jesus who tried his utmost to deliver the truth to us and to invite us to do his will, so that we become like him, that is to say more and more perfect as He Himself is perfect.
“Jesus did not vehemently denounce even the Pharisees, as did John. He knew many of the scribes and Pharisees were honest of heart; he understood their enslaving bondage to religious traditions. Jesus laid great emphasis on “first making the tree good.” He impressed the three that he valued the whole life, not just a certain few special virtues.” (LU 140:8.22)
It is worth taking a moment of reflection, to fully realize the value of this gift called life. If we succeed in fulfilling his holy will, we will have the possibility of developing the consciousness of a human life dominated by the spirit of truth, a life of service, of endless love which will finally fulfill the great desires that we all have, for peace, joy, happiness, thanks to a brotherhood of sharing, wisdom, kindness, gentleness, benevolence, patience, temperance and understanding.
Some mortals have already begun to understand the reality of this inspiring and encouraging truth that the kingdom of God is not money, temporal power, meat and drink, but righteousness, sharing, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and for eternity!
This kingdom of God already exists in the hearts of all those who seek this God of Love who wishes to bring all his children into his paradise to live an eternal superior life where we will all walk towards more and more perfection and which will allow us one day to have the capacity to see face to face this almighty God and thus to enjoy his eternal goodness. It is now up to us to make the right choice!
The ideal human state is one in which philosophy, religion and science are welded into a meaningful unity by the joint action of wisdom, faith and experience.
¶ Upcoming activities
¶ Michael’s Party — 2020
Come and fraternize…
Sunday, August 23, 2020, 11:15 a.m. you are all invited for the feast of Jesus on Mount Royal — near Beaver Lake, between the restaurant and the paid parking lot (around $8).
As usual you will just have to follow the directions with the concentric circles from the parking lot.
Bring your own food, chairs and musical instruments.
Stay tuned
We will notify you if there is a change.
¶ 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 to the teachings of The Urantia Book in their daily lives. This important step 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
Region: Gatineau
Wednesday, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Maurice Migneault (613) 789-6833
Sherbrooke Group
Region: Sherbrooke
Every 2 weeks: Tuesday or Wednesday, (to be confirmed) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Helene Boisvenue and Denis Gravelle
Tel.: (819) 569-6416
Group: “Uni-Terre”
Region: Joliette
Sundays from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, (virtual Zoom)
Contact :
Eric Martel (450) 756-9387
Group: “Découverte”
Region: Laurentians — St-Jérôme
Mondays, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Gaétan Charland and Line St-Pierre Tel.: (450) 565-3323
Possibility to participate via Internet (Zoom)
Group: “At Maisonnia”
Region: Quebec
Every 2 weeks: Sundays, from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Gilles Bertrand & Louise Renaud (418) 871-4564
Group : “Le Pont”
Region: Montérégie
(Sainte-Julie, south of Montreal)
Tuesdays, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Claude Flibotte (438) 404-6399
Group: “The United Family of Urantia”
Region: Montreal — Downtown
Thursdays, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Mrs. Diane Labrecque (514) 277-2308
Group: “The Chapel”
Region: Quebec
Every 2 weeks: Sundays, from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Normand Laperle (418) 835-1809
Virtual Study Group, French
Every Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time (Montreal)
Via Zoom: https://www.zoom.us/j/9084766734
Responsible :
Guy Perron (438) 495-7747
¶ Potential study groups seeking participants
Group: “Saguenay”
Region: Saguenay
Contact :
Jean-Guillaume Tremblay
(418) 693-2049
¶ Réflectivité
Responsible: Normand Laperle
Assisted by: Gilles Bertrand.
(418) 835-1809 (Normand Laperle)
(418) 871-4564 (Gilles Bertrand)
Publication (monthly)
In the second week of the previous month.
To submit your articles:
Send them to: reflectivite.auq@gmail.com
Add: Your name and city of residence
All submissions of articles or otherwise become the property of the journal and none will be returned.
We do not guarantee that all articles in our possession will be published in the next Réflectivité.
We reserve the right to edit articles for the benefit of the readership. However, in certain specific cases, these changes will be submitted to the author concerned for final approval before publication.
Any interpretation, opinion, conclusion or artistic representation, stated or implied, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the UAI or local associations.