Story of a bread

Once upon a time, there was a very angry and evil king.

His name was Barsabas.

When his body died, he was only with his spiritual body, which his family and the people of the kingdom did not see.

He tried to command, to give orders, to do everything he did before, but he could not do it anymore.

His wife wanted to live somewhere else, away from the palace where they lived. She also wanted to get rid of the expensive objects they had, which brought her many memories, and buy others.

Barsabas then saw his furniture and chandeliers, paintings and carpets, perfumes and jewels, relics and precious ornaments sold at an auction.

In the meantime, his sons fought, disputing the best part of the inheritance. No one else remembered him. Especially not with affection. When they remembered, it was to complain of some evil that he had done.

This made him sad and Barsabas decided to look for other people, more distant friends, but soon realized that they also didn’t keep good memories of him. He, always with so much power and pride, didn’t usually treat people well.

Barsabas was even sadder, and he burst into tears, weeping. He felt bad and everything around him seemed dark. He could not see well, nor even think clearly. Everything seemed gloomy and confusing.

He spent a lot of time like this, walking without purpose.

From time to time he heard voices, but they were angry and he hid from them.

One day, tired, alone and afraid, he began to cry. He needed help. Humbly, he asked someone to help him, and this way, without knowing it, he prayed.

With this, Barsabas could see better and saw, before him, a place full of lights. At the entrance there was a man, with a kind expression, who smiled at him.

Barsabas, touched, approached and the good friend explained to him:

- This is the House of Prayers. Every light you see is a prayer of gratitude that someone did there on Earth and that came up in the form of light up here.

Barsabas understood, but he answered in despair:

- What a pity! I have never done good. No one would pray for me.

- Actually, - said the benefactor spirit - we have here a prayer made to thank you.

Continuing, he explained:

- Thirty-two years ago you gave bread to a child, who thanked you in prayer, asking God for you.

Crying with joy and consulting old memories, Barsabas asked:

- Jonakim, the rejected one? It was him?

- Yes, him. - said the instructor - Follow the clarity of this prayer, for a loaf you gave and you will leave at once the darkness and suffering in which you were.

And Barsabas followed that thread of light that came far away from Earth. When he realized it, he was in a carpenter shop. A man was working there, handling the tools. It was Jonakim, at the age of forty.

Barsabas, even without being able to be seen, embraced Jonakim, as if he were coming home and meeting a friend.

The time has passed. After a year, Jonakim, the carpenter, carried, smiling, in his arms, another child.

With charity, that Jesus taught us, in the form of a bread given to a hungry boy, Barsabas conquered by Divine Providence the opportunity to be reborn to redeem himself.

An adaptation of the text of Brother X, psychographed by Chico Xavier.

Translation: 
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com



 

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