Infancy and its purpose

 
The theme Infant Evangelization has received an expressive attention in our circle lately, although it is still below target for its actual importance.

We have in The Spirit’s Book that childhood exists in all worlds. “Childhood is a necessary transition on all worlds, but it is not always as naive as it is on yours.” (The Spirit’s Book, question 183.)

The questions 383 and 385 of the main Spiritist work explain why the infancy exists and what purpose it has:

·        “A spirit incarnates in order to perfect itself, and it is more accessible during that time to the impressions it receives, and which may assist in its progress. Those in charge of its educational should contribute towards this goal.” (The Spirit’s Book, question 383.)

·        “Children are beings whom God has sent into a new existence. So that they cannot accuse God of excessive severity, God gives them all the appearances of innocence.” (The Spirit’s Book, question 385.)

Therefore, we can clearly see that the childhood is nothing more than a phase of adaptation necessary to the Spirit that returns for another corporeal existence.

The spirit that has just arrived from the spiritual world, where it used to have more freedom and could count on more resources, can see itself in difficulties to express its thoughts completely and manifest its sensations.

In this period of life, having a limited freedom, the spirit receives the infancy as a demonstration of God’s mercy, who gives it advantage in double. The first one: it gains the time indispensable to prepare itself for the future and hard tasks of its corporeal existence. The second: coated with simplicity and innocence common to all children, the spirit wakens affection, concern and goodwill to its parents and fellows, which facilitates the performance of its tasks in the world.

Obviously, while developing itself, the child will later present the tendencies and moral defects inherent to its actual spiritual level, but it can significantly be modified by the influence received from the parents and the people in charge to educate it.

It is exactly at this point where the importance of what we call Infant Evangelization or Education resides. It should be performed in the intimacy of home and reinforced by the teachers and educators, subject covered by Emmanuel in the chapter 151 of its book Path, Truth and Life, psycho graphed by the medium Francisco Cândido Xavier, in which he affirms that youth can be compared to a hopeful departure of a ship to an important travel. The childhood was the preparation; the senescence will be the arrival on the port. “All phases – adverts the estimated spiritual instructor – require the lessons from the senior sailors, in order to learn how to organize and finish the travel with the desirable success.”