Angela Moraes was born in the city of Sao Paulo, lived for many years in nearby Sao Jose do Rio Preto and is now based in Bauru, also in the state of Sao Paulo. Angela is a journalist, she’s been a spiritist for 20 years. She’s a columnist for this online magazine and edits the newspaper Momento Espirita. She is a spiritist public speaker, working mostly with the Amor e Caridade group in Bauru. Her book is already in the second edition. Her skills as a young writer come through in her unique way of passing on the teachings of the spiritist doctrine. Her book is made of short stories – one for each chapter of the Gospel According Spiritism.  Her sensibility comes through

in a very clear way in this interview.

O Consolador: How did you begin writing short stories? 

It all came from the passion I have for the little, punctual instants of our lives that, despite being brief have such an importance and impact. I’m talking about those crucial moments that so often change the paths of our existence. To report them in depth, with sensibility and keeping in the narrative comes from your soul, that would require too detailed a description, producing a long and to some extent boring text. Also, I come from a background in journalist, where we exercise on a daily basis the art of telling a ten-line story in only three… 

O Consolador: How do you structure your short stories? Are based on fiction or reality? 

They are based on reality. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to bring to those little instants the appropriate feelings of those who go through that particular situation. I would end up losing the empathy with those who are going through similar problems. 

O Consolador: How did you come up with the idea of a series of short stories, following the same order of chapters from The Gospel According to Spiritism? 

I have another big passion, which is precisely The Gospel According to Spiritism. I call it a Manual for Well-Living. Never has the evangelical message been so well explained and we owe it to the Kardec and his pragmatic genius. The Gospel is comforting in all its pages and lines. And our life can be so painful. The idea was to try to find in the Gospel relief and comfort for the challenges life presents to us on a daily bases, and that includes the challenges of modern life. 

O Consolador: How was the book received? 

It was very well received, the impact was just wonderful. In my lectures, I could really identify some of the characters and situations in the book with the problems and people in the audience. People have a thirst for the Gospel. They have a thirst for a word that will make them trust, or remind them to trust, in the One who looks after us all the time. In real life, our faith is often put at the end of a long queue, behind more immediate concerns, such as cooking lunch, looking after family members, the supermarket, the shower. When we finally come to the faith, we’re so exhausted that we can hardly elevate our thoughts. Faith, which should be the pillar for the everyday situations, ends up being relegated to a second plan. So I noticed that people came to that only hour of the week dedicated to their spiritual development with a huge thirst – for the Gospel, for hearing a bit more about Jesus and his love. 

O Consolador: What do you like the most in The Gospel According to Spiritism and why? 

If The Spirits Book is the mind, the Gospel is the heart. There’s no situation in our lives that can’t be can’t be found there, followed by some logical explanation and solace. It’s a practical, functional book, it’s warm and it fills our heart with hope. It reminds us that Jesus is very close to us through prayer. It often leads us to voluntary, intimate changes, as it shows us the path to internal peace. The Gospel is just wonderful, it’s a book everyone should have on their bedside table, as a kind friend for all hours. 

O Consolador: What do you say about your experience writing for this online magazine? 

It’s a great honour to be part of such a serious and dedicated spiritist magazine, such as O Consolador, and to work with some heavy-weight, well respected columnists who have done so much for the doctrine. It’s also very brave of our dear Astolfo Olegario, editor, who works really very hard, almost full time. I like in particular the section for children, with stories by Celia Xavier Camargo. I always go there when I need to tell my children a new story. I also enjoy being across the information from the spiritist movement, which are update at every edition. And I must emphasise the importance of the sections dedicated to the study of the doctrine. They play an important role in drawing attention to the work of authors like Emmanuel and Andre Luiz.  

O Consolador: How have your views changed due to close contact you have with the Spiritist Doctrine and the spiritist movement? 

Spiritism has broadened my understanding of diversity. I became aware of the importance of each religion plays in helping the human soul, which is in various stages of development. I must praise the beautiful job done by the Jehova Witnesses in strengthening the family; I play homage to the evangelicals for doing such brilliant work with drug addicts and alcoholics; how about the Catholic Church, which is so sensitive to the suffering of Jesus in this world? It approaches so many to faith and resignation, which contributes to curb the most rebel spirits. Spiritism has made me see beyond the individual differences, to see that each religion has a contribution to give and they all work under the guidance of Jesus, the governor of our planet. I wouldn’t dare go beyond that, as our understanding is so small if contrasted to the plans of the Creator. We’re much less violent now than the barbarians of other times, but we must remember that we still have bloody wars, economic warfare, ethnic conflicts across the globe. On the other hand, global communication has provided us with a unique and new tool to move resources around and to have solidarity at a global level. We have the means of action when a natural disaster takes place in another part of the world, empathising with other people’s pain. Therefore, I’m not a pessimist on the destiny of humankind, but there’s a long way to go and a lot of work to be done. 

O Consolador: If you had to pick one of your short stories and make a brief summary for our listeners, which one would that be? 

There are so many… but I believe reincarnation is the best example of God’s justice and benevolence, which finds its way through difficult paths. That’s the main difference between the spiritist and other doctrines. I would like to tell the story of a very lovely young lady who wrote letters to her relatives through Chico Xavier, the medium. She had been disabled in her last incarnation and couldn’t walk or speak. In her letters, she explained what she had done in previous lives to be born in such a difficult situation and thanked her family for all their love. Thanks to them, she was now free. Revelations like that are a proof of the beauty of reincarnation and the kindness of the Creator, who provides us the opportunities to pay our debts amidst people we loved so dearly. 

O Consolador: Is there a short story which offers practical advice to our readers on their daily obstacles, something that will offer them hope? 

Each short story in the book should offer practical advice, people should be able to identify with the problems displayed there. They should find a way into the Gospel, which will give them peace and hope for the forthcoming days, with the solid basis provided by understanding how Divine Providence works on their lives. The human soul is so rich, it’s like so many different universes. And yet we’re all so similar in pain, the educated and the non-educated, rich and poor, whatever your race and background. That’s the beauty of human spirit and its great paradox. Practical advice? We should follow the example of renounce and resignation of Jesus. Hope? Let’s learn to pray with our hearts in our hands, as Jesus taught us. To accept destiny? Let’s look for the One who made our burden light. Well-being? Let’s drink from the well of Christ’s teachings, sage and full of love, in the Gospel According to Spiritism. 

O Consolador: What are your final words? 

My dear spiritist friends, may Jesus bless us in all our work to help in the great work of Creation. We could compare our work to that of small ants. May He give us the power to go ahead, when everything seems to pull us back. May He help us overcome spiritual immaturity, freeing us from selfishness. May He give us the courage to fight our own imperfections. May He help us love other people, when we barely know how to love ourselves. May He be with us today and forever, in the sweet and safe figure of someone we love so much, someone in whose lap we can lay our head, when its heavy with so many worries. Let us trust, let us love, let us give our hearts to our sweet and friendly master. And let us be a tool for his achievements in this world, which is so short of workers dedicated to doing good. May Jesus bless us all.