Course XLVII - Teaching 25: Observance (December 1956)

Observance is the greatest and more valuable pearl of Cafh’s Sons, and above all, Community’s Sons. Just by Observance surely we can be loyal to our vocation and to the right fulfillment of our Vows; so we shall deserve to die protected and loved by our Divine Mother. An observant Son does not die: he is in the Mother’s heart and lives the Eternal Hour. Observance is the ineffaceable sign of being Sons of the Mother; it is the outer essence of our Renunciation Vow. She proves that we are bearers of the Divine Message: A self-sacrificing and self-denying being, whose renunciation is patent on every act of his living, is on the right path. This is our mysticism The Mother gave us this negative power –Renunciation– to expand it through the world, but our continuous efforts, derived from the Observance, we realize this power. Freedom increases the personality of man, and this increased personality is a power wasted for salvation; but our life of apparent lack of freedom liberates us from the sensitive power and makes this power expand to all. We do not need anything psychically or spiritually, because the Divine Mother is our food. Everything pours over the Humanity because we do not spend anything. The divine life does not spend to survive as the human life does.
So you can understand Christ’s words: “I am Bread of Eternal Life, fountain of living water flowing continuously, and the one that drinks these waters never shall die”.
This is the secret of Christ’s life, which can be known to those totally offered to God through daily Observance, and that removes every human aspect and transforms us into living waters. But in spite of this extraordinary mission, sometimes we forget our Observance: at certain moment of the day, we stop being gods on Earth and we come back to our human aspect, by negligence, by lack of attention, or by a shadow of humanity in the soul. How there can be something separating us from our Observance, if Observance is our liberation tool?
If we were ready to offer our lives to save the Humanity, God would refuse it since He wants a daily drop of blood, that is, that of Observance. We should be Observants with total dedication and joy; to deny an act of Observance is thousand times worse than to offer our lives for others. To give our daily drop of Observance is to realize the Renunciation martyrdom, and to be a holocaust for the salvation of the Humanity.
Sometimes we know how to be Observant, but subconsciously we resist and do not fulfill our duty; this saddens our soul.
But love shall subdue our nature. An intense love transforms all and become source of delight. To love the Observance is to possess this great gift; so we reach the ecstasy derived from being Observant. The more negative is the act of Observance, the more pleasant it shall be as an offering. Example: a Son that refused to make penitence on the ground because he considered it against his manhood; but one day, as he was in this posture, he felt suspended on the air, extended over the world, on Heaven, and he understood that this act of love located him over all beings of the Universe.
As there is self-denial, the Observance becomes a beneficent mystical act toward the being that practices it. The Observance shall be perfect when there is an absolute unity. All beings speak of Unity when they mention the spiritual life.
Cafh wants us to be a reunion of souls, with no different aspects, all the same thing, to express love and desire of salvation for all.
But in our Community we live together and all defects are immediately visible. It is as in a family, in which all know each other by this continuous contact. One walks, laugh or speak such or such; our Observance removes these differences. To reach the unity as a whole, all these right or wrong forms have to disappear; they have to be only one thing. (He gave the case of a Seminarian, who did not eat bread and felt self-conceited.) “These habits are neither worth nor important”. To be an Observant one should be one in all. Nothing is better than this question: “Who is this Son?”, and when they do not recognize him
Observance: Basically, differences should be absent; even one has to leave his best customs to be like the Community; and one has to imitate his Directors and Superiors, and to discard his own way to live and act. Our Observance becomes easy as soon as the shell is discarded by imitation.
We have overcome much, but still there is much ahead. You should not know if such or such Son was a worker or a professional, or if he is from such or such city. One has to remove this “little skin”.
Moreover, even one should not realize or even think that this is Observance.
We should bow and lower our sight unconsciously and spontaneously, not thinking of it.
“I am the Observance.” To act otherwise would be like a fish outside the water.
The reverse of a perfect Observance is when the latter affects us and we have to make something by obedience during the hour of Observance. Then this Observance is a prison of our mind. We have to feel the same if the obedience instructs so, because Observance is spirit of Renunciation. We can be disturbed because you have to be on duty and not to take part in the Community, but your personality should not meddle in this case.
You can reach the ecstasy, but you cannot be sure of your eternal life; but if your Observance is perfect, then you can be sure that you shall reach the eternal life at the feet of our Divine Mother.
Observance is the token of perseverance; God gives us a vision of the worlds by means of Observance.
Let us examine our own Observance: Am I the Observance, or is it my sister? We should pray for the worldly Damsels, who reached the crucial point and many of them did not understand what the spiritual life of Cafh is.