A phrase spoken by Jesus has enchanted me since the first time I heard it, while still a child: “If anyone says to this mountain, rise up and throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says comes true, it will come to pass.” (Mk 11:23) In my childhood imagination, faith was something fantastic, because it had the power to move mountains. This perception was deeply engrained in my heart and never left me.
Today, with all my philosophical and theological studies, and with a great deal of experience listening to people as a priest, my conviction about the transforming power of faith in people’s lives grows more and more. That is why I wrote this book. With texts that seek to make a synthesis between reason and heart, I propose to the reader to go further and further, through his or her faith. And, based on your reality, try to fly higher and higher. Only in this way can we be amazed by God’s love and power, and be fascinated and amazed by all that a firm, strong, and vigorous faith is capable of doing in our lives.
This book intends to encourage the reader in the search for faith and to apply it in the concreteness of his or her daily life. In the face of the great progress of science and high technology in today’s world, some have said that God has become superfluous. Others declared: “God is dead.” What a mistake! Only faith in the living God, full of love and mercy, can pull the human person out of the following paradox: human progress, which claims to be unlimited and overwhelming, confronts fragile and precarious human beings in search of answers that can satisfy their thirst for meaning. Answers that only a life of faith can indicate. Thus, it becomes urgent, with faith, to look for a response when faced with life’s limiting situations. With faith, reinvent yourself. With faith, start over. With faith! Always.
Short biography of the author
Gilberto Heleno was born in Varginha (MG) and has been a Dehonian priest since 2004. He currently resides in Taubaté (SP) where he is the pastor of the Holy Spirit Parish and also teaches philosophy at the Dehoniana College. He graduated from FEBE of Brusque (SC) where in majored in philosophy, from the Instituto Teológico Sagrado Coração de Jesus of Taubaté where he studied theology. He also studied Business Administration at the Faculdade Cenecista of Varginha. He specialized in Social Communication at Universidade São Francisco (SP) and in Contemporary Communication and Visual Information at PUC/MG. He holds a Masters in Philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome-Italy) and a PhD in Philosophy from PUC/SP.
