Mestre Pequenina: love that orients, beneficence that inspires

Today, September 28th, our beloved and dearly missed Mestre Pequenina would have turned 97 years old. The wife of Mestre Gabriel, M. Pequenina participated in the creation of the União do Vegetal in the Amazon Rainforest and actively assisted in the organization of the Beneficent Spiritist Center União do Vegetal.

To honor her who helped in building this work from its first moments, the UDV Blog presents a text written by one of her grandchildren, Conselheiro Joelson Ferreira de Oliveira*, eldest son of Conselheira Jandira Gabriel and Mestre José Luiz de Oliveira, who spent many close years with Mestre Pequenina while living in her home.

For me, Mestre Pequenina is an example of moral conduct, principles, and virtues. She is an exemplary human being. I don’t see it as sheer happenstance that she came in this incarnation to be the companion of Mestre Gabriel. She is a person for whom I have respect, admiration, affection, and love. I always joyfully remember our time together, as well as her words. And, within that time, Mestre Pequenina always demonstrated love, consideration, trust, and friendship. In addition to all of this, she of course played the role of mother and grandmother, but also of Mestre, to me and to so many others.

In my life, and in the life of my siblings, cousins, uncles, and so many others who needed it, she always had good counsel to offer. Kind and orienting words, applicable to both within the União do Vegetal and for life outside. Charity and beneficence were in her practice, in her very way of being. They weren’t limited to a specific department or action: it was something that was born from within her, expressed in her way of being, in her simplest gestures, without needing to be announced. She simply did it and felt good about doing good for others.

These are pillars that strengthen, shape, and inspire those who had the opportunity to observe her life. This is because, more than just talking, she demonstrated it through her own example and conduct.

Those who had the eyes to see, had the opportunity to be trained within this work. So, for me, Mestre Pequenina is a role model. Among the Mestres I’ve shared life with in the União do Vegetal, she is one of the greatest references that I carry with me.

Care with people

I also have many memories of learning from her, including as a child. Mestre Pequenina’s house was very popular, always filled with many people: those who lived there and those who came to visit. There were always many people in her home.

After Mestre Gabriel passed away, every month a can of powdered milk would arrive to Uncle Róseo, donated by someone. It was a fairly large can, but if it were to be used for everyone, it wouldn’t last the month. So she asked me to be responsible for storing it and ensuring that Uncle Róseo never ran out of milk.

One day I came home from school, I must have been 10 or 11 years old, and saw many people sitting at the table, helping themselves to Uncle Róseo’s milk. I had an immediate impulse and went over and took the can away from everyone, closed it, and put it away, afraid it would run out. At that moment, Mestre Pequenina was coming in and saw how abruptly I had done it. She asked me to go back, open the can, and let people help themselves.

Sometime later, she called me aside privately, not in front of people, and instructed me: “Jó, we don’t take food from people’s hands like that. You could have waited a bit and then gone there and put it away; there was no need to take it like that.”

She told me she knew why I had acted that way. In my childish mindset, I was doing what she’d asked, but there’s a way to do everything, and she orientated me how. It was a lesson that stuck with me: we don’t take food from people’s hands. In other words, in addition to caring for resources, we must also be mindful of how we treat our brothers and sisters.

September 28th: Mestre Pequenina would have turned 97 years old

It is always a joy to talk about Mestre Pequenina and on this special date – September 28th – we have even stronger memories of the lessons she left behind. I reflect on how much her arrival on this plane meant, not only to me, but to so many. Her contributions will span centuries within the União do Vegetal, for she holds a special place in this work, and much of who we are today bears her mark.

There are so many memories, and I know that no words are enough to express the spiritual value she represents. But I leave here my record of gratitude and recognition for everything she was and continues to be to us: mother, grandmother, and Mestre.

*Joelson Ferreira de Oliveira is Mestre Pequenina and Mestre Gabriel’s first grandchild. He is currently a member of the Body of Counsel of Núcleo Convite aos Encantos (Formosa-GO), 8th Region.