Resumo de A Chatolic Priest Meets Sai Baba

Foreword

Many of my friends were alarmed when they learned of my intention to write a book about Sai Baba. They were aware of my convictions about this being who is human only in body. With brotherly concern, they variously advised, begged or beseeched me to publish it under pseudonym, imagining the unhappy consequences I might encounter from the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

I asked myself that I should have no fear in saying what my own eyes have seen. Why should I be afraid to make known what this poor heart of mine experiences before an extraordinary presence? Should I feel guilty for what I have discovered during these years, and be afraid to announce it? Certainly not! On the contrary, I feel quite fortunate. Necessitas enim mihi incumbit: it is not possible to resist the impulse of Truth, and woe to me if I should remain silent!

I write this book dedicating it above all to the Church preciously because I could not let pass, without pointing out to Her who is my Mother, a piece of news which can no longer remain unknown, hidden by indifference, fear, or by general confusion. This work is an undertaking which has made use of me, I would say, only as hired manual labour: I consider its contents the work of Another. It has been written above all for my bishop, Pope; and then for all my fellow bretheren, for my superiors, and for all those who throughout the centuries try to work in the services of, and in the search for, Truth.

Contrary to what those friends of mine fear, I hope - and my heart is certain of it - that these reflections will sound like a call and a warning for a greater spiritual re-awakening.

This era - the era of Sathya, the era of Truth - is, in my opinion, a unique moment, which will change the historical and religious order of nations. Certainly the most extraordinary characteristics of this study, in an age in which there is so much talk about sects and religious factions, is that in all the things I have discovered these years, I have found nothing which would prompt an aversion to our religion, nothing which would obstruct our faith. On the contrary! Everything I have meditated on has brought me that much closer to the mysteries I had been celebrating, often without knowing them thoroughly. And it is precisely to Sathya Sai Baba that I owe the renewal of my life as a priest!

In short, my hope is this: that the same thing might happen for many of my fellow bretheren, whom I have found tired, strained and disappointed.

I am grateful to all those who have offered me precious suggestions, in particular to Professor Pierantonio Di Coste, who encouraged and supported the drafting of this book.

I place this book at the feet of Him who inspired it - the only begotten son of yesterday, of today, and of always, the immutable Truth - in the hope that this fruit which He alone has the right to gather will be pleasing to Him and that He will accept it as an offering for His greater glory.

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