Example 2 - MRS. HÉLÈNE MICHEL.

— A young woman of 25, who died suddenly at home, without suffering, with no previously known cause. Wealthy and somewhat frivolous, the levity of her character predisposed her more to the trifles of life than to serious things. Nonetheless, she possessed a kind heart and was docile, affectionate, and charitable.

Evoked three days after her death by people who knew her, she expressed herself thus:

“I do not know where I am… what turmoil surrounds me!

You called me, and I came. I do not understand why I am not in my house; they lament my absence when I am present, without being able to make myself recognized.

My body no longer belongs to me, and yet I feel its coldness… I want to leave it and I cling to it all the more, always… I am as though two personalities…

Oh! when shall I come to understand what is happening to me? I must go there still… my other “self,” what will become of it in my absence?… Farewell.”

The feeling of duality, not yet destroyed by a complete separation, is evident here.

A fickle character, with her position and fortune permitting the satisfaction of every caprice, would likewise have favored tendencies to levity. It is no wonder, then, that her release was slow, to the point that, three days after death, she still felt bound to her bodily envelope. But, as she had no serious vices and was of a good nature, this situation had nothing painful about it and was not to be prolonged for very long.

Evoked again after a few days, her ideas were already much altered. Here is what she said:

“Thank you for having prayed for me. I recognize the goodness of God, who spared me the sufferings and apprehensions consequent upon the detachment of my Spirit.

For my poor mother it will be most difficult to resign herself; nevertheless she will be comforted, and what in her eyes constitutes a grievous misfortune was inevitable and indispensable so that the things of Heaven might become for her what they ought to be: everything.

I shall be at her side until the end of her earthly trial, helping her to bear it.

I am not unhappy, but I still have much to do to draw near to the situation of the blessed. I shall ask God to grant me to return to this Earth to make amends for the time I wasted there in this last existence.

May faith sustain you, my friends; trust in the efficacy of prayer, especially when it comes from the heart. God is good.”

Q. Did it take you long to recognize yourself?

A. I understood death on the very day you prayed for me.

Q. Was the state of disturbance painful?

A. No, I did not suffer, I believed I was dreaming and awaited the awakening.

My life was not free of sorrows, but every being incarnate in that world must suffer. Resigning myself to the will of God, my resignation was taken into account by Him.

I am grateful to you for the prayers that helped me to the recognition of myself. Thank you; I shall always return with pleasure. Farewell.

Hélène.