Example 9 - BERNARDIN.

— I am, for many centuries now, a forgotten Spirit. There on Earth I lived in opprobrium and misery, working ceaselessly and day by day to give my family scanty bread. Yet I loved the true Lord, and when he who oppressed me on Earth made heavier the burden of my sorrows, I would say: “My God, give me the strength to bear its weight without complaint.”

I was expiating, my friends. Nevertheless, upon emerging from the harsh ordeal, the Lord received me into his holy peace, and my dearest wish was to gather you all together, brothers and children, saying to you: — “However dearly you may judge it, the happiness that awaits you shall surpass its price.”

The son of a numerous family, I never had any position and served whoever could best help me bear my existence. Born in an age of cruel servitude, I tasted all the injustices, fatigues, and hardships that the Lord's underlings saw fit to impose upon me. My wife outraged, my daughters abducted and then repudiated, all without my being able to complain. My sons — them they led to wars of pillage and crime, only to hang them afterward for faults they had not committed.

Ah! if only you knew, poor friends, what I suffered in my long existence… I waited, however, and the Lord granted me that happiness which does not exist on Earth. To all of you, therefore, courage, patience, and resignation.

You, my son, keep what I have given you, which is a practical teaching. He who counsels is always more heeded when he can say: — I endured more than you, and I endured it without complaining.

In what age did you live?

A. From 1400 to 1460.

And did you afterward have another existence?

A. I lived again among you as a missionary… Yes, as a missionary of the faith, but of the pure, true faith, coming from God, and not manipulated by men.

And as a Spirit, now, do you still have occupations?

A. Would you then believe that Spirits remain inactive? Inaction, uselessness would be a torment to us. My mission is to guide Spiritist centers, to which I inspire good thoughts, while at the same time I strive to neutralize those suggested by evil Spirits. Bernardin.