Example 12 - FRANÇOISE VERNHES.

— She was blind from birth and daughter of a tenant farmer from the outskirts of Toulouse. She died in 1855, at the age of forty-five. She occupied herself constantly with the teaching of the catechism to the boys, preparing them for the first communion. When the catechism was changed, no difficulty arose for her in teaching the new one, since she knew both by heart.

Returning from a long excursion on a wintry afternoon, in the company of an aunt, she had to cross a gloomy forest by muddy paths. The greatest precaution was needed so that the two women would not fall into the ditches. In this circumstance, the aunt wishing to give her her hand, she said: “Do not trouble yourself about me, I run no risk at all, seeing that I have upon my shoulders a light that guides me. Follow me, then, for it is I who will lead you.” Thus they finished the journey without accident, the blind woman leading the aunt who had good eyes.

— Evocation in Paris, in May 1865.

Will you tell us what light it was that guided you on that dark night and was seen only by you? — A. What! So persons like you, in continual relations with the Spirits, have need of explanation about such a fact? It was my guardian angel who guided me.

That was also our opinion, but we wished to see it confirmed. But did you know on that occasion that it was your guardian angel who was leading you? — A. I confess that I did not, though I believed in an intervention from Heaven. I had prayed for so long that the celestial Father might take pity on me… Blindness is so cruel… Yes, it is quite cruel, but I also recognize it to be just.

Those who sin through the eyes, through them must be punished; and so it must happen with regard to all the other faculties of man, that lead him to abuse.

Do not seek, therefore, in the innumerable human sufferings, any cause other than the proper and natural one, expiation; this, however, is only meritorious when borne with humility, being able to be softened by means of prayer, by the attraction of spiritual influences which, protecting the convicts of the human penitentiary, instill in them hope and comfort.

Devoted to the teaching of poor children, did you have difficulty in acquiring the knowledge of the catechism, when they changed it? — A. Ordinarily, the blind have other doubled senses, if one may so say. Observation is not one of the least faculties of their nature.

Memory is to them like a cabinet where there are placed coordinated, and forever, the teachings relating to their aptitudes and tendencies. And because nothing, from the exterior, can disturb this faculty, its development can be remarkable, through education.

As for me, I thank God for having granted me that such a faculty allowed me to fulfill the mission I carried, with those children, and which constituted also a reparation for the bad example I had given them in a former existence.

Everything is a serious matter for Spiritists; it is enough, to affirm it, to look around them. My teachings would perhaps be more useful to them than to let themselves be carried away by the philosophical subtleties of certain Spirits, who amuse themselves by flattering their pride in phrases as bombastic as they are empty of meaning.

By your earthly conduct, we had a proof of your moral advancement, and now, by your language, we have one that this advancement is also intellectual. — A. Much remains for me to acquire; there are, however, many people who on the Earth pass for ignorant, only because they have the intelligence blunted by expiation; 2 with death the veil is torn, and frequently the ignorant are more instructed than those who disdain their ignorance.

Believe that pride is the touchstone for the knowledge of men.

All those who possess a heart accessible to flattery, too confident in their science, are on the bad road; in general they are hypocrites and, therefore, distrust them.

Be humble as the Christ was and, like him, with love carry your cross, in order to ascend to the kingdom of Heaven. Françoise Vernhes.