Regenerative Worlds

16. Among the stars that twinkle in the blue canopy of the firmament, how many worlds there are like yours, designated by the Lord for trial and expiation! But there are also some that are more miserable and some that are better; and there are those of transition, which may be called regenerative. Each planetary vortex, moving in space around a common center, draws along with it its own worlds: primitive, exile, trial, regenerative and blissful. We have already spoken to you of those worlds where the newborn soul is placed, when, still ignorant of good and evil, it can progress toward God, lord of itself, in possession of its free will. You have already been informed regarding the ample faculties given to the soul so that it may practice the good. But alas! There are those who succumb, and God, not desiring their annihilation, permits them to go to those worlds where, from incarnation to incarnation, they purify and regenerate themselves, and return worthy of the glory that has been reserved for them.

17. Regenerative worlds serve as a transition between worlds of expiation and worlds of bliss. The repentant soul finds peace and repose on them, and ends up purifying itself. Of course, on such worlds humans are still subject to the laws that govern matter; their humanity still experiences your sensations and desires but is free of the muddled passions that enslave you; on regenerative worlds there is no longer the pride that renders your heart silent, the envy that tortures it and the hatred that suffocates it. The word love is written on every brow, a perfect equity governs social relationships, and all acknowledge God, endeavoring to evolve toward him by following his laws.

Nonetheless, on them there is still not perfect bliss, but the dawning of happiness. Human beings there are still of flesh, and therefore subject to the vicissitudes from which only completely dematerialized beings are freed. There are still trials to endure, but they do not have the pungent anguish of expiation. Compared to the earth, these worlds are very happy, and many of you would be satisfied to settle on them, for they are the calm after the storm, the convalescence after a cruel disease. Since humans there are less absorbed by material things, they foresee the future better than you do. They comprehend the joys that the Lord promises to those who render themselves worthy, when death has once again reaped their bodies in order to bestow upon them true life. It is then that the delivered soul hovers above all horizons; there are no longer the material and coarse senses, but the senses of a pure and celestial perispirit breathing emanations from God, in aromas of love and charity that emanate from his heart.

18. But alas! On those worlds humans are still fallible and the spirit of evil has not completely lost its empire. Not to advance is to retreat, and if individuals are not firm on the pathway of the good, they may fall back to worlds of expiation where new and more fearsome trials await them.

So at night, at the time of repose and prayer, contemplate that blue canopy and the innumerable spheres that shine above your heads, and ask yourselves which ones lead to God. Ask him for a regenerative world to open up to receive you after your expiation on the earth.

St. Augustine (Paris, 1862)