The Spirits’ Teachings

Material Charity and Moral Charity

9. “Let us love one another and do unto others what we would want them to do unto us.” Every religion, every moral possible is contained in these two precepts. If you were to abide by them in this world, you would be perfect. There would be neither hatred nor dissent. Furthermore, I will say that there would be no more poverty, because, from the surplus of the table of each rich person, many poor people would be fed, and in the dark backstreets where I lived during my last incarnation you would not see poor mothers dragging along their miserable children in need of everything.

You who are rich! Think about this a bit: help unfortunates as much as you can; give so that one day God will repay the good you have done, and when you leave your earthly envelope, you will find a cortege of thankful spirits who will receive you at the threshold of a more blessed world.

If only you could know the joy I experienced in meeting on the other side those whom I was able to help during my last life!

Therefore, love your neighbor. Love him or her as you love yourself, because you now know that that unfortunate fellow you are rejecting and keeping away is perhaps a brother, a father or a friend; and then, what despair you will feel upon recognizing him in the world of spirits!

I want you to understand fully what moral charity entails, the type that everyone can exhibit and which costs nothing  materially, but which is nonetheless very difficult to put into practice.

Moral charity consists in giving support to one another, and it is what you practice the least on the low order world where you are incarnate for now. Believe me; there is great merit in knowing how to keep quiet and let a more ignorant person speak; this is yet another kind of charity. Knowing how to turn a deaf ear when a mocking word escapes the mouth accustomed to scorn; not paying any attention to the smirk of disdain that greets your entry amongst persons who often wrongly think they are above you, whereas in the spirit life – the only true life – they are sometimes far from it: these are meritorious acts, not of humility but of charity, because not paying attention to someone else’s wrongs portrays moral charity.

This sort of charity, however, must not hinder the other kind; remember especially not to neglect your neighbor. Remember all that I have told you. You must always remember that the poor person whom you reject perhaps houses a spirit who used to be dear to you, and who, for the time being, is in a position beneath yours. I myself met again one of the poor of your earth, whom I had fortunately been able to help a few times, and from whom I must now, in turn, ask for help.

Remember that  Jesus said that  we are all brothers and sisters; always think about that before rejecting the leper or beggar. Goodbye. Think of those who suffer and pray for them.

Sister Rosalie (Paris, 1860)