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A collection of spiritist prayers, Joana dArc, 01/ 04/ 2014.

Theme: Prayer for a child that has just been born
Source: The Gospel according to Spiritism, XXVIII: items, 53 a 56.

Prayer for a child that has just been born
53. PREFACE - Only after having passed through the tests offered by physical life can Spirits reach
perfection. Those who are in an errant state await God's permission to return to an existence which can offer
them progress, either by the expiation of their faults by means of the vicissitudes to which they will be
subjected, or by the undertaking of a mission which will benefit humanity. Their advancement and future
happiness will be in proportion to the manner in which they employ the time given to them on Earth. The duty
of guiding their first steps and of leading them towards goodness is up to their parents, who will have to give
an account to God for the degree of fulfilment they gave to this mandate. It was to help them that God made
paternal and filial love a Law of Nature, a law which can never be transgressed with impunity.

54. PRAYER (To be said by the parents):
Dear Spirit, who has incarnated in the body of our child, we bid you welcome. We thank You, Almighty
God, for the blessing of this child. We know that this is a trust You have deposited in us and for which one day
we will have to give an account. If he (she) belongs to the new generation of Spirits who are to inhabit the
Earth,
We thank you Lord for this blessing! If it is an imperfect Spirit, it is our duty to help him/her progress
towards goodness, by means of counselling and good examples. If he/she falls prey to evil through our fault,
we shall be responsible for this, seeing that we shall have failed in our mission. Lord, uphold us in this task
and give us the necessary strength and willpower so as to be able to fulfill it to the best of our ability. If this
child has come to test our Spirits, may Your will be done, Lord!
Good Spirits, who have watched over this birth and will accompany this child during the course of
his/her new existence, do not abandon him/her. Turn away from him/her all the evil Spirits who will try to tempt
him/her into badness. Give this being strength to resist all their suggestions and courage to suffer with
patience and resignation the tests which await here on Earth (See chapter 14, item 9).

55. PRAYER:
Dear God, You have entrusted me with the destiny of one of Your Spirits; therefore, Lord, make me worthy of
the task You have set me. Grant me Your protection. Illuminate my intelligence so that I may perceive right
from the beginning the tendencies of the one it is my duty to prepare for ascension to Your peace.

56. PRAYER:
God of infinite goodness, since You have seen fit to permit the Spirit of this child to come once again to
undergo earthly trials, destined to make it progress, give it enlightenment enough so that it may learn to know
You, love You and worship You. Through Your omnipotence may this soul regenerate itself from the source
of Your Divine Teachings. That, under the protection of its Guardian Angel, its intelligence may develop,
amplify and lead it to aspire to move closer to You. May the science of Spiritism be a brilliant light which
illuminates it throughout the many choices of life. And finally, may it learn to appreciate the full extension of
Your love, which puts us to the test so that we may purify ourselves.
Lord, cast a paternal eye over this family to which You have entrusted this soul, so that it may learn to
understand the importance of its mission. May the seeds of goodness within this child germinate till such time
as, by its own aspirations, it elevates itself to You. O Lord, may it please You to answer this humble prayer, in
the name of and by the worthiness of He who said: "Let the little children come to me, because the Kingdom of
Heaven is for those who resemble them."

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CONSIDERATIONS:
All people in developing of their civilizations having the core of their beings awareness and intuition of
not being only living material bodies, but with sense of something of survival to the fleshly body, since then
God has been gradually revealing to man his Existence and that man is His Creation .
Although after revelations given to us through the ages, man believes yes, that his soul is immortal,
but many do not accept reincarnation of spirits inferring that we all are spirits created at birth, so, just new
brand-new out of the Hands of Our Creator, this deduction is not consistent with the reality that we are
different from each other in gifts, vocations, intuition, logic, ethics and morals, as well as different social
trends being some selfish, some charitable, some benevolent, some altruistic, some fraternal, some solidary,
some tolerant, some comprehensible, some patient, some one other aggressive, some intolerant, some with
explosive endence, Et Cetera.
Now let us see, moreover, that our children are spirits, and who have lived before and who bring with
them the merits or deficiences of trheir past, who are developed or backwarded, who have affections or
affinities with us or not, who love us or seek to be born among us to receive our peace in case in another life
past they had disagreements with us or vice versa it if be the case, if they seek us for loving us and as if they
were kindred souls with affection to us for us to help each other in the manner of one hand washes the
other, and from that agreement they progress together or in family or groups alike, because progress is
necessary to our happiness, for one person alone to want only for himself happiness it is selfishness and one
can not evolve alone being always the same in a state of stagnation , hence the love one another from the
atom to the Pure Angel in spiritual ascent towards God.
Spiritism believes that God created us or do create us 'simple and ignorant', with the germ of will, of
intuition and faith planted in us in order for us to grow spiritually, to progress and to evolve offering us all
conditions in the environments in which we are placed according to our merits, our needs ... and we ascend
with the help of His presence His knowledge and His laws for our moral and spiritual growth, in a condition
that God asks of us, that we love each other, that we help each other by wishing the others what we want for
ourselves.
Hence the need for a continued generation , hence the need of us to have children, hence the need of
us to love and help them, being so like: as today to me tomorrow to you, because if a child has progress
through the parents' help he can also due to timely help their parents in the future, and so it goes, nobody
loses, nothing gets lost, everyone should do everything possible as it were unto God and God pays us
according to our worthiness, 'to each one according to his works" (Matthew XVI 27) not only between
parents and children, but also it is valid for wives who help their husbands unrewarded as well as husband
helping wives unrewarded , even if one of the two is losing for the other in the end God always rewards
everyone, all efforts for the neighbor or unto the children must be as like as to serve God, since in this
difficult life there are parents who give their children everything which can be conceived and get nothing back
and to top it off with kids grumbling, saying they did not ask to come into the world nor asked to be born,
sure they are ungrateful but we should not expect God to give us to the world only gifted and evolved spirits,
God gives us as He sees fit the need , be it the spirit that must reincarnate or of parents who will accept
them, sometimes we deserve good children and God gives us difficult ones, but it is because God asks us
this favor as a mission, hence the need to thank God for whatever spiritual degree might be that God gives
us a son, let us accept without grumbling and not saying: what wrong have I done to deserve such a difficult
child , as it is, but life is always generating love for each other: the greatest be it in moral values, whether
knowledge values, whether spiritual values must be your servant ( John XX: 26-27 ) and God is the Servant
of all and abundantly loves us and : "Neither has occored to the heart of man the things that God has in store
for those who love Him ' (I Corinthians, II: 9).
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Let us appretiate as suggested in the Gospel according to Spiritism the item number
9 of the chapter, XIV, as a backing of todays study, these valuable points of explainage
given by the spirit of St. Agostinho in Paris in thge year 1862:


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INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SPIRITS:
CHILDREN'S INGRATITUDE AND FAMILY TIES
9. Ingratitude is one of the most direct results of selfishness and always causes revolt in honest
hearts. But the ingratitude of children towards their parents shows an even more hateful trait of character. It
is specially this point of view we are going to consider, so we may analyse the causes and effects of this
attitude. In this case, as in all others, Spiritism offers enlightenment on one of the greatest problems of the
human heart.
When a Spirit leaves the earth plane it takes with it all the passions and all the virtues inherent in its
nature, going on to improve itself in the spirit world or to remain stationary until it desires to receive
enlightenment. Accordingly many Spirits return to the spiritual world full of hate and violence, as well as full
of insatiable desires for vengeance. Nevertheless, there are always some amongst them who are more
advanced and so able to perceive a faint glimmer of truth enabling them to appreciate the disastrous
consequences of these passions, which in turn induces them to make good resolutions for the future. These
Spirits understand that in order to reach God there is only one password: Charity But there can be no
charity without being able to forget affronts and insults. Neither can there be any charity if there is no
forgiveness or if the heart is filled with hate. Then by unprecedented efforts, these Spirits manage to observe
those they hated while upon Earth. However, on seeing them again animosity is once more aroused in their
hearts, causing revolt at the idea of forgiving them and even more at the thought of personal renouncement.
But above all they are revolted at the thought of loving those who had destroyed their worldly goods, their
honour or perhaps even their family. Meanwhile, the hearts of these unhappy Spirits continue to be disturbed
and upset. They hesitate and waver, agitated by contrasting sentiments. If their good resolutions
predominate, then they pray to God and implore the good Spirits to give them strength at this the most
decisive moment of their ordeal.
Finally, after years of meditation and prayer, the Spirit takes the opportunity of a physical body that is,
as yet, in project in the family of the one who is detested, and then asks the Spirits designated to transmit
orders, for permission to fulfill here on Earth the destiny of that body which is about to be formed. What then
will be this Spirit's behaviour within the chosen family? That will depend on the greater or lesser degree of
persistence in the good resolutions made by that Spirit.
The incessant contact with those it hates constitutes a terrible test, under which it not infrequently
succumbs if its desire to win through is not sufficiently strong. In this manner, and according to whether or
not the good resolutions predominate, the Spirit will be either a friend or enemy to those it was called to live
amongst. This is the explanation for the hates and instinctive repulsions often noted between certain
children, and which appear to be inexplicable. In actual fact there is nothing in the present life which could
have caused such antipathy; in order to find the cause it would be necessary to look back into the past.
Oh! Spiritists! You must understand the great part that humanity has to play! You must understand that
when a body is produced the soul which incarnates in it has come from space in order to progress. So
acquaint yourselves with your duty and then put all your love into bringing this soul nearer to God. This is the
mission with which you have been entrusted and for which you will receive just recompense if you fulfill your
trust faithfully. The care and education given by you to this child will help in its improvement and future well-
being. Remember that God will ask every mother and father: "What have you done with the child which was
entrusted to you?" If through any fault of yours it has remained backward, then as punishment you will have
to watch it amongst the suffering Spirits, when it depended upon you to help it towards happiness. Thus you
yourselves, assailed by remorse, will ask that it be permitted for you to remedy your errors. You will request
for yourself and your child another incarnation in which you will surround that Spirit with better care, and in
which, being full of gratitude, the Spirit will then reciprocate by loving you.
So then, do not reject the child who repels its parents, nor the one who is ungrateful, for it is not mere
chance which has made it like that and then given it to you. An imperfect intuition of the past is revealed by
these attitudes, and from this we can deduce that one or the other harbours great hate or has been mortally
offended; that one or the other has come to pardon or to atone. Mothers, embrace the child which causes
vexation and say to yourself: One of us is guilty! Make yourselves worthy of the Divine enjoyment which God
has conjugated into maternity by teaching your children that they are on Earth in order to perfect themselves,

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to love and to bless others. Oh, but there are many mothers amongst you having children who have innate
bad principles acquired in past lives, and instead of eliminating these traits, actually maintain and develop
them due to blameworthy weaknesses or through carelessness! Later on, with hearts that are lacerated by
the ingratitude of your children, you will begin your atonement, even in this life.
Nevertheless, your task is not as difficult as it may seem. It does not require the wisdom of the world.
Either an ignorant or wise person may discharge this duty, and Spiritism will help you to do just that by giving
you the possibility of knowing the causes of the imperfections in the human soul.
Having been brought from past existences, these good or evil instincts will manifest themselves from
early childhood. It is necessary that parents study these instincts; all badness originates from selfishness and
pride. So be on the lookout for the least sign which will reveal the existence of such vices, and then take care
to combat them without waiting for them to take deep root. Do as the good gardener does: cut off all
defective shoots as soon as they appear on the tree. If you allow selfishness and pride to develop, do not be
surprised if later on you are paid back by ingratitude. When parents have done everything possible for the
moral advancement of their children, even if they have not been successful, then they have nothing with
which to reproach themselves and their consciences may remain tranquil. For the natural anguish resulting
from the unproductiveness of their efforts, God reserves a great, an immense, consolation in the certainty
that it is only a brief delay, that it will be given to them to conclude in another existence the work that has
already begun, and one day their ungrateful child will recompense them with love. (See chapter 13, item 19.)
God never gives anyone a trial superior to the strength of the person who has asked for it. He only
permits those tests which can be fulfilled. Therefore if this does not happen, it is not for lack of possibilities,
but for lack of willpower. In effect, how many there are who instead of resisting their bad tendencies, actually
revel in them. Alas, these revellers will find that only tears and cries of anguish have been reserved for them
in their future existences. Nevertheless, we should wonder at God's unbounding goodness because He
never shuts the door to repentance. The day will come when the culprit, tired of suffering and with his or her
pride finally humbled, will perceive that God is holding out His Hands to receive the prodigal child who throws
himself at His feet.
Now listen well to what I am about to tell you - the harshest trials are almost always the indication of
the end to suffering and to a certain perfecting of the Spirit, as long as they are accepted with all thought
focussed on God. These are in fact supreme moments in which, above all else, it behoves the Spirit not to
cause failure due to constant complaining or the fruits of the trial will be lost, so making it necessary to begin
again from the beginning. Instead of complaining, thank God for the opportunity to triumph which He has
given you, that He may bestow the prize of victory upon you.
Then when you leave the vortex of this earthly world, to enter into the world of spirit, you will be
acclaimed as a soldier returning triumphant from the fray.
Of all the trials that exist, the hardest to bear are those which affect the heart. A person who is able to
support misery and material privation with courage frequently succumbs under the weight of domestic
bitterness, goaded on by the ingratitude of members of the family. Oh, what a terribly pungent anguish this
is! But in these circumstances what can more effectively renew moral courage than the knowledge of the
causes of the evil? Even if there are protracted lacerations, it is certain that there are no eternal despairs,
because it is not possible for God to wish that any one of His creatures suffer indefinitely. What can be more
comforting and more animating than the idea that the abbreviation of suffering depends on each effort made
to destroy the evil within oneself, which is the cause of all misery? But in order to be able to do this, it is
necessary that mankind does not confine its vision exclusively to this planet nor to only a single existence.
Humanity must lift itself up so that it becomes possible to see the infinity of both the past and the future.
When this happens, then God's everlasting justice becomes apparent and so you will be able to wait
patiently, because all that had previously appeared to be absolute monstrosity on this Earth will have
become explainable. The various wounds which you have received will appear as mere scratches. In this
rapid glance cast over the whole scene, all family ties will present themselves in their true light.
You will no longer see only the fragile material ties which join various members of a family together,
but also the lasting ties of the Spirit which penetrate and consolidate with the process of purification, instead
of being broken by the effect of reincarnation.
Families are formed by groupings of Spirits who are induced to gather together because of their
affinities of tastes, moral progress and affections. During their terrestrial migrations, these same Spirits seek

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each other out in order to group themselves as they do in space, so giving origin to united and homogeneous
families. If during their peregrinations it so happens they are temporarily separated, then they will meet again
later on, happy for the new progress which has been accomplished. But as they are not allowed to work
exclusively for their own benefit, God permits that less advanced Spirits incarnate amongst them in order that
these may receive good advice and examples which will help them. Sometimes these Spirits cause
perturbation in the midst of the others, which constitutes a trial and a task to be fulfilled. Therefore, receive
these perturbed Spirits as your brothers and sisters; help them, and afterwards, when once again they are in
the spiritual world, the family will be able to congratulate itself for having saved an outcast, who in their turn
may save others. - SAINT AUGUSTIN (Paris, 1862)
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Reflections on the Gospel:
Jesus said to St. Peter: 'Peter do you love me, Peter said, Lord you know that I love you . Jesus asked
him again: Peter do you love me, Peter said, Lord you know ... And Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep'
(John XXI: 15, 16, 17) .
We could interpret this to say as we love God and we can not avoid our moral / spiritual
responsibilities to our children as well as to ourselves and to love it is not only materially, but loving with
fatherly presence if possible and with care and with a following up of the development of the child and not as
in many cases of absent parents.
The Apostle John suggests: 'How can you love God if you do not love your neighbor (Brother)?
(I John IV: 20)
We reflect in this means, also to love very much our children, because thus complements and fulfills to
love God and not be told: How can you love God if you do not love your children, with an aggravating which
is we know that we are all children of God, Through Jesus having said, 'I ascend (go) to my Father and your
Father, to my God and your God. (John, XX: 17).
God forgive us for negative faults that we may have in keeping responsibility of our children, be in love
be in not looking rightly after them, be for not praying often enough for our children, be in helping them to
follow their vocations, their gifts or good inclinations, hence for the father or the mother it is not easy the
guidance of children in the walks of life especially the morally ones except with faith and a blessing of God,
at best seeing, praying for children it is not only for a born one recently , but always ?

God be with us, as formerly, today and forever.