Motives for resignation. Joana dArc, 01 11 2016.

Theme: Motives for resignation.

Source: The gospel according to Spiritism, V: 12 e 13.

MOTIVES FOR RESIGNATION

12. With the words: Blessed are the afflicted for they shall be consoled, Jesus indicates the
compensation which awaits those who suffer and the resignation which leads Man to bless suffering as a
prelude to the cure.
These words can also be understood in this manner: that one should be content to suffer, seeing that
the pain of this world is the payment for past debts which have been incurred. Patiently supported here on
Earth, these pains will save centuries of future suffering. One should be happy that God is reducing the debt by
permitting payment now, thereby guaranteeing a tranquil future.
Suffering Man is like a debtor who owes a large sum and to whom the creditor says: "If you pay me
even a hundredth part of your debt today, I will exonerate you and you will be free; but if you do not, then I shall
torment you till you pay the very last installment." Would not the debtor feel happy in supporting all kinds of
hardships in order to liberate himself, so paying only a hundredth part of what he owed? Instead of complaining
to the creditor, would he not be grateful?
This is the meaning of the words, 'Blessed are the afflicted for they shall be consoled'. They are happy
because they are paying their debts and also because after payment they will be free. However, if on acquitting
himself on the one side, Man becomes indebted on the other, he will never find liberation. Therefore, each new
fault only increases the debt, there being not one, whatsoever, which does not entail a compelling and inevitable
punishment. If not today, then tomorrow; if not in this life, then in another. Amongst the list of failings, it behoves
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Man to put the lack of submission to God's Will in first place. So if we complain about our afflictions, if we do not
accept them with resignation, or if we accuse God of being unjust, we contract new debts which in turn make us
lose the fruits which should have been gathered from these sufferings. This is why we must begin again from
the start, exactly as if after paying part of a debt to a creditor who has been tormenting us, we then took out
another loan.
On entering into the spiritual world, Man is like the labourer who arrives on the day of payment. To some
God will say: "Here is your recompense for the days you have worked", while to others, the so-called lucky ones
on Earth who have lived in idleness, or those who have built their happiness on the satisfaction of their own self-
esteem, and on worldly pleasures, He will say: 'There is nothing more to come: you have already received your
salary on Earth. Go and begin your tasks again.
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13. Man can soften or increase the bitterness of his trials according to the manner in which he regards
earthly life. His suffering will be all the more depending on how long he imagines it to be. But those who can see
life through a spiritual prism understand bodily existence at a glance. They see that life is but a point in eternity,
comprehend the shortness of its duration, and recognize that this painful moment will soon pass. The certainty
of a happier future sustains and animates them and far from complaining, they offer thanks to God for the pain
which will permit them to advance. On the other hand, for all those who see only bodily life before them, the
duration seems interminable and the pain oppresses with all its weight.
The result of looking at life in a spiritual way is a diminishing in importance of all worldly things, and Man
feels himself compelled to moderate his desires, to content himself with his position without envying others. This
in turn enables him to receive weakened impressions of reverses and deceptions that may be experienced.
From these attitudes comes calmness and resignation, so useful to bodily health as well as to the soul; whereas
from jealousy, envy, and ambition Man voluntarily condemns himself to tortures and increases the misery and
anguish during his short existence.
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CONSIDERATIONS:
The spiritist doctrine encourages the effort to conquer our inferiorities, which also means somehow the
resignation, i.e. be satisfied before God, accepting the conditions in which we are, because as God is fair, if He
put us in this ' world of Tests and Atonement ', (The Gospel accord, to Spiritism, III: 3- 15) it is because this is the world
we deserve to live, to gain entitlement to a better world , the early Christians understood this, and so says St.
Paul: ' and having food and raiment let us be therewith content ' , (1 Timothy, 6:8) and 'for I have learned in
whatever state I am, therewith to be content ', (Philippians, 4:11)
 Yes, St. Paul says he has learned to make do with what he had, but it really is difficult nowadays,
because we have to strive to overcome the needs we have of the modern things, which are not few; for this it is
necessary to have a lot of faith in God and in the future, because the material selfishness is overriding the rights
of our immortal soul, for the ones of human physical rights, that is bringing spiritual complications in which God
is forgotten, some churches are replacing the progress of the soul, by material prosperity, teaching people to
enrich and they enrich themselves too, forgetting that Jesus taught that in the future it's not material values that
enriches the merits of the soul, But what the person is, not what one has, because Jesus says: I was naked and
you dressed me, I was sick and you visited me (Matthew, 25: 34-46); which is fruits of what one is,. And we know
that selfishness only want and cares for oneself, one only thinks about oneself, one does not take into account
the others, and in consequence of this selfishness the lack of love towards ones neighbor goes fading until
selfishness takes into account and one thinks that killing is of ones right, stealing also is ones prerogative, as
long as one satisfies his own material ambition.
Few respect the rights of others; they don't understand that their rights begin where the others end.
Few understand that we are all children of the same heavenly Father, and that we should share the
riches of Our Father as a brother, and help each other because we are brothers, and it is giving and receiving, it
is loving and being loved, that is forgiving and being forgiven, that is respecting and be respected, which is the
way that spirituality functions, spirituality teaches us, and spirituality asks us.
In this mode, this is how Jesus taught us to love. And Jesus directed us saying: ' love one another as I
have loved you. (John, XV: 12) 'Example I give unto you'. (John 15). Yes, Jesus is our older brother and our model.
(LE. Q. 112 and 113).
Dear folk, in times of St. Paul also, there were selfishness and lack of love and St. Paul watched this
and suggests as well as the spiritist doctrine does: self-effort and said: ' let him that stole steal no more '
(Ephesians, IV: 28) and I would say within this educational thought:: the one who practices robbery rob no more,
and he who would kill, kill no more, because he who regrets and repents saves oneself and in this same mode
one should always search spiritual progress, in the sense that Jesus also said: ' get up and walk ', (mark, II: 9) '
Sin no more ', (John, V: 14), so that nothing worse happens, in this repentance of the type of interior renovation
and for the good, the world will rescue itself and the people will be a worthy people and ready to submit to Gods
Will, Who does not desire that anyone may get lost but that everyone repent and come to Him, as the prodigal

as a servant, which would be fair enough. (Lucas, 15: 11-32) 2

son did and surprisingly his father received him with embracing love instead of what he thought to be received

A useful and easy way for a person to resign is as Jesus taught: "don't do unto others what you don't
want for yourself, and do for others what you wish for yourself ', because if we do not wish evil to ourselves, we
don't wish harm to others, then the loving comes down in this context, this harmony, this peace, and Paul
suggests : 'As much as possible be at peace with all men (Romans, II: 18), in tolerance, in contentment under
whatever the conditions we might be, that's an effort one makes to accept one another, to resign oneself, as
there are flaws, there are offences that are hard to be accepted, therefore we have to strive to deal with each
other in harmony of life No one lives alone, we depend on each other, for example: the need to eat bread
requires the work of a Baker, of flour depends on a Miller, who depends on the farmer, who is dependent on
good weather with rain, leading to the dependence on the providence of God. And so everything in life leads us
to God, even if a person does not believe in God, but whether one does or not, does not change the facts; so,
really the good thing of life is to believe in God with faith, and to have faith in the future, and simple as it may
seem; to have resignation which helps us to have a better future with a feeling of peace here and now.
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LET US SEE IN THE SPIRITS BOOK SOME TEACHINGS ABOUT RESIGNATION:
862. There are persons who never succeed in anything, and who seem to be pursued by an
evil genius in all their undertakings; is there not, in such cases, something that may be called
a fatality?
"It is certainly a fatality, if you like to call it so, but it results from the choice of the kind of existence made
by those persons in the spirit-state, because they desired to exercise their patience and resignation by a life of
disappointment. But you must not suppose that this fatality is absolute, for it is often the consequence of a
man's having taken a wrong path, one that is not adapted to his intelligence and aptitudes. He who tries to cross
a river without knowing how to swim stands a very good chance of drowning; and the same may be said in
regard to the greater part of the events of your life. If a man undertook only the things that are in harmony with
his faculties, he would almost always succeed. What causes his failure is his conceit and ambition, which draw
him out of his proper path, and make him mistake for a vocation what is only a desire to satisfy those passions.
He fails, and through his own fault; but, instead of blaming himself, he prefers to accuse his 'star.' One who
might have been a good workman, and earned his bread honourably in that capacity, prefers to make bad
poetry, and dies of starvation. There would be a place for every one, if every one put himself in his right place.
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 976. Is not the sight of spirits who suffer a cause of affliction for the good ones? And, if so, what
becomes of the happiness of the latter, that happiness being thus impaired?
"Good spirits are not distressed by the suffering of those who are a lower point than themselves,
because they know that it will have an end; they aid those who suffer to become better, and lend them a helping
hand. To do this is their occupation, and is a joy for them when they succeed."
- This is comprehensible on the part of spirits who are strangers to them, and who take no special
interest in them; but does not the sight of their sorrows and sufferings disturb the happiness of the spirits who
have loved them upon the earth?
"If spirits did not see your troubles, it would prove that they become estranged from you after death,
whereas all religions teach you that the souls of the departed continue to see you; but they regard your
afflictions from another point of view. They know that those sufferings will aid your advancement if you bear
them with resignation; and they are consequently more pained by the want of fortitude which keeps you back,
than by sufferings which they know to be only temporary."
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399. The vicissitudes of corporeal life being at once an expiation of the faults of the past and lessons for
the future, can we, from the nature of those vicissitudes, infer the character of our preceding existence?
"You can do so very frequently, since the nature of the punishment incurred always corresponds to that
of the fault committed. Nevertheless, it would not do to consider this as being an absolute rule. The instinctive
tendencies furnish a more certain indication; for the trials undergone by a spirit are as much for the future as for
the past." When a spirit has reached the end of the term assigned by Providence to his errant life, he chooses
for himself the trials which he determines to undergo in order to hasten his progress - that is to say, the kind
of existence which he believes will be most likely to furnish him with the means of advancing and the trials
of this new existence always correspond to the faults which he has to expiate. If he triumphs in this new
struggle, he rises in grade; if he succumbs, he has to try again.
A spirit always possesses free-will. It is in virtue of this free-will that he chooses, when in the spirit-state,
the trials he elects to undergo In the corporeal life, and that he deliberates, when in the incarnate state
whether he will do, or not do, and chooses between good and evil. To deny a man's free-will will would be
to reduce him to a machine.

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When a spirit has re-entered corporeal life, he experiences a temporary forgetfulness of his former
existences, as though these were hidden from him by a veil. Sometimes, however, he preserves a vague
consciousness of them, and they may, under certain circumstances, be revealed to him but this only occurs
as a result of the decision of higher spirits, who make that revelation spontaneously for some useful end,
and never for the gratification of idle curiosity.
A spirit's future existences cannot, in any case, be revealed to him during the corporeal life, because
they will depend on the manner in which he accomplishes his present existence, and on his own ulterior choice.
Temporary forgetfulness of the faults he has committed is no obstacle to a spirit's improvement for if he
have not a precise remembrance of them, the knowledge he had of them In the state of erraticity, and the
desire he then conceived to repair them, guide him intuitively, and inspire him with the Intention of
resisting the evil tendency. This Intention is the voice of his conscience, and is seconded by the spirits who
assist him, if he gives heed to the suggestions with which they inspire him
Although a man does not know exactly what may have been his acts in his former existences, he always
knows the kind of faults of Which he has been guilty, and what has been his ruling characteristic. He has
only to study himself, and he will know what he has been, not by what he is, but by his tendencies.
The vicissitudes of corporeal life are both an expiation of faults In the past. and trials designed to render
us better for the future. They purify and elevate, provided we hear them resignedly and unrepiningly.
The nature of the vicissitudes and trials that we have to undergo may also enlighten us in regard to what
we have been end what we have done, just as we infer the crimes of which a convict has been guilty from
the penalty Inflicted on him by the law. Thus, he who has sinned through pride will be punished by the
humiliations of an inferior position the self-indulgent and avaricious, by poverty the hard-hearted, by the
seventies he will undergo the tyrant, by slavery a bad son. by the Ingratitude of his children the idle, by
subjection to hard and incessant labour, and so on.
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LET US ALSO SEE IN THE SPIRITS BOOK ABOUT THE FREE WILL QUESTIONS
843 TO 850:
Free Will
843. Has man freedom of action?
"Since he has freedom of thought, he has freedom of action. Without free-will man would be a machine."
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844. Does man posses freewill from his birth?
 "He possesses free-will from the moment when lie possesses the will to act. In the earliest portion of a
lifetime free-will is almost null; it is developed and changes its object with the development of the faculties. The
child, having thoughts in harmony with the wants of his age, applies his free-will to the things which belong to
that age."
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845. Are not the instinctive predispositions that a man brings with him at birth an obstacle to
the exercise of his free-will?
"A man's instinctive predispositions are those which belonged to his spirit before his incarnation. If he is
but little advanced, they may incite him to wrongdoing, in which he will be seconded by spirits who sympathize
with that wrong-doing; but no incitement is irresistible when there is a determination to resist. remember that to
will is to be able." (361.)
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846. Has not our organism an influence on the acts of our life, and if so, does not this influence
constitute an infringement of our free-will?
"Spirits are certainly influenced by matter, which may hamper them in their manifestations. This is why,
in worlds in which the body is less gross than upon the earth, the faculties act more freely; but the instrument
does not give the faculty. In considering this question, you must also distinguish between moral faculties and
intellectual faculties. If a man has the instinct of murder, it is assuredly his spirit that possesses this instinct, and
not his organs. He who annihilates his thought, in order to occupy himself only with matter, becomes like the
brute, and still worse, for he no longer endeavours to preserve himself from evil, and it is this which constitutes
his culpability, because he does so of his own free-will." (See No.367 et seq., Influence of Organism.)
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847. Does aberration of the mental faculties deprive man of free-will?
He whose intelligence is deranged by any cause whatever is no longer master of his thoughts, and
thenceforth is no longer free. Mental aberration is often a punishment for the spirit who, in another existence,
has been vain or haughty, or has made a bad use of his faculties. He may be re-born in the body of an idiot, as
the despot may be re-born in the body of a slave, and the hard-hearted possessor of riches, in that of a beggar;
but the spirit suffers from this constraint, of which he is fully conscious; and it is in this constraint that you see
the action of matter." (371 et seq.)
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848. Is the aberration of the mental faculties produced by drunkenness an excuse for the
crimes committed in that state?
"No; for the drunkard has voluntarily deprived himself of his reason in order to satisfy his brutish
passions. He thus commits. not one crime, but two."
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849. What is the dominant faculty of man in the savage state? Is it instinct or free-will?
"Instinct; which, however, does not prevent his acting with entire freedom in certain things; but, like the
child he uses his freedom for the satisfaction of his needs, and obtains its development only through the
development of his intelligence. Consequently, you, who are more enlightened than the savage, are more
blamable than a savage if you do wrong."
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850. Does not social position sometimes place obstacles in the way of free action?
"Society has, undoubtedly, its exigencies. God is just, and takes everything into account; but He will hold
you responsible for any lack of effort on your part to surmount such obstacles."
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CONCLUSION:
The spiritist doctrine has no dogmas, so resignation is an advise and not dogmatic obligation, the
doctrine is persuasive to the use of reason, as well as the teachings of Jesus were persuasive and not
dogmatic. The spiritist doctrine is a spiritual doctrine taught by the Spirits, which brings moral consequences, as
it is a science of the soul, on its development chain discovers that it is evolutionary and progressive, that the
more progressive one be in moral, happier one is, and finds out in the progress of its studies, that one is
immortal and that on ones journey has reincarnations as many as necessary (LE. Q. 169), for ones moral and
happy advance, and that one has already in oneself ones spiritual body (Perispirit) and that one has not created
oneself, but is the creation of God, therefore a son of God.
That we have ' free will ', (Spirits book, Q. 843), so responsibility for our acts before God, before the others
and to ourselves and that to be happy or miserable depends on us, so the effort we make in resignation, makes
part of our spiritual growth.

May God be with us, as formerly, today and forever?