Open-up!Cárita’s appeal
We got this letter from Lyon:
“… Spiritism, this great link that unites all children of God, has opened up such a vast horizon before us that we can look at all these hearts that the circumstances placed from the east to the west, seeing them vibrating before a single appeal from Cárita. I still remember the profound emotion that I felt last year, when the Spiritist Review reported the impression produced by one communication of this excellent Spirit in all corners of Europe. There is no doubt that any thing can be said about Spiritism; it is a proof that it grows because in general people will not attack small things but those that have big impact. Besides, what are these attacks if not just like a child’s rage that throws stones at the ocean to stop its roar? The enemies of Spiritism are oblivious to the fact that when they attack the doctrine it is free propaganda because it excites every reader to get to know this terrible enemy that follows this chant: - there is no salvation but through charity.”
This letter was followed by the communication below, dictated by the Spirit Cárita, the eloquent and gracious beggar so much known by the good hearts:
Lyon, November 8th, 1865
“It is could, and very windy; open up! I walked a long way through the paths of misery and come back with a semi-dead heart, my shoulders yielding to the weight of so much pain. Open quickly, my beloved one, you that know well that when charity knocks at your door, there is a lot of suffering on the way. Open your heart up to welcome my confidences; open your pocket to dry out the tears of my protégées and listen up with that emotion that is brought to your lips, from you soul, by pain. Oh you the ones that know what is reserved by God, you that frequently cry the tears of love that Jesus called the dew of the celestial life, open up!... Thank you. I am inside.
I left this morning. I was called from all sides, but suffering has such a vibrant voice that one single appeal is enough. My first visitation was with two poor oldies: husband and wife. They lived all these long days of scarce bread, when the sun is hidden, and work lacks to the strong arms. They buried their misery in the crucible of dignity, and nobody could guess they would see the days go by without the daily bread. Then came age, the weakening of the limbs, and the veiled eyes. The employer said: I no longer have work for you. Death did not come, however, and hunger and cold are the frequent visitors of the poor shelter. How can one respond to that misery? Proclaiming it? Oh, no. There are ulcers that cannot be cured by removing the bandages that cover them. What does sooth the heart is a word of consolation said by a friendly voice that guessed it right by the soul, something that was hidden to the eyes. Open-up to that misery.
I then saw a mother sharing her only piece of bread with three little children, and since the piece was small, she kept nothing for herself. I saw no fire in the stove, the bed had no linen; the trembling limbs covered in rags; I saw the husband coming home without finding a job; I finally saw the youngest kid dying without help, because mother and father are Spiritists and suffered humiliation from beneficent institutions.
I saw the full and horrible face of misery; I saw shrinking hearts and dignity vanishing before the rodent germ of need of subsistence. I saw people from God denying their immortal origin because they did not understand their atonement. I finally saw materialism expanding with misery and I uselessly screamed: Open-up! I am charity. I come to you with the warmth of my heart. Cry no more; I come to reassure you. But I was not heard by the hearts of the miserable because their guts were starving!
I then came to you, my good friends, you that listen to me; you who know that Cárita is the beggar to the poor and the one who said: Open-up! I just told you what I saw in my long journey and I beg you to spare one thought to my poor ones, one word, a kind memory, so that at night, at the time of prayer, they will not sleep without thanking God because you sent their your smile from far away. You know that the poor are the touchstone that God sends to Earth to try your hearts. Do not repel them so that one day, when you transpose the portal that leads to the space, God may recognize you by the purity of your hearts and give you shelter in the dwelling of the chosen ones!”
Cárita
We are happy to serve as interpreters to the good Cárita and we hope that she may not have asked this in vain: Open-up! If she is knocking so insistently it is for the fact that the winter, in turn, is also knocking.
Drive in Support of the Poor in Lyon and the Victims of Cholera
Running in the office of the Spiritist Review
This year an addition source of suffering added to the rigors of the winter that walks in strides. There is no doubt that the solicitude of the authorities has never been so intelligent and providential to those affected by this last invasion of a scourge; speed and wise distribution of medical and other resources; nothing was missing in that respect. Justice be done by all in acknowledging that. Thanks to the measures that were taken, the devastation was quickly circumscribed. Nonetheless, it still leaves behind cruel marks on poor families and the most regrettable ones are not those that succumbed. Here is where private charity is really needed. The amount received as well as its distribution are submitted to the control of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies.
