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A COLLECTION OF SPIRITIST PRAYERS, Joana dArc. 07/ 01/ 2014.

THEME: THANKSGIVING FOR HAVING ESCAPED A DANGER
SOURCE: The gospel according to Spiritism, XXVIII: 36-39.

THANKSGIVING FOR HAVING ESCAPED A DANGER
36. PREFACE - By the danger we have been through, God shows us that from one moment to
another we may be called to give account for the way in which we have utilized our life. This is to alert us to
the fact that we should examine ourselves and mend our ways.

37. PRAYER:
Dear God! Dear Guardian Angel! I thank you for the help I received during the danger that
threatened me. May this danger be a warning to me and enlighten me with respect to my errors that have
brought me this peril. I understand, Lord, that my life is in Your hands and that You may take it away when
You see fit. Inspire me then, through the good Spirits who protect me, with the idea of how best to take
advantage of the time You grant to me in this world! Guardian Angel! Uphold me in my decision to correct
my faults and to do all the good that is within my power to do, so that I may arrive in the spiritual world with
fewer imperfections, whenever it pleases God to call me!

AT BEDTIME
38. PREFACE - Sleep is for the purpose of resting the body; however, the Spirit needs no rest. While
the physical senses are in a torpid state the soul partly frees itself from the body and enters into the
enjoyment of its spiritual faculties. Sleep has been given to Man to enable him to repair both his organic
and moral strengths. While the body recuperates the spent energies which have been used during the
waking state, the Spirit fortifies itself amongst other Spirits. From all he sees, all he perceives and from the
advice he is given, he takes the ideas which occur to him afterwards, in the form of intuitions. This is the
temporary return of the exile to his true world, a momentary liberty that is conceded to the prisoner. But it
sometimes happens, as it does in the case of perverse prisoners, that the Spirit does not always take
advantage of these moments of liberty for the purpose of progress. If he has bad instincts, instead of
seeking the company of the good Spirits, he seeks out those who are like himself and goes to those places
where he may give vent to his tendencies. So then, the person who is convinced of this fact will lift up their
thoughts to God before they go to sleep. They will ask for advice from the good Spirits and all those whose
memory is dear to them, so they may go to join them for the brief moments of liberty which are conceded to
them.
On awakening they will then feel fortified against evil and be more courageous when facing
adversities.

39. PRAYER:
Lord, for a few short instants my soul will be together with other Spirits. So I beg the good Spirits to
come and give me counsel. Guardian Angel, please help me to keep a lasting and beneficial impression of
this encounter on awakening!
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CONSIDERATIONS:
Yes, we should thank spontaneously for the aid we receive when we are conscientious of this and
often for that which we receive without noticing, being that some dangers are warnings for us to have good
judgment to reflect life and have regret and changes in our lives, because by being Christians or spiritists
which is the same the God's Laws are equal for all and there are no privileged. God gives us the
concessions of the warnings, but with limits.
The spirits of truth advising us to watch and pray and the prayer on lying down do bring us a
knowledge that does not easily come to mind , since it does not come to mind the responsibility for taking
care when we go to sleep to take into account that the body sleeps , but that the spirit never sleeps and the
advice given to us is to pray or do a short prayer when approaching sleepiness so that good spirits
accompany us during the rest of the body so that instead of letting the spirit to follow trends that may not be
favorable, good spirits may help us in our spiritual progress and on awakening to feel strong against evil
and more courageous in the face of adversity .
These advices in a way is a revelation, because I am not conscious of any religion apart from
Spiritism which has religious consequences to give us such advice , because they may not be acquainted

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that the material life and spiritual life march together and that we are spirits, we may be now in the material
world and then in the spiritual world, one world influences the other and vice versa and the spirits influence
and are influenced by moral, by the gradual hierarchy of the spirit, the intelligence, knowledge, for
responsibility , the affinities, for sympathies, for the love of one other , as well as respect for God who is
love and that to Him we all are subdued, etc. .
The reason the spirits giving us council of prayer before going to bed is because they know that the
beyond is not as we may think of being confined two or three places, but a vast infinite where spirits by
affinity when sleeping may gravitate, and as there are inferior places, primitive and undesirable places or
not suitable to our welfare, hence the council to ask the help of good spirits to avoid us on going when
sleeping to negative places and undesirable associations to morality or good conduct .
We do understand that God created us 'simple and ignorant' with 'free will' so as to at our own pace
we may progress and evolve in morality and in intelligence, in the case of on sleeping the spirit be free with
the spiritual freedom even though coupled to the fleshly body by perispiritual bond that is pertinent to the
spirit, he is responsible for his behavior be him attached to the body or be in spiritual freedom. (In the case
of the spirit to away himself from the body he is connected to the body by an ethereal string)
It is given that in reincarnating a spirit is found to be in some degree of affinity and the like in the
spirit world, being that his reincarnation is to have progress to a stage above the one he encounters
himself, sometimes the spirit when being free is inclined to seek out the old tastes, hence the need on
leaving the body the spirit to seek a means of progress, in that case the reason why to ask in prayer at
bedtimes the necessary help to condition the opportunity to progress according to the plan of the
preparation of the purpose afore his reincarnation, since undoubtedly no one in this world comes to the
world for nothing.
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Let us see about the reality that we are spirits backed up by the Spirits Book Part two
1st chapter items 80-83 and 898:
80. Is the creation of spirits always going on, or did it only take place at the beginning of time?
"It is always going on; that is to say, God has never ceased to create."

81. Are spirits formed spontaneously, or do they proceed from one another? "God creates them as
He creates all other creatures, by His will. But we must again repeat that their origin is a mystery."

82. Is it correct to say that spirits are immaterial?
"How is it possible to define a thing in regard to which no terms of comparison exist, and which your
language is incompetent to express? Can one who is born blind define light?
'Immaterial' is not the right word; 'incorporeal' would be nearer the truth, for you must understand that
a spirit, being a creation, must be something real. Spirit is quintessentialised matter, but matter existing in
a state which has no analogue within the circle of your comprehension, and so ethereal that it could not be
perceived by your senses."
We say that spirits are immaterial, because their essence differs from everything that we know under
the name of "matter." A nation of blind people would have no terms for expressing light and its effects. One
who is born blind imagines that the only modes of perception are hearing, smell, taste, and touch: he does
not comprehend the other ideas that would be given him by the sense of sight which he lacks. So, in regard
to the essence of superhuman beings, we are really blind. We can only define them by means of
comparisons that are necessarily imperfect or by an effort of our imagination.
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Subsequent spirit-communications have declared the universe to consist of three elements or
modes of substantiality-viz... Soul, Force, Matter; and, while asserting that the two former are non-material
substances, restrict the term 'matter" to the element from which bodies are formed.-TRANS.

83. Is there an end to the duration of spirits? We can understand that the principle from which they
emanate should be eternal; but what we desire to know is, whether their individuality has a term, and
whether, after a given lapse of time, longer or shorter, the element from which they are formed is not
disseminated, does not return to the mass from which they were produced, as is the case with material
bodies? It is difficult to understand that what has had a beginning should not also have an end.
"There are many things that you do not understand, because your intelligence is limited; but that is
no reason for rejecting them. The child does not understand all that is understood by its father, nor does an
ignorant man understand all that is understood by a learned one. We tell you that the existence of spirits
has no end; that is all we can say on the subject at present."
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898. The corporeal life being only a temporary sojourn in a bluer state of existence, and our future
life being therefore what we should mainly care for, is there any use in trying to acquire scientific
knowledge that only bears upon the objects and wants of corporeal life?
"Undoubtedly there is, for such knowledge enables you to benefit your brethren; and beside';, your
spirit, if it have already progressed in intelligence, will ascend more rapidly in the other life, and will learn in
an hour what it would take you years to learn upon the earth. No kind of knowledge is useless; all
knowledge contributes more or less to your advancement, because the perfected spirit must know
everything, and because progress has to be made in every direction, so that all acquired ideas help forward
his development."
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Let us see a little about our perispirit in the Spirits Book questions 93 to 95:
Perispirit
93. Is the spirit, properly so called, without a covering, or is it, as some declare, surrounded by a
substance of some kind?
"The spirit is enveloped in a substance which would appear to you as mere vapour, but which,
nevertheless, appears very gross to us, though it is sufficiently vaporous to allow the spirit to float in the
atmosphere, and to transport himself through space at pleasure." As the germ of a fruit is surrounded by
the perisperm so the Spirit, properly so called, is surrounded by an envelope which, by analogy, may be
designated as the perispirit.

94. Whence does the spirit draw its semi-material envelope?
"From the universal fluid of each globe. For this reason the perispirit is not the same in all globes. In
passing from one globe to another. The spirit changes its envelope as you change a garment."
- When spirits who inhabit worlds of a higher degree than ours come among us, are they obliged to
take on a grosser order of perispirit?
"Yes; they are obliged to clothe themselves with your matter in order to be able to enter your world."
95. Does the semi-material envelope of the spirit assume determinate forms, and can it become
perceptible for us?
"Yes; it can assume any form that the spirit may choose to give to it. It is thus that a spirit is able
sometimes to make himself visible to you, whether in dreams or in your waking state, and can take a form
that may be visible, and even palpable, for your senses."

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Let us see about the spirits aid in the Spirits Book, items 523 and 524:
523, Presentiments and the voice of instinct are always some-what vague; what should we do when
in a state of uncertainty?
"When you are in doubt, invoke your spirit-guardian, or implore our common Master, God, to send
you one of His messengers-one of us."

524. Are the warnings of our spirit-guardians given solely for' our moral guidance, are they also given
for our guidance in regard to our personal affairs?
"They are given in reference to everything that concerns you. Your spirit-guardians endeavor to lead
you to take, in regard to everything that you have to do; the best possible course; but you often close your
ears to their friendly counsels, and thus get yourselves into trouble thorough your own fault."
Our protecting spirits aid us by their counsels and by awakening the voice of our conscience but as
we do not always attach sufficient importance to these hints, they give us more direct warnings through the
persons about us. Let a man reflect upon the various circumstances of his life, fortunate or unfortunate, and
he will see that, on many occasions, he received advice which, had he followed it, would have spared him a
good deal of annoyance.

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CONCLUSION:
Our life in the material world is always temporary because the true life of the spirit is the eternal one,
since the spirit is immortal it is logical that after having passed by the necessary purification in material
bodies one arrives to the degree of purity in which one will not need to reincarnate anymore, and that one
gets on then to live in the eternity in the worlds designated by God for their habitations.
One ought then to reflect that as we are incarnated spirits with the eternal finality imbedded in us, let
us behave in the world with that acquaintance always conscious that in truth we are not of this world so as

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to stay here, but temporarily as a student may be a resident of a faculty until he may gain the studies and
the diploma of the University which will render to him after he has passed the exams.
Hence the reason of the union with the beyond in living always in prayer inclusively on laying down
to sleep in favor of our spirit in its liberty to use of the benefits of the aid that God permits and proportionate
through the good Spirits in our favor, since the Spirits religion is love, and as much in the material world as
in the spiritual world the law of love prevails, Thow shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets
(Matthew, XXII: 37-40) - if your brother is hungry give him to eat, if your brother is naked give him dressing, it
is valid also for enemies, (Romans, 12: 20-21), and so it goes be it in fraternity be it in solidarity, let the
greatest among you be your servant.(Matthew, 20-27 + 23-11).

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

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About reincarnation I enclose in this study some questions and answers as
regarding the requisite for a spirit to enter into progress towards perfection:
Reincarnation. The Spirits Book. Q, 166-168. + 222:
166. How can the soul that has not attained to perfection during the corporeal life complete the work of
its purification?
"By undergoing the trial of a new existence."
- How does the soul accomplish this new existence? Is it through its transformation as a spirit?
"The soul, in purifying itself, undoubtedly undergoes a transformation; but, in order to effect this
transformation, it needs the trial of corporeal life.
- The soul has then, many corporeal existences?
"Yes; we all have many such existences. Those who maintain the contrary wish to keep you in the same
ignorance in which they are themselves."
- It would seem to result from this statement that the soul, after having quitted one body, takes another one;
in other words, that it reincarnates itself in a new body. Is it thus that this statement is to be understood?
"Evidently so."

167. What is the aim of reincarnation?
"Expiation; progressive improvement of mankind. Without this aim, where would be its justice?

168. Is the number of corporeal existences limited, or does a spirit go on reincarnating himself forever?
"In each new existence, a spirit takes a step forwards in the path of progress; when he has stripped himself
of all his impurities, he has no further need of the trials of corporeal life."

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222. Is it to a retrospective remembrance that are due the instinctive sentiment of the existence of God,
and the presentiment of a future life, which appear to be natural to man, even in the savage state?
"Yes, to a remembrance which man has preserved of what he knew as a spirit before he was incarnated;
but pride often stifles this sentiment."

- Is it to this same remembrance that are due certain beliefs analogous to spiritist doctrine, 'which are found
among every people?
"That doctrine is as old as the world, and is, therefore, to be found everywhere; a ubiquity which proves it to
be true. The incarnate spirit, preserving the intuition of his state as a spirit, possesses an instinctive
consciousness of the invisible world; but this intuition is often perverted by prejudices, and debased by the
admixture of superstitions resulting from ignorance."