THE PROMISED CONSOLER 3. If ye love me keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye shall know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John, 14: 15-17 & 26).
4. In this passage from John, Jesus promises another consoler: the Spirit of Truth, which the world did not yet know because it was not sufficiently mature to be able to understand. This is the consoler sent by the Father to teach mankind all things and to call to mind all that Christ had said. Therefore, if this Spirit of Truth was to come at a later date to teach these additional matters, then it was because Christ had not told everything. If the Spirit of Truth was to come to remind us of what Christ had said that is because it had been forgotten or not properly understood.
Spiritism has come at the predicted time to fulfill Christ's promise. Presided over by the Spirit of Truth, it calls Man to observe the law and reveals all manner of things so making understandable what Jesus had said only in parable form. Christ himself had given the warning: "Listen all those who have ears to hear." Spiritism has come to open man's eyes and ears because it speaks without figuration or allegory, so lifting up the veil which had been intentionally cast upon certain mysteries. Finally, then, it has come to bring supreme consolation to the disinherited of this Earth and to all who suffer by showing them the just cause of their suffering and the useful purpose of all pain.
Christ said: "Blessed are the afflicted for they shall be consoled." But how can anyone feel fortunate if they do not know why they suffer? Spiritism shows the cause of suffering to be in past existences and in the destiny of this planet, on which Man makes atonement for his past. It explains the object behind suffering by showing it as a salutary process which produces a cure and also as a means of purification, both of which guarantee future happiness. From this it is possible for Man to understand that he deserves all his sufferings and to believe that this is just. He also learns that his suffering and pain will help him to progress and so is able to accept it without complaining, just as a worker accepts the work which will guarantee his salary. Spiritism gives Man an unshakable faith in the future so that he is no longer troubled by this consuming doubt within his soul. He is also enabled to see things from on high, which makes the importance of his earthly vicissitudes disappear on the vast and splendid horizon which Spiritism sets before him. The prospect of the happiness which awaits therefore gives him patience, resignation and courage to continue to the end of his path.
In this manner Spiritism realises what Jesus said of the promised Consoler, by bringing knowledge of those things which allow Man to know where he came from, where he is going and why he is on Earth; so attracting mankind towards the true principles of God's law and offering consolation through faith and hope.
