Chapter 42 - Crime and atonement, trials and sufferings

The need for repentance and atonement

          MP4 Audio File 

1 If I often allow you to drink the same cup you gave to your brothers, it is because only in this way will some understand the evil they caused; and by going through the same trial they put others through, they will know the pain they made them feel This will enlighten their Spirit and will result in understanding, repentance, and consequently the fulfillment of my law.

2 But if you want to avoid going through suffering or drinking the cup of bitterness, you can do so by repenting your guilt through repentance, through good works, through all that your conscience tells you to do. In this way you will pay a debt of love, you will give back an honor, a life, or peace, health, joy, or bread that you have at one time robbed from your fellow men.

3 See how different the reality of my righteousness is from the idea you had of your Father!

4 Do not forget: if I have told you that none of you will be lost, I have certainly also told you that every debt must be paid and every transgression must be cancelled from the book of life. It is up to you to choose the way to come to Me. You still possess the freedom of will.

5 If you prefer the law to the retribution of old times, as the people of the proud nations still do, see its results!

6 If you want that the cubit with which you measure your fellow men should also measure you, you need not even wait for your entrance into the other life to receive my righteousness; for here (on earth), when you least expect it, you will find yourselves in the same critical situation into which you have brought your fellow men.

7 But if you want a higher law to come to your aid - not only to free you from the pain you fear most, but also to give you noble thoughts and good feelings, pray, call on me, and then go your way of struggle to become better and better, to be strong in the trials - in a word: to pay with love the debt you have towards your Father and your neighbor. (16, 53 - 59)

8 I am often asked by someone: "Master, if you forgive our transgressions, why do you allow us to atone for them with pain? Then I tell you: I forgive you, but it is necessary to make amends for those transgressions so that you may restore purity to your Spirit. (64, 14)

9 I have told you that even the last stain will be wiped away from the heart of man, but I also tell you that everyone must wash away his own stains of shame Remember that I told you, "With the cubit with which you measure you shall be measured," and "what you sow you must reap. (150,47)

10 Of the material offerings which mankind offers me, I only accept good intention if it is good in truth; for not always a generous and noble intention is expressed in a gift. How often do men offer me their sacrifice to cover up their evil deeds or to demand something from me in return. This is why I tell you that the peace of the Spirit cannot be bought, that your dark spots are not washed away by material wealth, even if you could offer Me the greatest treasure.

11 Repentance, sorrow for having been offended, renewal, correction, reparation for the transgressions committed, all this with the humility I have taught you- yes, then men offer Me the true sacrifices of heart, Spirit and thought, which are infinitely more pleasing to your Father than incense, flowers and candles (36, 27 - 28)

The Atonement Act

12 You have had one opportunity after another, and in this you can see my infinite love for you; for I have given you gifts and given your being the opportunity to make amends, to purify and perfect your Spirit, instead of punishing or eternally condemning you, as you used to think in the past

13 Who, knowing these teachings and believing that they are true, would dare to turn his back on his task on earth, even though he knows that by doing so he is causing an even harsher atonement for his Spirit?

14 For although it is true that my righteousness offers you new opportunities to remove stains and make amends for mistakes, it is also true that with each opportunity the number of trials increases, and that the trials and sufferings become more intense each time, just as the mistakes committed have become more serious.

15 Your duty - one should not speak of punishment - will be to restore, to renew, to make amends, and to pay up to the last debt. No one - neither your heavenly Father, nor your brothers and sisters on earth or in the "spiritual valley" - will do what only you yourselves must do, although I tell you that I will always follow your call. When you believe yourselves lonely and abandoned, you will feel my presence, and the spiritual world will always come to support you with the weight of your cross. (289, 45 -47)

16 Only my love and my justice can protect today those who hunger and thirst for it. I alone can receive in my perfect justice the one who takes his own life.

17 If these knew that the abandonment of the Spirit is more terrible than loneliness in this world, they would patiently and courageously endure until the last day of their earthly existence. (165, 73 - 74)

18 I do not destroy any of my children, however much they hurt Me; I keep them and give them the opportunity to make up for their wrongdoing and to return to the way they had left But although I have forgiven them, they are confronted with the fruit of their works, and it is these who judge them and show them the right way. (96, 55)

The cause of trials and suffering

19 Know yourselves. I have looked at the existence of men of all times and know what the reason of all their pain and misfortune has been.

20 Since the first times I have seen how men took their lives (each other) out of envy, out of materialism, out of a hunger for power; always they neglected their spirit, believing that they were only matter, and when the hour came to leave the human form on earth, all that remained was what they created in their material life, without reaping any bliss for the Spirit; for they did not seek it, did not think of it, did not care about the virtues of the Spirit, nor about knowledge. They were content to live without seeking the way that leads them to God. (11, 42 - 43)

21 Today, in spite of the progress of your civilization, you have moved further and further away from the material nature, as well as from the spiritual, from the pure, from that which is of God. Therefore, with every stage of your life you fall into ever greater weakness, into ever greater suffering, despite your desire to become stronger and happier with every day you spend on earth. But you will now take a step forward in the fulfillment of my law, O inhabitants of the earth! (16, 35)

22 The trials you encounter in your life are not by chance; I have sent them to you so that you may earn merit. No leaf of the tree moves without my will, and I am in both the great and the small works of creation.

23 Watch and pray, that you may come to understand what is the fruit which you shall reap from every trial, that your atonement may be shorter. Take up your cross with love, and I will cause you to bear your atonement with patience. (25, 6)

24 If men, amid laughter, pleasures and vanities, forget Me and even deny Me, why do they despair and tremble when they reap the harvest of tears that torments their spirit and their body? Then they blaspheme, saying that there is no God.

25 Man is brave enough to sin, determined to depart from the way of my law; but I assure you that he is exceedingly cowardly when it comes to atoning and paying his debts Yet I strengthen you in your cowardice, protect you in your weaknesses, tear you out of your lethargy, dry your tears and give you new opportunities to regain the lost light and find again the forgotten way of my law.

26 I come to bring you, as in the Second Time, the bread and wine of life, both for the Spirit and for the body, so that you may live in harmony with everything created by your Father.

27 In my ways the virtues flourish, but in yours there are thorns, abysses, and bitterness.

28 Whoever says that the ways of the Lord are full of thorns does not know what he is saying, for I have not created pain for any of my children; but those who have gone astray from the path of light and peace will have to suffer the consequences of their guilt when they return to it.

29 Why have you drunk the cup of suffering? why have you forgotten the Lord's Commandment, as well as the mission I entrusted to you? Because you have replaced my law with yours, and here you have the results of your vain wisdom: bitter suffering, war, fanaticism, disappointments and lies that suffocate you and fill you with despair. And the most painful thing for the materialized man, for the one who subjects everything to his calculations and to the material laws of this world, is that after this life he will still carry the burden of his aberrations and inclinations. Then the suffering of your Spirit will be very great.

30 Here shake off your burden of sin, fulfill my law, and come soon. Ask forgiveness of all those you have hurt and leave the rest to me, for your time to love will be short if you really decide to do it. (17, 37 - 43)

31 Come to me all who carry a hidden sorrow in your hearts You secretly carry in you a pain that a betrayal has inflicted on you, and your bitterness is very great because it was a very beloved being that hurt you deeply.

32 Become quiet in yourselves, so that prayer may enlighten you, and you may know if at any time you were not the cause of your betrayal. Then prayer will strengthen you in the thought that you must forgive those who betray you in your love, your faith, your trust.

33 Verily, I tell you, the very moment you forgive the one who has offended you, you will feel my peace full; for in that moment your Spirit will have united with mine and I will spread out my mantle to forgive you and cover you both in my love (312, 49 - 51)

34 In truth the Master says to you: I have prepared for every Spirit a kingdom of peace and perfection. But this kingdom, which I have prepared, is opposed by another kingdom: the world. While my kingdom is won through humility, love, and virtue, the taking possession of the other kingdom requires pride, ambition, pride, greed, selfishness, and wickedness.

35 At all times the world has resisted my kingdom; at all times those who follow me have been oppressed and tempted in their ways, whether by visible influences or invisible forces.

36 This is not the only time that you walk over thorns to reach Me; it is not the first time that your Spirit, in an effort to reach My presence, stumbles. At all times you have fought the battle in the innermost part of your being.

37 The inspiration of my Spirit illuminates your inner being and has ignited a battle with the dark forces, with the false lights, with the false virtues, with matter, with all superfluous things, with all the false glory of this world. (327, 3)

38 I bless the pain which you have endured for my sake, for all that you suffer for my sake will make you worthy forever. (338,61)

Faith, submission and humility in the trials

39 Human life is for the Spirit the crucible in which he is purified, and the anvil on which he is forged. It is essential that man have an ideal in his Spirit, faith in his Creator and love for his destiny, in order to carry his cross with patience to the summit of his Calvary.

40 Without faith in eternal life, man falls into despair in all the hard trials, without high ideals he sinks into materialism, and without strength to endure disappointment he perishes in despondency or vice. (99, 38 – 39)

41 I tell you to love your cross; for if you rebel against it while you have to carry it on your shoulders, the pain in your hearts will tear a deep wound. I truly love my cross, O people; but do you know what I call my cross? My cross consists of you, O people whom I love so much. (144, 20)

42 Faith, devotion, and humility towards that which is decreed by me will make the trial way shorter because then you will not go the way of suffering more than once. But if rebellion, dissatisfaction or even blasphemy arise in the trials, the visitation will last longer, because you will then have to go that way anew until the lesson is learned. (139, 49)

43 I say to you, the trials which man has created for himself in this time are very hard, for so they are necessary for his salvation.

44 Divine righteousness will be carried out on the beloved of every man, to demand an account of the work of every human creature.

45 How important it is that man should acquire the knowledge of what spiritual atonement means, so that, knowing that the Spirit has a past that God alone knows, he may accept his cup of suffering with love, patience, respect, and even joy, knowing that with it he will wash away past and present stains, pay debts, and earn merit before the law.

46 There will be no spiritual exaltation in pain as long as one does not suffer with love, with respect for my righteousness and devotion to what each one has accomplished for himself. But only this exaltation in the midst of trials will be able to give men the knowledge of that which is the law of spiritual reparation. (352,36 - 37, 42 - 43)

The meaning of suffering and pain

47 If you attribute the trials of life to chance, you will hardly be able to be strong. But if you have an idea of what atonement is, what righteousness and reparation is, you will find in your faith elevation and surrender to triumph in the trials.

48 It is my will to test your Spirit in various ways, for I form, mould and perfect it. For this I use all things and all men; as instruments I use both a righteous man and a wicked man. One time I make use of the light, another time I make darkness my servant. Therefore I say to you: when you find yourselves in a critical situation, think of Me, of your Master, who will explain to you in all love the reason for that trial.

49 There are cups that all must drink, some sooner and some later, so that all may learn to understand and love Me Misery, sickness, slander, dishonor are very bitter goblets that do not reach only the lips of the sinner. Remember that in that "second time" the most righteous emptied the most bitter cup you can imagine. The obedience, humility and love with which the cup of suffering is drunk will make the cross lighter and the trial will pass more quickly. (54, 4 - 6)

50 Everything that surrounds you is aimed at purifying you, but not all have taken it this way. Do not let the pain you drink from your cup of suffering be unfruitful. From the pain you can draw light, which is wisdom, gentleness, strength and sensitivity. (81,59)

51 Know, disciples, that pain removes the bad fruits from your heart, gives you experience and causes your errors to be corrected.

52 In this way your Father tests you, that it may be made clear in your mind. But if you do not understand and suffer fruitlessly because you do not discover the meaning of my wise lessons, your pain is useless and you do not evaluate the lesson. (258,57 - 58)

53 People call: If there is a God of mercy and love - why must the good suffer through the bad, the righteous through the sinners?

54 Verily I say to you, my children, no man comes into this world to obtain only his own salvation. He is not a single individual, but is part of a whole.

55 Does not a healthy and perfect organ in a human body suffer when the other organs are sick?

56 This is a material comparison, so that you may understand the relationship that exists between each human being and the others. The good must suffer under the wicked, but the good are not completely innocent unless they are committed to the spiritual progress of their brothers and sisters. But as individuals, each one has his own responsibility, and being part of my Spirit and similar to Him, he has the will and intelligence to contribute to the progress of all. (358, 18 - 19)

57 Interpret my teaching correctly, do not think that my Spirit rejoices when he sees your sufferings on earth, or that I want to deprive you of all that is pleasant to you to delight me in it I come to cause you to recognize and observe my laws because they are worthy of your respect and observance, and because their observance will bring you eternal bliss and eternal peace. (25, 80)

58 I must tell you that as long as you dwell on earth, you may endeavor to make your existence on it as pleasant as possible. It is not necessary to weep, suffer, and "bleed" ceaselessly to deserve peace in the hereafter.

59 If you could transform this earth from a valley of tears into a world of happiness, where you would love one another, where you would strive to do good and live within my law - verily, I tell you, this life would be even more meritorious and superior in my eyes than an existence full of suffering, misfortunes and tears, however much willingness you may have to bear it. (219,15 - 16)

60 Rejoice that no pain lasts forever; your sufferings are temporal and pass away very soon.

61 The time of atonement and purification is fleeting for the one who contemplates trials with spiritualization; but for the one who is completely absorbed in materialism, that which is in reality very soon over will be long.

62 As the beats of your heart pass away, so in infinity the life of man passes away.

63 There is no cause for fear, for just as a sigh escapes someone, or a tear is shed, or a word is said, so also the sufferings of man pass away.

64 In the infinite tenderness of God all your pains and sorrows must dissolve into nothing. (12, 5-9)