Questions
A. How does one explain the apparitions of Spirits?
B. How does the phenomenon of transfiguration occur?
C. How does the Spirit operate in tiptology?
Reading Text
955. When Jesus talked about the bread from Heaven, he tried to make people understand the true meaning of spiritual food. "Work, He said, not to obtain the food which perishes, but to obtain the food that does not perish and is preserved to eternal life and which the Son of God will give you". This food is His word, bread which came down from Heaven and gives life to the world. "I am, He says, the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst".
956. Such distinctions, however, were too subtle for those rude natures, which only understood the tangible things. For them, the manna that fed their ancestors was the true bread from Heaven, it was the miracle. If the multiplication of the loafs occurred in a material manner, why did it impress these men so weakly to the point that - although they had benefited from this multiplication a few days before - they still asked Jesus: “What miracle will you perform so that by seeing it, we will believe in you? What will you do so extraordinary”?
957. They thought that miracles were the wonders that the Pharisees asked for, i.e., signals appearing in the sky by a command of Jesus, as if a magician was using his magic stick. Now, what Jesus did was very simple and followed the laws of Nature. The healing itself was nothing very special or extraordinary. These spiritual miracles did not mean much for them.
958. Temptation of Jesus - Jesus, carried by the devil to the pinnacle of the Temple, and then to the peak of a mountain and tempted by the devil himself is one of those parables that were familiar to them and which the public credulity turned into material facts.
959. In a message transmitted in Bordeaux, in 1862, the Spirit of John the Evangelist said the following: "Jesus was not carried by the devil. He just wanted to make men understand that Humanity is liable to fail and man must always be on guard against the bad inspirations, because due to his weak nature he is gives in easily. The Temptation of Jesus is, therefore, symbolic. How could Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, have been submitted for some time to a demon, even though it was for a short period? How can we even think that the Messiah, the Word of God incarnate, gave in to the devil’s suggestions for some time, although this was a very short period of time, and as the Gospel of Luke states, the demon left Him for a while, and this statement would lead us to believe that Christ continued submitted to the power of that entity?”
960. At the end of the message, John said: "Understand, therefore, the meaning of this parable, because it is symbolic in the same way as the parables of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan are. It shows men the dangers in which they may incur, if they do not resist the inner voice that calls and tempts them unceasingly: You can be more than you are; You can have more than you possess; you can magnify thee, acquire much more; give in to the voice of ambition and all your wishes will be fulfilled. It shows man the danger and the means to avoid it, by saying to the bad inspirations: leave me, Satan, or in other words: Go temptation! Think well about the teachings that the Gospel contains; learn to know the difference between what is a fact and what is symbolic, and the mistakes that have blinded you for such a long time will vanish little by little, giving way to the bright light of Truth”.
961. Miracles at the time of Jesus’ death – From the sixth hour of the day until the ninth hour, the whole Earth became covered with darkness. At the same time, the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom; the Earth shook; and the rocks cleaved; the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints, who were in the sleep of death, resurrected; and leaving their graves after their resurrection, they came into the Holy City and were seen by many people. (Matthew, Chapter XXVII, verses 45, 51 to 53).
962. It is strange that such wonders, which happened at the very moment when the attention of the city was fixed on the Torture of Jesus, since it was the event of the day, were not noticed, since no historian mentions them. It seems impossible that an earthquake and the Earth becoming dark for three hours in a country where the sky was always clear, was unnoticed.
963. The period of time of the mentioned darkness was almost the same as that of a solar eclipse, but this type of eclipse only occurs at new moon, and the death of Jesus was in the phase of full moon, at 14 of Nissan, the Easter Day of the Jews. The sun becoming dark could be explained by the spots on its surface. In such a case, the brightness of the light weakens significantly, but never to the point of becoming dark.
964. Admitting that a phenomenon of this kind had happened, it would be due to natural causes. As for the dead having resurrected, possibly some people had visions or saw apparitions, which is not unusual. However, since they did not know what caused this phenomenon, they imagined that the people they saw had come out of the tombs.
965. Unhappy with their Master’s death, the disciples of Jesus undoubtedly linked to this death some particular facts, which in another occasion would not even have been noticed. It would be enough for a rock fragment to have fallen for people to see it as a miracle or wonder and ending up by saying that the rocks had cleaved.
966. Jesus is great for His works and not for the fantasies created around Him by a lack of common sense of overly excited people.
967. Apparition of Jesus after His death - But Mary (Magdalene) kept outside, near the Tomb, shedding tears. And while crying, she bent to look into the Tomb and saw two angels dressed in white, seated in the place where the body of Jesus had been, one at His head and the other at His feet. They asked her: “Woman, why are you weeping”? She answered:
“They took away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him”. Having said this, she turned around and looked and saw Jesus standing there, however, she did not know it was Jesus. He addressed her “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener who was speaking and answered: “Lord, if you took Him, tell me where you have laid Him and I’ll take Him with me”. And Jesus said: “Mary”. Then she turned and said: “Rabboni, this is, my Lord. Jesus said: “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to your brothers and tell them on my behalf: I ascend to my Father, your Father, my God and your God”. Then, Mary Magdalene went to tell the disciples that she had seen the Master and that He had told her those things. (John, Chapter XX vv. 11 and 18).
968. That same day, two of them going to a village called Emmaus, sixty stadia distant from Jerusalem, spoke to each other about what had happened. While they were talking and reasoning about the recent events, Jesus joined them and began walking with them; however, their eyes could not see Him, therefore He could not be recognized by them.
969. He said: “What were you talking about and why are you so sad?” One of them, called Cleopas said: “Are you the only foreigner in Jerusalem who does not know what happened there these days?” – “What was it?” He asked. They said: “It is about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a mighty prophet before God and before all the people, and about the way in which the chief priests and our senators delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified Him. But we were hoping He would rescue Israel, however, we are in the third day since these things happened. It is true that some women, who were with us, surprised us when they told us they had gone to His grave before dawn, and that some angels appeared to them, telling them that He is alive. And some of us, having also gone to the Tomb, found that what the women said was true, but as for Him, we did not find Him.
970. Then Jesus told them: “Oh! You foolish, your heart is slow to believe in all that the prophets said! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory as well?” And, beginning with Moses, and then moving to all the prophets, He explained to them what had been said about Him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village where they were going to, He demonstrated that He was going further. The two forced him to stop, saying: “Stay with us, it's late and the day is ending”.
971. He entered with them. Sitting at the table with them, He took the bread, blessed it and gave it to them. He opened their eyes allowing them to see Him and they recognized Him. However, He disappeared. Then they said to one another: “Is it not true that our heart burnt inside when He talked to us on our way here explaining the Scriptures?” And they got up at once and returned to Jerusalem and saw the eleven Apostles and those who were gathered with them and they said: “The Lord resurrected indeed, and appeared to Simon”. Then they told what had happened to them on their way and how they had recognized Him when the breaking of the bread.
972. While they were talking like this, Jesus stood among them and said: “Peace is with you. It is I, do not be scared.” But since they were afraid and confused, they imagined seeing a Spirit. Jesus then told them: “Why are you disturbed? Why are there so many thoughts in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet and recognize me. Touch me and you will see that a Spirit has no flesh or bones, and as you can see, I have.” Saying this He showed them His hands and feet.
973. However, as they still did not believe Him, because a great joy and astonishment overtook them, He said: “Do you have something to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. He ate before them and taking the remains, gave it to them and said: “Behold, when I was still with you, I told you that it was necessary that everything that was written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms, be fulfilled.
974. At the same time He opened their minds, so that they could understand the Scriptures, and said unto them: “This is how it is written, and it was necessary that Christ suffered and resurrected from the dead on the third day; and that He preached in His name penance and remission of the sins of all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Now, you have witnessed these things. I will send you the gift of my Father, which was promised to you, but for now, remain in the city until I have protected you with the power from on High”. (Luke, Chapter XXIV, vv. 13 to 49).
Answers to the proposed questions
A. How does one explain the apparitions of Spirits?
For us, the perispirit, in its normal state, is invisible. However, as it is formed of ethereal substance, the Spirit, in certain cases, it may, by an act of his will, go through a molecular change that makes it momentarily visible. This is how the apparitions occur, and they do not happen in the same way as other phenomena, out of nature's laws. It has nothing of extraordinary and it is like the vapor, which, when very thin, is invisible, but which becomes visible when condensed. According to the degree of condensation the perispiritic fluid, the apparition is sometimes vague and vaporous, while other times it is clearly defined; and sometimes with all the features of a tangible matter. It can even reach the real tangibility in such a way that it may deceive the one that is looking at him for he will not know the difference. (Genesis, Chapter XIV, items 35 to 37).
B. How does the phenomenon of transfiguration occur?
The Spirit can change the texture of his perispiritic wrap and radiating that wrap around the body as if it is a fluidic atmosphere, he can then produce on the surface of the body an analogous phenomenon to the apparitions. The image of the real body can disappear more or less under the fluidic layer and appear with another image, or, seen through the altered fluidic layer, have another expression. If the Spirit leaves this down-to-earth dimension and identifies himself with the things of the spiritual world, the expression of an ugly face can become beautiful, radiant, and even illuminated. However, if, on the contrary, the Spirit is influenced by evil passions, a beautiful face can take a hideous aspect. This is how transfigurations occur, and they always reflect the qualities and feelings prevailing in the Spirit.
The phenomenon is therefore the result of a fluid processing; it is a kind of perispiritical apparition, which is produced on the body itself of the living one and, sometimes, at death, instead of producing itself at a distance, as it occurs with the actual apparitions. What distinguishes the apparitions of this kind is that they are usually noticeable by all the participants and with the eyes of the body, precisely because they are based on visible carnal matter, while in purely fluidic apparitions there is no tangible matter. (Genesis, Chapter XIV, items 38 and 39).
C. How does the Spirit operate in tiptology?
The Spirit acts on his living body through its perispirit; it is still through this same fluid that it manifests. When acting on inert matter it produces noise, and moves the table and other objects, raising them, knocking down the objects, or transporting them. It is also with the assistance of this perispirit that the Spirit makes the mediums write, talk, and draw. And since the Spirit does not have a tangible body to act ostensibly when he wants to manifest, he then uses the medium’s body, whose organs he borrows, body which he uses as if it is his own, by means of a fluidic vapor he pours over the medium.
By the same process the Spirit operates on the table for it to move without a specific meaning, or by means of intelligent knocks indicating the letters of the alphabet to form words and sentences, a phenomenon called tiptology.
The table is only an instrument that the Spirit uses as if he used a pencil to write. For that purpose, he gives it a momentary vitality through the fluid that he inoculates but he does not identify himself with it. When the table leaves the ground and rises, floating in the space without a fulcrum, the Spirit does not make it rise with the strength of an arm; he involves and penetrates it with a sort of fluidic atmosphere that neutralizes the effect of gravitation, as the air does with the balloons and kites. The fluid that infiltrates the table gives it a momentarily higher specific lightness. When it is on the ground, the table is in the same situation similar to the pneumatic bell under which there is the vacuum.
When the blows are heard on the table or somewhere else, this does not mean that the Spirit is knocking it with his hand or some other object. He only directs to the point where the noise comes from a stream of fluid, which produces the effect of an electric shock. He can modify this sound, as it is possible for any person to alter the sounds produced by the air. (Genesis, Chapter XIV, items 41 to 43).
