Eurípedes came to ease the pain, give his love and live what the Gospel says

It all started in the year 1903, in the last century... As incredible and paradoxical as it may seem – albeit indirectly – it was, in fact, a priest of the Catholic Church who placed Eurípedes Barsanulfo in the ranks of spiritists!... Father Augusto Teodoro da Rocha Maia, (who would later suffer from the mental faculties caused by intimate conflicts), in a friendly conversation, presented him with a compendium and, in a confidential tone, said: – “Eurípedes, I know that you are a good and fervent Catholic, fond of good reading. You will read this book – but beware! – Don't pass it on. The reading of this book is forbidden by the Church to its followers”.

The priest had given Eurípedes a copy of the Bible!...

That loan would be of great importance for his conversion to Spiritism, as we will see later...

Let's take a look at the luminous pages of the book "Eurípedes, the man and the mission", by Cora Novelino, ed. IDE, for the rest of the story:

“(...) A gleam of holy interest lit the young man's beautiful eyes. In a few minutes, he was back at his parent's business, carrying the Bible under his right arm. When passing by the residence of Mr. Leao Coelho de Almeida, Eurípedes was approached by this great friend and by Jose Martins Borges, who had been very close since Colegio Miranda due to deep affinities in the areas of work and study. Alluding to the book that Eurípedes was carefully carrying, Mr. Leao exclaimed jokingly: — “Hello, Eurípedes, all you need now is your cassock! It won't take long and we will have a new priest on earth!” — Jose Martins supported his friend, laughing heartily.

— “You know how much I appreciate good books and how much I love to know and analyze everything. Good reading is for me what honey is for the bee...” The evasive and sincere reply, accompanied by a courteous gesture of farewell, had left his friends with no further arguments... Eurípedes had reached his father's shop, a few steps away. from there, anxious to start reading, which he found exciting. Everything he knew about the Gospels was summed up in the teachings that the priests, good friends, no doubt, but very sober and silent in exposing the sacred word, ministered to him. The young man began reading through the New Testament... In between, his thoughts, reason, and brain would irresistibly return to that extraordinary textbook. He took notes, which would serve him for future scripts. He read, patiently and with increasing fervor, every chapter and verse of the Gospels. Vigorous discernment was aroused, rightly apprehending the lessons of the Lord...

DOUBT IS INSTALLED

One page, by the way of significant importance, he could not understand: the speech of Christ, expressed in letters of gold in Matthew and Luke, chs. V and VI respectively, in the canticle of the Beatitudes. He clung to the Sermon on the Mount as the supreme impediment to his reasoning. His aspirations for understanding collided with the impact of that barrier. He had seen so many disconsolate people go down to the tomb without the promised comforts, spelled out in the divine promise... He did not understand, then, how Christ — Wise and Merciful — had promised consolation to poor people without a threshing floor — those who had been wronged in every way along the time and which not infrequently succumb to the action of revolt...

In the mind of the young man, anxious reticences were boiling when he sought out Father Augusto Teodoro da Rocha Maia for a more direct explanation of the matter.

He updated the parish priest on his metaphysical elucubrations; and this one spoke to him, kindly: - ′′ My son, the Christ was never so clear, as in the Sermon on the Mount. There is no need for interpretations. Everything is as bright as the morning sun...”

I agree, Father, with regard to the extraordinary beauty of the Lord's expressions. However, what I don't understand is the extent to which Mestre's thinking goes, with regard to promises that do not come true...”

"Don't say that, my son. There is always an ulterior motive—a mystery—in Christian teaching that we cannot and must not penetrate. Do you understand Eurípedes?”

Evidently such considerations did not satisfy the young man's analytical spirit. However, he lowered his head, faced with the impossibility of continuing with the unfolding of the absorbing theme. He had cordially bid farewell to his good friend and adviser, but he had the first thorns of doubt embedded in his spirit...

For a few months, the young man had been captivated by the reading of the Gospels. Gradually, he marked in depth the distance between Catholic dogmatism, so complex in its structure, essentially based on the mystical screen of the letter, and the Sublime Code of moral teachings, based on the maxims as simple as they were wise and on the parables of the Master's luminous educational texture. However, the discourse on the Mountain remained the greatest obstacle to the young man's sublime efforts to understand the divine word... The key had been installed in his spirit, which would open the doors of truth to him under the panel of comparative analysis. He was in the grip of doubt.

THE WAKE-UP TOUCH

Mariano da Cunha, “Uncle Sinhô”, a convinced spiritist, but without major intellectual insights, brother of Dona Meca, mother of Eurípedes, made periodic trips to Sacramento. A close friend of his uncle, Eurípedes asked his mother to make the bed for him in his room, Eurípedes, although he usually preferred to have his own room. On these occasions, a series of controversies about Spiritism broke out between the uncle and the nephew. Eurípedes did everything he could to dissuade his uncle from that “doctrine of the devil”. He could not understand how honest and balanced people, despite being uncultured, like uncle Sinhô, godmother Sana and other uncles, were so committed to spreading that abominable doctrine... The discussions were repeated, in the fraternal conflict, between uncle and nephew, sometimes into the night...

Eurípedes, lord of an enviable culture acquired in everyday reading, presented brilliant arguments, always sublimated by his innate delicacy. On the other hand, the uncle, a rude country man, elementary educated in the Doctrine of the Spirits — by the way, nascent in the region —, had often remained silent due to the lack of safe argumentation. This justified Eurípedes' victories in these unequal “duels”, in which different religious points of view clashed.

At the beginning of 1903, Uncle Sinhô visited the Mecca family, on a warm afternoon in the city of Sacramento, State of Minas Gerais. As always, Eurípedes had received him with sincere expressions of joy and appreciation. At night, as usual, the young man started the conversation: — "How are you, Uncle Sinhô, are the sessions still going on?" - "Nothing changed. On the contrary, the work grows, because the pain increases day by day”. The simple answer of the good peasant penetrated the sincere heart of the young man... The uncle seemed dominated by a strange power of persuasion. One would say the anticipation of a triumph, dreamed of for a long time!

The first advances of his nephew were sober. Why talk? If at least Eurípedes went to hear him and the other mediums in Santa Maria... There, under the beneficent action of Protective Spirits, so many matters would be clarified. Normally, it would be impossible for them to do so. Moreover, he had come “armed”, under the inspiration of the Above...

That night, Eurípedes made an effort — more than usual — to involve his uncle in the meshes of brilliant argumentation. When the young man finished his speech, Uncle Sinhô took a book out of his coat pocket and placed it in his hands, saying with characteristic simplicity: “What I cannot explain to you, this book will do for me”.

Eurípedes took the book and opened it to the first page. It was the touching dedication of the author — the French philosopher Leon Denis — to the Beneficent Entities that had inspired him, in the outline and structure of the book.

— “This is very beautiful and profound” — says Eurípedes — showing in his eyes a soft look and undisguised interest.

Uncle Sinhô had settled down, a little tired... On the other side, his nephew had begun to read, now by the dim light of a kerosene lamp. The uncle woke up a few times and found his nephew still reading. At the dawn of the next day, the young man toasted the heart of the good Mariano da Cunha with a joyful exclamation: "Thank you very much, uncle!" This is a monument!”

Eurípedes had read the entire work on that memorable night and confessed to being fully excited by the author's expressively convincing logic. Three hundred and thirty-four pages full of interest. The book had the title: "After Death". It was the first work of the great philosopher, recently translated into Portuguese, and which deserved the most laudatory references from French critics. (Continued in the next issue of this magazine.)