Ministrations of Spirits
It was wonderful to note the ministrations of spirits to those in other less fortunate states—especially to those in Earthly forms. Wherever the ties of consanguinity were also of real affection the spirit guardians of the household responded to the “call,” perhaps only a thought, a longing, or a silent prayer for aid and strength, or a need unknown to the one ministered unto.
Time is not a factor on the spirit side, the response to a need—an aspiration, a prayer is instantaneous. Where there seems to be delay, and often doubt in the minds of those on Earth as to the presence and ministration of the loved one who has been summoned, it is because of Earthly barriers, because those in the human state cannot perceive—and many, alas, are not willing to receive the spirit friend. I saw that the usual barriers are: Uncontrolled, selfish grief—mourning for the one who has “passed on” and often forgetting the other dear ones of the household who are left; seeking for the communion to forward a purely selfish purpose; and, in general, the obstruction of false education, theological and material, through which the spiritual faculties have been closed for generations.
When human hands and hearts, even though the latter is wrung by pain, seek to help others who are in sorrow or need, then the way is opened and the helpers are helped by the ministering ones.
To mourn the friend as utterly “gone” who has only dropped the outer garments of the dust is to close, for the time, the avenue of communication or ministration. Long must the spirit helpers work and wait for people to be ready to receive their response to the call for aid. So many did I see who could not reach the recognition of their loved ones that I wished over and over again that there were more real “Message bearers,” more to give comfort to those that mourn! And then the Presence answered: “Not all are ready to whom the Messages now are given, nor are those protected adequately who are the chosen Instruments for Message bearing, but the seed is being sown and will take root in thousands of lives.”