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.)
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