The book, The Month of the Holy Souls, presents daily considerations for the month of November in the form of meditations and practical examples. The example for today is as follows.

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EXAMPLE

A frightful crime was committed some years ago in a country village. A young man, whose heart was corrupted by passion, had the brutality, aided by an accomplice, to attempt the murder of his mother, and, hoping to drown her, they threw her into a pond of muddy water. The poor woman struggled and stretched out her hands to her murderers, but the accomplice pushed her back when she tried to reach the bank. The son, villain as he was, when he saw his mother’s arms extended towards him, the arms that had carried him when an infant, could not resist the voice of nature, and holding out his hand he endeavored to drag her to the bank, and in this would have succeeded had not his bloodthirsty companion suddenly forced her back into the water, where she sank.

In the invisible lake of Purgatory there will be found friends and relatives whom we could deliver, and who, alas would not perhaps be there were it not through our fault. Yes, it is perhaps owing to us that a father, a mother, and brother are suffering in that lake of fire, and whilst we, unmindful of them, are busy in the pursuit of pleasure, they are struggling in frightful torments. They weep, they implore, they stretch forth their hands to us, and shall we not deliver them?

Poor souls, you are our sisters in Jesus Christ, we will be to you a father, a mother, a brother, and a sister, we will be your friends, your saviors, and the day will come when you also will come to our assistance.

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This anecdote comes from Month of the Souls in Purgatory by Abbé Berlioux, originally published in English in the year 1886. This book contains meditations and an example story for each day of the month. In an effort to preserve short inspiring stories from our Catholic past, every day for the month of November you can find the example story for the day published on the website under people/stories.

The same author also published similar books for the months of March (St. Joseph), May (Our Lady), and June (Sacred Heart). We are planning to post the stories for these months in the future, as well as re-publish a collection of these four books as a set, so be sure to check back in a few months.