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.

______________________

EXAMPLE

A pious lady, a native of Luxemburg, appeared, some time after her death, to a very virtuous young girl and asked her to help her with her prayers. Whenever the young girl went to church and received Holy Communion the soul of the deceased lady accompanied her under a human form, and at the Elevation of the Mass her face was lighted up with such an expression of divine love that she seemed like to a seraph. Out of the church she was never seen.

The young girl, surprised at her appearing thus, asked the reason.

The soul replied with a deep sigh: “Oh! you little know what the suffering is to be far from God! no words can express it. I feel drawn to God with such an ardent desire and irresistible longing, that to be deprived of Him in punishment of my faults is such anguish, that in comparison to it the pain of the fire which surrounds me is a mere nothing. In order to lessen the intensity of this suffering our Lord has permitted me to come to this church and adore Him here on earth, whilst awaiting the much wished-for day when I shall possess Him in heaven. His presence even under the mystic veils penetrates me to such a degree that I feel I can live only for Him; what then will it be when I see Him face to face in heaven?”

And the poor soul besought the young girl to hasten, by her prayers, this happy moment.

______________________

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.