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 holy Religious had, for a considerable length of time, bestowed much care on a poor girl who needed it much, both as regarded soul and body. Her conduct had given rise to much scandal, and, broken down in health, her temper was such, that none of the neighbors cared to go near her, or give her the assistance she required. The good Religious, alone, surmounting all natural feelings of repugnance, brought her food, and rendered her the services she needed; but, instead of showing gratitude for her kindness, the wretched girl repaid her with insolence. When the sister spoke to her of God, she answered with blasphemies.
One day a severe attack seized her, and she died almost suddenly. On the point of appearing before the Sovereign Judge, she remembered the mercies of Mary, whom in her youth she had been used to invoke, and, addressing her, said: “O thou who didst never abandon those whom all others had abandoned, Mother of Mercy, come to my assistance. If thou forsakest me I am lost.”
And Mary came and helped the sinner, inspiring such acts of repentance as saved her from hell. The next day her corpse was found stretched on the ground, and all agreed that her soul must be lost. Even the good Sister felt so certain that such must be her fate, that she tried to banish the recollection of her from her thoughts.
One day, however, the soul that she imagined lost was permitted by God to appear and speak to her. “How is it,” said she, “that you pray for everyone, and you forget me?”
“Is it possible,” replied the Sister, “that you are in Purgatory?”
And the poor sinner related the miracle which had been worked for her salvation when she was in her agony, and she implored the Sister to pray to the Blessed Virgin to deliver her from Purgatory, as she had delivered her from hell. The Sister prayed fervently, and, after a time, she learned from a second apparition that her prayer had been heard, and that, through Mary’s intercession, the gates of heaven had been opened to that penitent soul. Oh, how good and merciful is Mary!
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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.