purgatory, charity

 From The wonderful secrets of souls in purgatory by sister Emmanuel

p.26

Q; well, Maria, I am now thinking of the good thief , the one who was on the cross beside Jesus. I would really like to know what he did, for Jesus to have promised that he would be with him that same day in Paradise.

He accepted with humility his suffering, saying that it was just . He encouraged the other thief to accept it too. He had the fear of God. That is to say , he had humility.

Another beautiful example , Maria simma told us , show how a good deed can redeem a sinful life in a very short time. Let us listen to her own words.

" I knew a young man about 20 years old. He lived in a village near mine. This village had been severely hit and devastated by several avalanches which killed many people. It was in 1954.

One evening this young man was at his parents' home, when a terrible avalanche fell near the house. He heard shrill cries, agonizing shouts asking:" help us ! save us ! come to save us! ... we have been swept away by the avalanches!..."

Immediately the young man got up and rushed down to help those people . But his mother , who had heard the cries, stopped him from going by shutting the door and saying :" No , let other people help them but not us! It is too dangerous, I do not want another dead person. " But the young man who had been impressed by those cries and really wanted to help those people. pushed his mother aside and said," Yes, I am going. I cannot let them die like this!" and he went out. But then he too got swept away by an avalanche and was killed....

Two days later , he visited me ( Maria simma) during the night and told me, " Have three masses said for me and I will be free from purgatory. " I went to infor his family and friends. They were very astonished to hear that he would be freed from purgatory after only three masses. One of his friends said ," I would not have wanted to be in his place at the moment of death , if you had seen all the depravities he had commited...!"

Later that young man told me ( Maria simma) , I did an act of pure love by risking my life and giving it up for those people. and it is precisely for this, that the Lord welcomed me so quickly into Heaven. Yes, it is true, charity covers a multitude of sins."

In this story we can see that a single act of unselfish love was sufficient to purify that young man from a life of depravity , and the Lord, taking advantage of this sudden act of love called him to Himself. In fact, Maria said that maybe this young man would never have had another opportunity in his life to do such a great act of love, and that he might have become a wicked man. The Lord, in His mercy , called Him just at the very best moment , the purest moment because of that act of love .