How much does God desire to save us? We can form no idea. The love that every soul of good-will possesses is but a mere atom compared to the limitless ocean of God’s love. God’s love cannot be divided. According to St. Padre Pio, St. Margaret of Cortona, and others, there will be a number of souls in Heaven that we would not expect to see there. Alas! The opposite is also true. God alone knows how faithfully each soul has corresponded to grace. In Heaven, some souls will glorify the omnipotent mercy of God to a great degree!
May the following beautiful words (taken from ‘Spiritual Works of Louis of Blois’) strengthen our hope in God’s mercy, and may they deter us from judging others. God asks us to be merciful to others because He wants to be merciful to us!
“The blessed Mechtildis [St. Mechtilde] was once considering how immense was the loving-kindness of God, when our Lord said to her: “Come, and contemplate the least of all the blessed who are in heaven; for in him thou wilt be able to understand My loving kindness.”
And while Mechtildis was considering attentively, and longing to know who it was of whom the Lord was speaking; behold there appeared to her a man of royal aspect and dignity, in the flower of his age, with a beautiful, resplendent, and most amiable countenance; to whom she said, “Who art thou? And how didst thou attain to so great happiness and glory?”
He answered,
“On the earth I was a robber and a malefactor; but, because my evil deeds were done rather from ignorance and the habits in which I was trained by my parents, than out of wickedness, I at last through repentance obtained mercy…”
In this manner St. Mechtildis learnt the loving-kindness of God towards him who was the least of all the blessed*. And if our most merciful Lord granted so much to one who had led so bad a life, what will He give to those who live in justice and holiness?” (pp. 211-212)
*This does not mean that he is the greatest converted sinner.
Our Lord addressed St. Bridget (d. 1373) thus:
“No one is so great a sinner that I would refuse him mercy, if he sought it with a humble and perfect heart. Therefore, let sinners who wish to be reconciled to Me, and to obtain My grace and friendship, first, grieve with their whole hearts that they have offended Me, their Creator and Redeemer; then, let them purify themselves before the priest by a sincere and humble confession, and amend their lives, and perform satisfaction according to the advice and discretion of the priest. If they have done this, I will draw near to them, and the devil will be kept at a distance from them. Afterwards, it will be fitting that they should receive My Body with devotion and true love, resolving never more to fall into their former sins, and purposing to persevere to the end in well-doing. These I will run to meet as a mother runs to meet her erring children, and will most gladly receive them. I will be in them, and they shall be in Me, and shall live and rejoice with Me to all eternity.” (p. 213)
This revelation, though beautiful, cannot fail to arouse Protestant Christians to consider the validity of the Catholic Church and its Sacraments, which were ordained, and have been preserved by Almighty God. This is not an apologetics website, but suffice it to say that the Church is necessary for salvation insofar as it is God’s will that those who know this truth submit to “the pillar and ground of the truth”, of which our Lord is the Head and the Heart, which throbs incessantly with love for us in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Littlest Souls 