In a mystical experience Bl. Virgin took Mariam Thresia and stood her at the edge of hell, showing the agony of the souls in a vision. Bl. Mother then said “will you not pray for this souls?” St. Mariam Thresia records her horror in seeing the souls in their miserable agony, she cried out that she may never see such vision again. These visions and frequent visits from souls in purgatory made her feel their pain and she desired to help them with prayer and mortification.
Her Spiritual Father tells us in ‘History’ about it in detail. One day an angel brought her Holy Communion and after receiving the Holy Communion she fell into an ecstasy. The Blessed Mother took her to Sheol. Then she saw many souls rolling in that pit of fire. She felt the burning heat. The Blessed Mother said, “Compared with the agony of these souls your sufferings are negligible. Shouldn’t you therefore help them? Since that day Thresia kept praying very fervently for the fullness of salvation to be granted to the souls in purgatory. Her program was to do sacrifices, gain indulgences, and offer Holy Masses for them”.
St. Mariam Thresia received communications from the souls of the departed. They sought her prayers and asked her to do penances for them. There are instances of souls of people she knew, of the parish, of priests, and of deceased sisters, notably of a Mother superior, coming and pestering her for her suffrage and sending the whole convent into a tilt till, with such help, they are released from their sufferings and they stop their visitations. The souls who sought their help was also seen going up to heaven with Mary and angels in glory.
St. Mariam Thresia was aware that the souls were unable to do anything for themselves and relied completely upon our prayers and charity for their sake, therefore she earnestly took up this task to pray for the souls in purgatory as her mission. She followed wholeheartedly all the prayers and mortification allowed by the Church to redeem these souls.
On 1913, Feb 13, the soul of an young priest who died in those days came to Thresia and asked her to help others for the sake of fraternal charity for his sake. She did as he had requested for few and later his soul obtained heavenly bliss .
On 1904 Dec 8, on the Jubilee of the feast of Immaculate Conception, St. Mariam Thresia wanted to attend a full retreat and offer this as indulgence for the souls in purgatory. Those were days of great trails and torture from the devils. Owing to her desire Jesus allowed her to attend the retreat and granted her grace to see the souls in great numbers going up to heaven. Due to the huge number of souls released from hell annoyed the hell and they mounted severe attack on her on account of it. All this sufferings, inflicted or willingly accepted, facilitated to her in saving more souls for heaven.
One of her perishers who died eight days ago came to her and said “if you can offer a Holy Mass for me tomorrow I will be redeemed.” Thresia was in dilemma because she could not even earn the required money begging”. Rev. Fr. Joseph Vithayathil offered the Holy Mass for the particular soul on the next day. The soul appeared to her during the Holy Mass and thanked her for prayers, and went up to heaven.
Lots of shocking news of death reach to us daily, with odd reasons. It is really shocking to see that accidental and caused death toll abounds than the natural deaths. The Catholic Church holds that “all who die in God’s grace and friendship but still imperfectly purified” shall undergo the process of purification which the Church calls purgatory, “so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven”. If this is the case should we not pray for our dear departed? The knowledge of this truth can give us too such earnestness like St. Mariam Thresia to help our dear departed who undergo this purification. The hatred of the Hades and the army of hell was heavy upon St. Mariam Thresia, but her trust remained in God strong and His grace sufficient to triumph over the armies of hell in the three years trail for her.
Sr. Udaya Kallukaran Chf