One of the great absences in the preaching of much of the Church today is the theme of the Novissimi, or ultimate realities (Death, Judgment, Hell, Paradise). Yet this is a theme directly related to the mission of the Church herself, which from the beginning - faithful to Christ's command - has instructed men and women on what awaits them after death, according to how they have lived their earthly life. The Bible and the Magisterium are the essential points of reference for all eschatological truth. And then we have the lives of the saints, which God uses to give us, in every historical epoch, precious confirmations of these truths and to remind us of the right path to eternal salvation.
Among these lives stands out that of St. Mary of Jesus Crucified (January 5, 1846 - August 26, 1878), a Discalced Carmelite née Mariam Baouardy, whose liturgical memorial is celebrated today. Originally from Galilee and also known as "the little Arab", Mary - so called because of a vow to Our Lady - proved to be precocious in her spiritual life, favored by her parents, very poor but of rich faith, who had remained steadfast despite persecutions and serious bereavements in the family (they lost 12 children at an early age). Mary herself experienced suffering from a very early age. She was orphaned at the age of about three, but her praise of God was not lacking in joys or trials. Although she was still very young, the saint will always remember the words of her father George who, on his deathbed, asked St. Joseph to be her father. Already then, the Lord adorned Mary with singular graces, which would mark her entire life and culminate in the gift of the stigmata.
In her great humility, the saint tried to hide her mystical gifts, but it was not always possible, because often God... had other plans. She was in Marseilles when, around the age of 17, she had an ecstasy that began in the church of the Greco-Melkites, continued in the house of her then masters and lasted four days, without any doctor being able to "wake her up" from that state. What happened in those four days? Mary had to tell it later out of obedience to her confessor, Father Pierre Estrate, author of a splendid biography of the saint.
In those four days, Mary saw the glory of Paradise, what was happening on Earth, in Purgatory and in Hell. Her guide, a virgin, first showed her Heaven, showing her "Jesus Christ, our divine Savior, burning with love, and very close to Him, the college of the Apostles. She showed me the exercise of the martyrs, and the souls who suffered the greatest tribulations on earth. These have not shed their blood like the martyrs, and yet they are placed in the same rank as they, because they too have borne the cross. Each one has his own cross," the virgin said to me, "and when God sees that a soul generously accepts the one He sends him,
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He himself helps this soul to carry the cross. This is a teaching on the redemptive value of suffering lived in union with Jesus and his Passion, which is so necessary to recover today. The guide then showed him "the good and holy priests, resplendent as virgins, and placed very close to Our Lord and the Apostles. He said to him: Oh, how God loves good priests! When he sees them zealous for his glory, for the salvation of souls, how happy he is! How he loves them! There are very few who come up here directly, without passing through the flames of Purgatory." Mary saw again the glory with which ordinary men and women who have lived fulfilling their Christian duties are crowned. She also saw "a multitude of innocent children" celebrating with the other elect.
The saint was then shown the Earth in a way that made it clear to her that our life here below is only a passage, awaiting judgment.
The third vision concerned Purgatory, where Mary saw that the punishments of souls "differ greatly," according to the sins to be atoned for. The saint learned from her guide that the Mother of God descends "every Saturday to Purgatory, with an escort of angels, to free many souls among these blessed spirits (...). The souls in Purgatory - added the mystic - are subject to the divine will; they are happy purifying themselves with fire, to be worthy of the beatific vision".
Mary was then led to see Hell, but this time at a suitable distance, without entering it. There, the saint could only hear "dreadful cries, imprecations, blasphemies". There, too, she saw fire, but very different from the purifying fire, all internal to the soul (never external) that she had seen in Purgatory. "What impressed me immediately in Hell was the sight of souls that had been lost to impure vices. They were enveloped in flames that took the form of the idol they had loved with wantonness on earth. (...) In each of the damned the flame that enveloped him showed itself under the figure of the object, the cause of his damnation. I saw in Hell souls belonging to all classes, to all ranks".
As in the case of other saints who lived before and after her - think, for example, of the experiences of the shepherd children of Fatima and of Sr. Faustina Kowalska in the 20th century - these visions were intended to increase the young Mary's charity towards souls, both those still living and those in Purgatory. It pleased the mercy of God that the saint received visits from souls in Purgatory, who asked her for Masses and prayers in their suffrage. Moreover, in that four-day ecstasy, as she told her confessor, Father Estrate, the Lord asked her to "fast on bread and water for a whole year, to atone for the sins of gluttony for others, and to dress as poorly as possible, to atone for the sins of vanity".
And these are just a few examples of facts of which her life was full, and which remind us of the truth of the communion of saints.
A person docile to the fulfillment of God's will, as Mary of Jesus Crucified was, not only participates in a supreme way in his glory for eternity, but also helps to wrest countless souls from the devil. Once, concerning the damned, the Lord said to her: "It is not I who choose Hell for you; it is you yourselves who make this choice. Not a single soul is lost without Me speaking a thousand times in its heart".
It was not by chance that this saint was particularly hated by Satan, who several times obtained permission from God to tempt her strongly, always coming out defeated, because "the little nothing", as she called herself, always walked in the footsteps of her Master, Jesus. And in Jesus she placed all her trust, accepting every trial and sacrifice for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. This was reflected in the exercise of three fundamental virtues: humility, charity and obedience.
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