A Terrifying Vision

In the Secret of the Rosary, we hear of a certain woman in Rome who believed that she didn’t need the rosary — it was a devotion “for which she had no taste.” Despite Saint Dominic’s advice, she resisted praying the Rosary, and stuck with her own devotions. What happened later is worth stating in full: 

“Later on, when she was at prayer she fell into ecstasy and had a vision of her soul appearing before the Supreme Judge. Saint Michael put all her penances and other prayers on one side of the scales and all her sins and imperfections on the other. The tray of her good works were greatly outweighed by that of her sins and imperfections. 

Filled with alarm, she cried for mercy, imploring the help of the Blessed Virgin, her gracious advocate, who took the one and only Rosary she had said for her penance and dropped it on the tray of her good works. This one Rosary was so heavy that it weighed more than all her sins as well as all her good works. Our Lady then reproved her for having refused to follow the counsel of her servant Dominic and for not saying the Rosary every day.”

This vision should terrify us. Not only standing before the Supreme Judge, Saint Michael, and the Blessed Virgin; but, seeing our sins and imperfections all laid out, threatened by the judgment we deserve, and the idea of there being no way out. Can you even imagine?

But, there is hope, for the woman and for us. From the jaws of damnation, we see the Blessed Mother and the Rosary. Be not afraid.