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Towards
the end of the 19th century, Bishop Polding, a missionary, was crossing
a desert in Australia, when he fell ill. He was nursed back to health
by a widow. When the bishop recovered, he promised the woman to come
administer the last rites to her in person when she would be close to
death. Many years later, the prelate was told that the widow was dying
and was calling for him.
It took the bishop several days of walking before he arrived at the
widow’s house. But he found the house empty. An Irish lumberjack who was
working nearby explained that the woman couldn’t wait and had been
taken to see another priest.
The bishop then turned to the Irishman: "Well, my good man, I don’t want
to have come for nothing. Why don’t you kneel down, and I will hear
your confession." The man had not confessed his sins for years. He
hesitated, but then agreed to confess. He received absolution and
promised to go to communion the following Sunday.
No sooner had Bishop Polding left him than he heard a crashing sound,
followed by groans. Returning in haste, he found his penitent crushed
under a tree, dead... Under his jacket was found the scapular of the
Virgin Mary: the good Mother had not allowed him to die before being
reconciled with God...
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Let’s pray together 
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