His mother being deceased, [Blessed Ruysbroeck] kept each day in his heart his filial recollection, and he recommended her soul, by way of frequent prayers, to the sight of divine goodness.
From her side, she begged for suffrage, and presented herself often to her son, ... and asked him to intercede for her, by saying: "O my dearest son, how much time will it pass before you become a priest!" ...
Which is why, just as he often told afterwards to his brethren, on the very day on which he celebrated the holy sacrifice of his first Mass, he merited to receive from God a great consolation about the purgatory of his mother. Because she appeared personally to him after the holy sacrifice, thanking God with a calm face, and assuring him with all certainty that, by the Host offered to God, he had completely delivered her from the pain she had endured in purgatory up to that moment.
Hendrik Utenbogaerde (Henricus Pomerius)
Life and Miracles of John of Ruysbroeck,
the First Prior of Groenendael
