The Soul of the Penitent Thief

Saint Luke - Chapter 23

The soul of the Penitent Thief in Paradise. J-J Tissot

[42] Et dicebat ad Jesum : Domine, memento mei cum veneris in regnum tuum.
And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.

[43] Et dixit illi Jesus : Amen dico tibi : Hodie mecum eris in paradiso.
And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

The divine promise is already accomplished; and the soul of the penitent thief, once the vilest of the vile but purified now, is one of the very first to reap the benefits of the Redemption of mankind. 
 Humble, hesitating and almost bewildered, that soul takes his place at the head of the glorious procession of redeemed souls on the threshold of Paradise.  Angels bear him thither, heavenly apparitions, each with three pairs of wings such as we have already described when quoting from the Apocalypse.  Two of these wings serve for flight and symbolise promptitude and obedience; two others are intended to veil the face, and symbolise all of the terrible Majesty of God; whilst the third pair fold over and hide the body, thus symbolising purity.

These angels wear the alb ans stole of deacons, to shadow forth the fact that they act as guides, appointed to lead the souls of the redeemed to the heavenly places inaccessible to all but the elect, they swings sensors of incense, the smoke from which fills the atmosphere with perfume and prepares the way for the procession of the chosen.  The group moves onwards, ascending slowly; the earth is already left far below, and in the distance, bathed in a mysterious light, appear the land masses and seas of the world, which, looked down upon from above, seem have so little account.  India and Arabia can be made out vaguely, and as from a crowded hive of bees other souls ascend, also bound for that Father's house in which Jesus Christ himself had said "there are many mansions".  The soul of the penitent thief continues to ascend; group after group, faintly indicated, follow the same direction and disappear, all radiant with Glory, amidst the splendour of the heavenly bodies, which intimately shadow forth the indescribable grandeur of God Himself.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam