“Doesn’t that sound like something deserving of eternal life in Heaven?”
Using the default calculus of men, sure. But based on the Bible, a thousand times NO.
There is ONE and only one way to be saved and it has zero to do with our merit. The Bible says that even our best is tainted with sin. In other words, our prayers, charity, and even our worship are tainted by sin. According to the Bible, what we have earned based on our merit is death. (”The wages of sin is DEATH.”) Unbelievers will be judged according to their works. Thankfully, believers don’t get what they have earned. By God’s mercy and grace they are viewed as perfectly righteous IN CHRIST. Now that is good news.
Some of the words you write are indisputable, but I cannot agree with your conclusions because we have different theologies. Man is tainted by sin; he was perfectly created, yet is an imperfect creation! This great flaw results in physical, or worse, spiritual death. Physical death is only a process, a way to re-unite with the ultimate Godhead. In spiritual death the soul finally understands God, but can never transcend through the dark abyss and join with Him; they are separated for all eternity. That is Hell.
But just who is to spend life in Heaven?
If merely having faith in the words of the Bible and receiving God’s Mercy and Grace alone is the only way to salvation, I must disagree. We are made in God’s image; we are his children. Children separate from their parents, though they are welcomed home. That is why we already have Mercy and Grace. God loves his children, and wants all of us to return to him, not just the chosen elect.
The Gospels are an essential part of reaching Him, but we were created with the spark of the divine. We have the power of prayer and insight. We are capable of feeling true human love (agape) and can do so by giving of ourselves selflessly to others and expecting nothing in return. That is, we must try to live as Christ-like as possible. Undoubtedly, we are not Christ, but His works are part of the path to eternal life. Give without expecting to receive, comfort the sick, teach true compassion (forgive past wrongs and tell others to go and sin no more), aid those weaker than you, and if you must, die to save an innocent life. That’s what Christ did.
This mother a was Catholic, not an “unbeliever” and followed Christ’s example. She already had Grace long before that.