In these ways, St. Dismas unknowingly follows Christ's ideology: to love God, to love others, and to love one's self. In doing so, he is promised by Jesus that he will be in Paradise with Him that very day. There was no secret handshake, no magical phrase, no spiritual mysticism required for his salvation. Whatever life he might have led before, it was his adoption of the ideology of Jesus' teachings--even at the day of his death--that brings him redemption.
I find this quite comforting--not so much for my own salvation (of which I might spend too much of my time concerned about) but for the salvation of others--particularly those who might also be unwittingly following the ideology presented by our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.