The Fourth Day of July

St. Anne S Intercession Is All-powerful.

In order to be able to have recourse with confidence to our beloved St. Anne, we must first be well convinced that she is able to help us. Can she indeed do so? Yes, certainly, for she is a holy and great Saint.

There is no created power like that of being a Saint. All the kings of the earth with their armies by sea and by land, with their battalions of infantry, their squadrons of cavalry, their parks of artillery, in comparison with the least of the Saints are but like a little child, or like a dying person exhaling his last sigh. With no arms but those of prayer, the holy prophet Moses annihilated the mighty Pharaoh s armies; he gained the victory over the Amalekhites; it might almost be said that he forced God Himself to spare the Israelites whose extermination had been determined by the Almighty as a punishment for their turbulence and idolatry. With the same arms, the holy widow Judith delivered Bethulia when it was besieged by Holophernes, putting to flight and destroying his enormous army. All the Saints have performed miracles. Cloths that had touched St. Paul, when laid on the sick, produced an instantaneous cure and even the shadow of St. Peter healed those on whom it fell. The marvels wrought by the saintly Cure d Ars are innumerable. What king, unless he were a Saint, ever restored sight to the blind, cured paralytics or raised the dead to life? Alas! with all their guards they cannot for one single minute retard death from entering into their palaces! What place does the Mother of Mary occupy among the Saints? I cannot tell, but I cannot be accused of rashness if I affirm that she occupies one of the highest. God performs all His works with due deliberation and, in all that He does, has regard to the fitness of things. Great stress was laid on this by those who defended the dogma of the Immaculate Conception before its definition. It was not fitting, they said, that the Mother of God should ever have been the slave of Satan, even for one single instant. Now, if, as Mother of God, Mary must necessarily be the purest and holiest of creatures, who will not perceive that it is only fitting that Mary’s Mother, the Grand mother of JESUS, should likewise be of exalted and sublime holiness? Yes, she who was to bring forth, nourish and bring up Mary, she who was so often to bless her, embrace her, impress maternal kisses on her, must necessarily be radiant with innocence and virtue. Besides, do not reason and piety alike proclaim that the Mother of the Queen and Grandmother of the King of Heaven must necessarily occupy one of the highest places in glory, that she must necessarily be resplendent like a sun in the house of the Lord, that she must necessarily be conspicuous among the Elect, that she must necessarily have the happiness of beholding her blessed Daughter very closely? To speak in a human manner, would it be fitting that when Mary wishes to speak to her beloved Mother, she should be obliged to leave her throne and go in search of her, or else send an envoy to her? Now, in Heaven each one occupies the place he has acquired by his virtues. Since, then, St. Anne is so near to Mary in glory, she must have been equally near to her in holiness here on earth. The holiness of each of the elect is the measure of his power with God. From all this, we may conclude that the power of this beloved Saint is very great with JESUS and with Mary, and through them with the Heavenly Father. A good proof of this is the number of prodigious favors obtained through her intercession in her various sanctuaries; specially in that of St. Anne de Beaupre in Canada, where the miracles performed are as numerous as those which are performed at Lourdes.

EXAMPLE.

A genlteman writes thus from Riviere du Loup, PQ:

For nearly a month I had been suffering from a most extraordinary kind of sore throat and in spite of the most skillful treatment on the part of doctors, the malady made rapid progress. I was reduced to taking only liquid nourishment, for my throat was so swollen as to be nearly closed. Very soon my tongue began to swell and I could neither speak nor take any nourishment whatever. Up to this time the doctor had held out hopes to me, but when his treatment produced no beneficial results, he told me I was in imminent danger and was also threatened with inflammation of the brain. My family had already commenced a novena to St. Anne and I promised to publish my cure in the Annals of St. Anne if that good Mother would only grant our prayers. For two whole days there was no change and I prepared for death. One evening, when my friends were gathered round me and trying to encourage me, I thought of all those who had the happiness of being cured by St. Anne’s intercession and I said interiorly: Never is St. Anne invoked in vain, shall I be the only one to whose prayers she will turn a deaf ear? A few minutes afterwards I felt my tongue be coming less stiff; I could move it and make my friends understand that there was a miraculous improvement taking place. In fact I was saved and cured, for the very next morning I could explain to the doctor the wonderful changes that had taken place and which change he himself attributed to St. Anne’s powerful protection.

PRAYER.

MY beloved Protectress, I recognize that all is vanity except loving God, serving Him and working out our salvation. Of what avail to thee would have been thy titles of "Mother of Mary" and "Grandmother of Our Savior," if thou hadst not added to them that of being a great Saint? And for me likewise, of what avail to me will be health, strength, beauty, fortune and every other earthly possession; death will rob me of them all; it is only my good works and the virtues I have practised that will follow me beyond the tomb. How insensate then should I be, if I neglected the means of working out my salvation which have been vouchsafed me by God!

Like the Saints, I have divine grace at my disposal, as also the Sacraments which are its source, prayer which is its channel, Mary who dispenses it. And thou too, good and beloved St. Anne, thou with thy glorious spouse and all the Angels and Elect, art ready to intercede for me with JESUS and Mary. It is specially in the interests of my soul that I would honor and invoke thee. If perchance I ask of thee that which is useless or hurtful to my salvation, grant not my prayer, but pray daily for me, that I may follow in thy footsteps, that I may strive untiringly to correct my faults, to reform that which is amiss in me, to become a Saint and thus glorify JESUS and Mary.
Ejaculation. Good St. Anne, pray for me, that I may become a Saint.

PRACTICE.

Holiness is the highest possession to which a creature can aspire; by the help of divine grace we may attain to it and God commands us to do so, since it was to this end that he made us Christians. Resolve then, henceforth, to spare no pains to acquire this treasure. There have been Saints in every station of life; and what they have been able to do with God’s help, why cannot you do?