The Seventh Day of July

How Dearly St. Anne Loves Christians.

In order to picture to ourselves the extreme tenderness felt by St. Anne for us, and her great desire of contributing to our temporal as well as our spiritual happiness, we must recall to mind the many beautiful examples of charity shown by the Saints in general towards their brethren in JESUS CHRIST. St. Paul would have consented to have never entered Paradise, if at that price he could have purchased the entrance therein of the Israelites his fellow-citizens. St. Francis Xavier, as well as an infinite number of missionaries who followed his example, left fortune, pleasure, friends, country, family to seek after tribes of savages in the depths of Indian and American forests, following them in their vagabond wanderings, living their life, undergoing unheard of fatigue, exposing themselves to every danger, daily braving death itself, in order to lead those heathen souls to JESUS-CHRIST. St. Louis, king of France, St. Margaret of Scotland St. Elizabeth of Hungary and many others served the poor with their own hands, washing their wounds and kissing their ulcers. St. Frances of Rome exchanged her own white bread for the hard moldy crusts of the beggars. When St. Alphonsus was taking his frugal repast, he would stop short whenever he heard a beggar at the door and would not continue eating until alms had been bestowed. Such is the spirit of true religion, the sum of which is love of God; but the proof of a true love of God, says St. John, is the readiness to give even life itself for the lowest of God’s children.

Doubtless St. Anne was distinguished among all the Saints here below for her charity: her heart, the fountain whence issued the blood which was to form the heart of Mary, must have been a very furnace of love of God, and consequently, of charity towards men. Has her glory changed? No, closely united as she is to God, the source of all charity and Charity itself, and having now a more intimate acquaintance with our trials and our needs, she can but have become more compassionate, more assiduous in helping us. Another reason we have for redoubled confidence in her is the fact that she looks on all our trials with a mother’s eye. In everything she shares the sentiments of her glorious Daughter Mary. The woman of Canaan desirous of obtaining her daughter’s cure, said to JESUS: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is cruelly tormented." Why did she not say: Have pity on my daughter? Just because a mother feels her children’s sufferings as much or more than they. And so it is with our loving Mother Mary: and, in due proportion, so it is with our beloved spiritual Grandmother St. Anne. But the love of this latter is far higher, consequently, purer and more tender than that of the Canaanite woman’s for her daughter. This latter beheld her own flesh and blood in her daughter, but St. Anne sees in us the flesh, blood and members of JESUS her God and her Grandson. She ardently desires to see us delivered from the evils and dangers of this life, and united to JESUS, Mary and herself. Just in the same way an earthly grandmother desires on some great festival to gather all her posterity about her, so as to have the delight of counting her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and of enquiring into everything concerning them. The sight of them restores her youth; she seems to live again in each one of them: their health, their happiness give her back life and happiness. Even so St. Anne thrills with joy every time that another elect enters Paradise and swells the number of that blessed throng of posterity who join with her in singing Our Lord’s eternal praises. She rejoices because their salvation increases the glory of JESUS and Mary; she rejoices too for her own sake: for she enjoys a fresh paradise each time that one of her spiritual offspring enters Heaven.

EXAMPLE.

The first person whose faith in St. Anne de Beaupre was rewarded by a miracle was Louis Guimont, who, being afflicted with violent pains in the lumbar region, found himself suddenly cured after having, out of devotion, carried and placed three stones in the foundation of the church.

This first cure was shortly afterwards, in 1662, followed by that of Marie Esther Ramage, the wife of Elie Godin, of the parish of St. Anne du Petit Cap, now St. Anne de Beaupre. For eighteen months she had been bent nearly double, so that she could not straighten herself and dragged herself along, as best she could, by the aid of a stick. Finding there was no human probability of ever recovering her health, she remembered having heard her husband speak of having been a witness of Louis Guimont’s miraculous cure. She therefore entreated the Saint to perform the same miracle for her as she had previously done for the above mentioned man. At the same moment, she became upright and found herself able to walk with the same facility as she had formerly walked. Lost in astonishment at the sudden change, she rendered thanks to St. Anne for the benefits she had just received. Her cure was permanent.

PRAYER.

Beloved St. Anne, thy heart must be good and tender, since it was expressly created for loving the most amiable of all creatures, she who is loved beyond all others by God Himself, the glorious Virgin Mary. It is with this heart that thou lovest us; it is in Mary, in JESUS, as members of JESUS and children of Mary that thou lovest us. Never then can I be wanting in confidence in thee; never can I fail to have recourse to thee as to a Mother. My beloved Patroness! I also love thee and would wish to see thee loved and honored by all those whom thou dost love as thy grandchildren; if possible, I would like to give thee the gratification of seeing them gathered about thee in the heavenly home. At least will I interest myself in the salvation of many of them, by assiduously praying for the conversion of sinners. But, in order that my prayers may be favorably received by Our Lord, do thou obtain the grace of conversion for me, the most unworthy of all, so that I may commence with all my strength to serve and love that good JESUS whom I have so deeply offended, and may continue to love Him to my life s end.

Grant, O good St. Anne, that henceforth I may show myself more worthy of thee, so that, one day, I may be united to thee in Heaven.

PRACTICE.

From what we have said it can be clearly perceived that one of the best means of making ourselves dear to St. Anne is that of being charitable to our brethren, who are all of them her children. Let us then apply ourselves to relieving their corporal necessities, as much as lies in our power; let us be zealous in furthering their salvation, and to this end let us give them a good example and good advice. Do not let us pass a day without praying for the conversion of sinners and the deliverance of the souls in Purgatory.