July 26, 2024
Sandra Ann had a special devotion to St. Anne. Maybe it was because the woman who raised her was named Ann (after her biological mother gave her up and her adoptive mother left). She was the best mother a girl could have. Strict, but fair and generous. When she died, she realized even more that her “Aunt Ann” had been sent to her. So every year, as St. Anne’s feast day approached on July 26, she would be sure to pray a novena to the saint for her children and her family and those in her childhood who had been there when she had no one.
Her life hadn’t been easy, but there was so much good that had happened to her … and it hadn’t happened by chance. She was sure St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Mother, had a part in all of it. One novena, in particular, helped her realize that. It said:
O St. Anne, you are my spiritual grandmother. Please pray for me!
I come to you today, asking that you pray for me to see God’s goodness in my life, just the way that it is.
It is easy for me to forget about the blessings that do exist in my life while I pray for another one.
It is easy for me to forget about the beauty that does exist in my life while I focus on what is lacking.
Instead, I ask you to please pray for me today that I may be present in each moment, and that I may be open to seeing God’s goodness, beauty, and loving hand in my day — just as it is.
Please pray that I may be able to live in the present, and not to dwell on the past or the future. Please pray for…(Mention your intentions here).
But most of all, please pray that I may be open to God’s will the way that you were, and that I will be able to wait with patience, perseverance in faith and hope, and with absolute trust in the Lord’s plan for me. Amen.
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