Practical devotion to do today 26 July

ANNE

1. Let us worship her. Everything that touches Jesus and Mary more closely recalls a particular veneration. If the relics of the most fervent Saints of Jesus and Mary are precious, the Mother of Mary is much more so. What contentment we can bring to Mary's Heart by honoring her Mother, whom she, Child, honored so much, to whom she obeyed, from whom, after God, she learned the first steps to virtue! Let's keep St. Anna dear, let's pray to her, let's trust her.

2. Let's imitate it. History does not remind us of anything extraordinary in S. Anna. Therefore, she followed the way of common holiness, sanctified herself in the exact observance of the duties of her state, accomplishing everything with God and for God's sake, not seeking the applause, the admiration, the gaze of men, but rather the God's approval. Such kind of holiness is easy for us. Let us imitate its accuracy in all obligations of our state.

3. We persevere in sanctifying ourselves. We are not alone in having to suffer: all the Saints suffered more than us: sacrifice is the true door of Heaven. Besides the daily sufferings, St. Anna, how much she did not have to suffer for the sterility of long years before obtaining Maria, and for having to deprive herself of it, when Maria was three years old, to fulfill the vow! We learn from her perseverance in good at any cost, resignation, the spirit of sacrifice.

PRACTICE. - Recite three Ave Maria in honor of S. Anna, and ask for the grace to be able to make yourself a saint.