July 25 – Saint Anne: Our Universal Grandmother

In her litanies, Saint Anne is often invoked as the help of Christians, support of the sick, strength of spouses, mother of widows, safe harbour for sailors, freedom for prisoners and guide for pilgrims. She helps us through life’s trials and leads us to inner peace. As a universal grandmother, she accompanies each person with gentle care.

Countless places around the world bear witness to her presence: pilgrimage sites and confraternities, chapels and churches, convents and monasteries, hermitages and schools, villages and towns, public squares and fountains, forests, mountains and rivers – and above all, the many women who bear her name.

One of the most beloved figures in the Christian tradition, Saint Anne embodies the tenderness passed on from generation to generation, faithfulness in trials and a simple faith deeply rooted in daily life. She walks beside us with kindness, attentive to the inner journey of each of her grandchildren. Many have experienced her help at important moments in their lives. We are invited again and again to rediscover this grandmother in heaven, so close to families, to grandparents, and to all who seek meaning, comfort and hope.

Saint Anne invites us to pray for others; it is a beautiful gift to offer them. When we pray with trust for someone who asks it of us, the Spirit acts in due time – even if not always as we expect. She leads us to entrust ourselves to God’s mercy, like a child falling asleep in a father’s arms.

This is what we have experienced throughout this novena to Saint Anne. She leads us to the Holy Family – to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. By asking their intercession, we express our relationship with a God who is close and loving, who desires our eternal happiness. With Anne and Joachim, Mary and Joseph, we become friends of Jesus. They teach us to hope in eternal life, which begins even now – a communion of love with the Father, in the Son, through the Spirit.

Saint Anne, you cared for Mary so that she would lack nothing. Welcome into your arms your grandchildren who are most in need. Show them God’s goodness. Stay with us as we journey from season to season with Jesus, on our way to our heavenly home.