St Anne and Following the Will of God

Quinten Metsys-Triptique de la confrerie Saint-Anne a Louvain mg 2991
Quinten Metsys – Triptique de la confrerie Saint-Anne a Louvain mg 2991. Currently at the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique
The will of God is manifested to us in various ways. Often, the circumstances of life indicate to us the providence of God, but sometimes a more specific call is given to a person to carry out a work that God has chosen for them.

In the case of St Anne, she bore a child within her marriage to St Joachim. All parents share with her the joy and the responsibilities of bringing up a child to know, love and serve God, to grow in the virtues, and to be educated in the fullest sense of the word, not only in knowledge but also in culture.

St Anne’s vocation as a mother was blessed in a unique way by the Lord, because the child that she bore was preserved immaculate, free from original sin, in order that she would be a fitting mother herself to bear the child Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, made man. St Anne is naturally “eclipsed” in our minds by Our Blessed Lady, but having her as the titular saint of one of our Churches reminds us of her role in our salvation.

We may learn from St Anne how the great things that are often done in the sight of God are not always recognised in the world. Our Lord’s own teaching reminds us that what is important is not what the world thinks of us but how we stand before our heavenly Father who sees all that is done in secret. Every day we have opportunities to make acts of charity that are only known to the Lord.