The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Anne. Today's Epistle is taken from Proverbs 31, 10-31 and speaks of the valiant woman. Our Holy Mother the Church obviously would have us apply this description to St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus. And She likewise holds St. Anne up for the veneration and imitation of us all. So it seems behooving to consider some of the aspects of the valiant woman for our instruction, edification, and imitation.

She is priceless and is a great treasure to her husband because she works constantly to please him. "She will render him good, and not evil all the days of her life." She labors at all that is productive from early morning to late at night. There is never an idle moment.

How truly blessed would any man be to have such a wife, but the lesson here is not just for wives but for all of us. We are members of the Church — the Bride of Christ. We are His spouse, and therefore these words aptly apply to us. The saints are of tremendous value in the eyes of God even when they are despised by the rest of men. The value of the saints comes very clearly from their unceasing and untiring love and service of God.

Let us look then to St. Anne this most valiant woman and see how she labored for God. Let us ask her assistance for us who must now labor in this valley of tears so that we may merit a similar reward which she now enjoys with her Grandson, Jesus Christ, in Heaven.

It is not enough for us to love God once in a while, or when we think of it. The love of Him should be the overriding motivation for all that we do. The valiant woman constantly labors for the love of her husband, so must we constantly labor for the love of God. We must never be idle. We must do all that we can physically, and then above and beyond this our thoughts and desires should be studying and planning how we can do more and therefore be more productive for the One who we love.

God should have no need of "spoils". He should never be reduced to having to search out the leftover love of men. He should be the first love, the greatest love, the only love of men; and even more so the only love of the members of His Church.

We should also note that this valiant woman was not selfish or miserly with all that she had or produced. She was most generous to all those who were in need. Because of her industry she not only was able to provide for her husband, children and domestics, but also for the many needy that she met during her life.

When our labors are performed out of love for God they are generally over abundantly productive. This surplus above and beyond what we ourselves or those who depend upon us need is given to us by God, so that we may become His instruments of mercy as we distribute these to those who have need of them. We would do well to remember that everything belongs to God and that we are only the administrators of His goods. While He places many things in our hands, He also watches to see what we do with them. He wants to see if we are unprofitable servants, or if we will attribute these things to ourselves rather than to Him. He wants to see if we will assist our fellow men out of love for Him. If we will give food, water, shelter, clothing, etc. to the least of our brothers, for the love of Him.

But, all this is likewise done with the utmost of humility. We know very little of the life of St. Anne, but the humble silence speaks louder than any words can. Likewise, this valiant woman we are considering in today's epistle gives us the example of profound humility. She does not seek the praise of men or even have the time for such idle vanity. In her humility she considers herself to have always fallen short, for if she had been more diligent or prudent perhaps she would have more to offer her Lord.

"O God, Who didst vouchsafe to endow Blessed Saint Anne with grace that she was found worthy to be the mother of her who brought forth Thine only-begotten Son, grant in Thy grace, that we who devoutly honor her memory, may through her prayers attain everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

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