A Novena to Saint Ann

Saint Ann, I begin this novena with joy and perfect confidence. May I ask you to help me live this novena with fervor? Be with me as I pray.

I keep remembering you, dear Saint Ann. I remember that you are the mother of the Virgin Mary and the grandmother of Jesus, my Saviour. I contemplate you, I admire you. You are the perfect wife praised by Holy Scripture (Pr 31:10). You are a model for spouses, parents and grandparents. You have showered love and blessings on your daughter Mary and your Grandson Jesus. You loved them so much! And they loved you tenderly!

At the start of this novena, O blessed Saint Ann, the first grace I beg of you is the grace to love more and more sincerely sweet Virgin Mary, Mother of God and my Mother, and Jesus, my Lord and my God. My life will be worth living and wonderful if, thanks to my daily prayer, I earnestly love you, Mary and Jesus. Then, my presence on earth will be a bright light for all.

Obtain for me this outstanding grace! Grant it to all those I love! Amen.

How much you rejoiced, Saint Ann, when you gave birth to Mary, the Immaculate, God’s Masterpiece! With what tenderness, Saint Ann, you took care of her religious and human education! Your daughter approached you with smile, and you conversed with her, you spoke of God with such kindness. You taught Mary the road to all virtues by your fine example.

Saint Ann, please enlighten those who refuse to give life to children, those who destroy life in the wombs of mothers through abortion.

I pray for the youth of today, especially for the young members of my family, whom I love so deeply. You know how much I worry about them. There are, on their path of life, peddlers of illusion, numerous dangers, false friends, the pitfalls of drug, alcohol, sexual disorders. Saint Ann, protect my children, protect all young men and young women.

Help them discover their vocation in life, the way to lasting happiness and true love! May they find God’s love, the true light of their life! Amen.

I look around, Saint Ann. I see young men and young women fearing what lies ahead, afraid of the distress of broken homes, dreaming of a love without flaw. I myself feel powerless as I witness the suffering of so many children, couples, families. I am heartbroken when I look at repudiated spouses, at deserted children, at despaired people.

And you, O Saint Ann, you who were faithful to Saint Joachim, your husband, you who gave Mary the warmth of a happy home, come to the help of married people in trouble, be the strength of forsaken spouses, rekindle hope in the crushed heart of children. Help young people prepare for marriage with renewed confidence as they give a privileged place to God in their conjugal life. Bless also those who consecrate themselves to God in celibacy!

God has chosen you, Saint Ann, to be the mother of His own Mother, the Virgin Mary. He has blessed you with choicest graces, and you, Saint Ann, you have lived in perfect charity, you have been the consolation of all those who suffer.

For centuries now, at the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, New York and Cleveland, you have proved your kindness for the sick. Thousands and thousands of people were healed after they had invoked you. Others were consoled in their sufferings. Nobody prayed to you without being heard.

Now that I am sick, I pray to you fervently during this novena. Heal me, I beg of you. I suffer tremendously, I no longer see the light at the end of this tunnel of my life. I have lost the desire to live.

Cure me, Saint Ann. Cure also the sick people who are dear to me, members of my family, friends, fellow parishioners. If the Lord Jesus does not intervene in my sickness, if I have to remain sick, may He give me the grace of uniting my suffering to His. May He help me carry my cross with Him for the sake of His body, the Church (Col 1:24)!

Saint Ann, I make this novena with confidence in you. Amen.

I come back to you with my suffering, dearest Saint Ann. It is my ardent desire to make a good novena and to obtain your motherly help. I know perfectly well that you too had much to endure. You suffered intensely for many years when you could not have a child; you had much grief when you heard that a sword would pierce the soul of Mary; you were in anguish when Mary, Joseph and dear Jesus, had to flee into Egypt to avoid slaughter. How much you have cried, you who were so loving!

I too cry in my distress, I cry and I worry all day. Not only does my health fail me, but I also suffer for other reasons. There is lack of work and darkness for the future. There is a broken home. There are young people I love who are away from God and His Church. There is old age and there is the death of a dear one. There is constant anxiety. There is solitude.

I offer you, Good Saint Ann, my physical and moral pain. Be my consolation and dispel such clouds that darken my life. I put all my trust in you so good and so powerful. Thanks to you, my life will brighten again, and I will become a source of consolation and light to others. Amen.

Saint Ann, you are the Saint of miracles and prodigies. All past generations have proclaimed your greatness. You are rightly called “Good” Saint Ann. You have healed so many sick and infirm, you have straightened crooked limbs, you have rendered healthy those whom even modern science had declared incurable.

It is true, dear Saint Ann, that your greatest marvels have been spiritual cures. Who ever came to you without growing in love for God? How many were converted, thanks to you, in the secrecy of the confessional and in the unknown recesses of their hearts?

Grant me regret for my sins. May the Lord forgive them! May I live, from now on, in His friendship!

I ask you, Good Saint Ann, the conversion of people I know. Please, dear Saint, obtain for me the conversion of this person I dearly love, also of members of my family who neglect God and His commandments. I worry about their eternal salvation, but I put my trust in you, in your help. Conscious of my love for them, I know that God also loves them. May they soon discover His light and His love! Amen.

People of today desperately look for peace, peace among nations, peace in families, peace among individuals. In the meantime, everyone is starving for the great benefit of interior peace.

I turn to you, O Saint Ann. Intercede for us that a universal peace may prevail. May there no longer be wars, violence, torture! I am convinced that peace in this world rests on forgiveness, bathes in a climate of trust, is possible only if there is peace in our own homes, as well as in our hearts. Such peace may not exist unless it is granted by God and nurtured by our fidelity to God.

I do not enjoy such heavenly peace, O Saint Ann. I feel anguished. Too many problems bother me. I worry about my health, about those I love, about the future. I am turning to you in prayer that you may help me. I would like so much to find again interior peace.

During this novena, I pray to you, Saint Ann, and I am confident that you will help me. Give me serenity, trust in God’s Providence, deep peace. Make me become a peacemaker for those who surround me, so that I may truly become a child of God (Mt 5:9)! Amen.

Jesus told us: “Your light must shine in the sight of men, so that seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16). I want to please Jesus, I want to be a shining light. Help me realize my desire, O Saint Ann.

I will be light if I love God. I will be light if I obey God. I will be light if I spread knowledge of God around me. This is the will of Jesus, your Grandson, Saint Ann, that I may be light. There are too many people who live in darkness. I have no right to conceal the light that I have received from Jesus Christ. I must be light for members of my family, for my friends, for fellow workers, for fellow parishioners, in all my activities.

Saint Ann, help me pray without ceasing, that I may be close to my Lord who is the Light of this world (Jn 8:12), that I myself become real light. With your help, may all my actions be good and charitable actions, works of light! Help me become an evangelizer, an apostle of Jesus, a witness of Christ. Make my little light shine that God may be glorified, that those who meet me may be enlightened and warmed up. May the entire Church be light in the prevailing darkness of today! Amen.

Dear Saint Ann, sooner or later, one day will be the last day of my life. I will have to present myself to my God. I commit to you my life, Saint Ann. I also entrust to you the moment of my death. Be ever present near me as I live on this earth, be faithfully present when I enter into eternal life. With you at my side, dear Saint Ann, I live full of confidence and peace. You constantly intercede in my behalf. With Mary, your Daughter, whom I deeply love, you lead me to your Grandson Jesus.

I do not know when I will die. It does not matter, as long as I live in the friendship of my Lord. He loves me! I want to live loving Him. I want to die loving Him. I want to die pronouncing these blessed names: “Jesus, Mary, Ann.” I want to die in your company, beloved Saint Ann, and close to Jesus and Mary. In Heaven, I will be with you, with your cherished Daughter, with Your Grandson who is the God of love.

I pray to you, Saint Ann, for all my living and deceased relatives and friends. May they enter into eternal light! May I myself enjoy Heaven with you, heavenly bliss promised by God! Till then, dearest Saint Ann, protect me, be for me an affectionate mother, protect all my loved ones! I will always remain your loving child. Amen.