examination of the heart 400 for the love of Christ! How disgracefully you tremble before the smallest adversities! And yet, you are not ignorant of the fact that nobody shall possess the heavenly goods without having endured the evils of this world with resignation; that nobody shall arrive at a place of respite, unless they pass through water and fire. This statement is very true: “If you are excluded from the suffering caused by the scourges, you will be excluded from the number of sons.”187 To action! When you possess within your heart Strength itself, say indeed: “I can do all things in [H]im who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). FOR THE FEAST OF ST. ANNE, GRANDMOTHER OF CHRIST THE LORD Before Holy Communion 1. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field” (Mt 13:44). Consider that this field is the womb of St. Anne; the treasure is the Most Holy Virgin, for nothing in the world and in Heaven is more precious than she. Wherefore, understand that the more eminent angels were appointed to guard this field, just as the rich usually protect with the best guards the place in which they store their treasures. Hence, learn to guard with as great a diligence as is possible for you the gifts and graces granted to you by God, which are the most noble treasures, lest they be carried off secretly by the thief, namely, by your vainglory. 2. “Sells all that he has, and buys that field” (Mt 13:44). These words could be quite justly applied to St. Anne, whose womb God chose from among His creation and deposited in it 187 This is a slightly modified quotation from St. Augustine’s Sermon 46. Cf. Augustinus, Sermones ad Populum: Classis I. De Scripturis — Sermo XLVI (Ezechiel XXXIV, 1-16), in: PL, vol. 38, Ateliers catholiques du Petit-Montrouge, Paris 1865, p. 276 (cap. V, § 11): “Si exceptus a passione flagellorum, exceptus a numero filiorum.”
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