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Growing up during the 1990s, I typically spent a lot of time during my summer vacations with my paternal grandmother and her sister in South Troy.

Attendance at Mass was part of any weekend, but on one summer weekday, we went to St. Mary's Church, several blocks north of where my grandmother lived, and something was different.

My grandmother and great-aunt had what appeared to be rosary beads in their hands, but there were fewer beads than usual, and my grandmother talked about St. Anne. She told me St. Anne was the mother of Mary and the patroness of grandmothers.

She urged me to make a prayerful request during what she called a "novena," a nine-day series of prayers to St. Anne. She said that St. Anne would hear it and might intercede to Jesus through Mary on our behalf.

In church, we were seated and began the novena. I looked around, confused. Luckily, my grandmother gave me my own set of novena beads, so I was able to keep track of the prayers. It was hard for my 12-year-old mind to pay careful attention, but I remember earnestly asking St. Anne for help with various topics, ranging from finding a lost summer reading book to healing a sick loved one.

To my astonishment, summer after summer, I always seemed to get exactly what I asked for during the novena. One of the things I prayed for was to never forget the sense of awe and reverence that I felt during and after each novena.

Not long after my grandmother passed away, I entered LaSalle Institute in Troy and then Siena College in Loudonville. I wasn't aware of any other nearby St. Anne novenas, but I never forgot about them.

Recently, I was downloading a Catholic prayer app for my smart phone and was stunned to see a St. Anne novena. I was transported back in time to St. Mary's (now closed): surrounded by people I loved, reciting the same prayers. The same feelings of awe and reverence returned.

Even after all this time, St. Anne came through for me. Jesus promises to be with us until the end; the times when it might feel like He isn't here are when He's with us the most.

(Mr. Gustin teaches history and religion at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady and attends St. Michael the Archangel parish in Troy.)[[In-content Ad]]

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