In the narthex, she saw a small boy in front of the candle stand, looking wistful. Annie could tell he was longing to buy a candle; apparently, though, he didn't have the money. So she approached him, held out a dollar, and said, "Would you please buy a candle with this and say a prayer for me?" The "prayer for me" part was simply to disguise the charity; Annie isn't very religious, and I have heard her express a particular dislike of Catholicism.
The boy nodded gravely as he accepted the dollar, and asked, "What is your name?" One prays for a person by name, of course, whenever possible.
"I'm Anne," she said.
Annie says the boy's face turned to wonder, to awe, to astonishment and joy. It made her uncomfortable, so she quickly left. Only then did it it dawn on her what had happend. She hurried back again to find the boy, but he had gone.
Well, all this happened many years ago. The boy must be a man now, and perhaps he still tells his children about the time he was sad and penniless and couldn't buy a candle, and St. Anne de Beaupré appeared to him and answered his prayer.
4 comments:
What a neat story.
Wow. Great story. God works in many ways; I bet St. Anne was involved! :)
That's a great memory. Wonder is a great thing, too. So I wonder how Annie thinks of this story... or what she meant to tell the boy, where he had gone, and how this came to your or her mind recently. As friend is fond of saying, "There are no coincidences"...
If I had to guess how Annie feels about this story, from her telling of it, I'd say it's a mixture of amusement and rue.
Don't know where the boy had gone. Do know what Annid meant to tell him; something to the effect that she was not THE Anne, not an apparition.
How it came to my mind was reading Chocolatessa's blog; she lives somewhere in that region and she also toured a church recently.
No coincidences.
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