DO THE SAINTS SMILE MORE ON SOME THAN OTHERS?

As I was reading the newspaper the other day, I came across two articles, one detailing a Roman Catholic novena to St. Ann where individuals came with children in tow to put flowers in front of statues, pray the Rosary, and engage in other rituals. In this article, a few people discussed how they were helped with various ailments by the intercession of the Saint. In the other article, was a tragic story of two children who had been killed in an arson fire. As I looked at both of these, I began to notice how often religious expression is focused on the self. God must have been smiling on the lady whose gout was cured, while he must have been deaf or blind when it came to the two children who died in the fire. Is Saint Ann selective over who she will help? Are some ailments more distressing to her than others? Does she like certain people more than others? And of course, particularly in discussions with fundamentalists, it is always their group who are destined for blessings in Heaven, while it is always the other guy (particularly those they dislike) who are destined for torment in Hell.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com