for man to profit by them in the bounded and
narrow sphere of time, he must, as it were, take possession of them in
a series of successive moments, and that for this purpose they had to
be repeated and renewed in the Church, in the order established by
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. All festivals and solemnities were in
her eyes eternal graces which returned at fixed epochs in every
ecclesiastical year, in the same manner as the fruits and harvests of
the earth come in their seasons in the natural year.

Her zeal and gratitude in receiving and treasuring up these graces
were untiring, nor was she less eager and zealous in offering them to
those who neglected their value. In the same manner as her compassion
for her crucified Saviour had pleased God and obtained for her the
privilege of being marked with the stigmas of the Passion as with a
seal of the most perfect love, so all the sufferings of the Church and
of those who were in affliction were repeated in the different states
of her body and soul. And all these wonders took place within her,
unknown to those who were around her; nor was she herself even more
fully conscious of them than is the bee of the effects of its work,
while yet she was tending and cultivating, with all the care of an
industrious and faithful gardener, the fertile garden of the
ecclesiastical year. She lived on its fruits, and distributed them to
others; she strengthened herself and her friends with the flowers and
herbs which she cultivated; or, rather, she herself was in this garden
like a sensitive plant, a sunflower, or some wonderful plant in which,
independent of her own will, were reproduced all the seasons of the
year, all the hours of the day, and all the changes of the atmosphere.

At the end of the ecclesiastical year of 1823, she had for the last
time a vision on the subject of making up the accounts of that year.
The negligences of the Church militant and of her servants were shown
to Anne Catherine, under various symbols; she saw how many graces had
not been cooperated with, or been rejected to a greater or less extent,
and how many had been entirely thrown away. It was made known to her
how our Blessed Redeemer had deposited for each year in the garden of
the Church a complete treasure of his merits, sufficient for every
requirement, and for the expiation of every sin. The strictest account
was to be given of all graces which had been neglected, wasted, or
wholly rejected, an