Thursday after Epiphany

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Saint: Saint Andre Bessette (1845-1937)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Prologue 39-44

Mass:  1 Jn 4:19-5:4; Resp Ps 72; Lk 4:14-22

May His name be blessed forever.

Seek not for your trials to be removed, ask rather for the grace to bear them well.

(Saint Andre Bessette)

We are gifted today to commemorate yet another saint with American ties. Another blessing is that most of the saints these past days have lived in times not far removed from our own, so we have access to homilies preached at their canonizations (see www.vatican.va), as well as other informative sources. Such is the case today with Andre Bessette. He, along with five other new saints (including Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, the first Australian saint) was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 17, 2010. I lived in Rome at the time, right across the hall from an Australian sister, so remember the occasion. The canonization was a grand affair as you might imagine. 

Although not born in our country, Andre (Alfred) Bessette was born in Canada. He moved to the United States at the age of 22, where, as Butler's Lives of the Saints relates, "he worked as a weaver and in other manual occupations" (January volume, p. 49). Not without difficulty, due to poor health, he eventually made profession with the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1874. The parish priest who recommended Andre to the Congregation said of him, "I am sending you and saint", and how right he was! Appointed to serve at a College near Montreal, Andre "was to spend the next forty years performing the humblest tasks-janitor, barber, gardener, infirmarian-with the greatest charity and patience." Andre was particularly devoted to Saint Joseph and took him "as his model and spread devotion to him to those with whom he came into contact, acquiring a reputation as a healer, through St Joseph's intercession, in the process" (p. 49). Not done serving the Lord, Andre, at the age of 60, was moved to Montreal to help build the Oratory of the Holy Cross and "remained there [as porter] until he was over ninety years old, living to this venerable age despite bouts of ill-health from which he suffered throughout his life" (p. 50). Andre died January 6, 1937. It is said that a million people filed past his coffin. I believe it. 

At the canonization of Saint Andre Bessette, Pope Benedict XVI, praised Andre along with the other new saints. Andre, as porter, said Pope Benedict, "demonstrated boundless charity and strove to relieve the distress of those who came to confide in him. With very little education, he had nevertheless understood where the essential of his faith was situated. For him, believing meant submitting freely and through love to the divine will. Wholly inhabited by the mystery of Jesus, he lived the beatitude of pure of heart, that of personal rectitude ... For him, everything spoke of God and of God's presence."

One thing, among others, seems certain. Saint Andre Bessette, along with all the saints of the week, and we're not done yet, took Saint John's words to heart, namely, "Whoever loves God must also love his brother ... And the victory that conquers the world is our faith" (1 Jn 4:21; 5:4).  May we, then, as Pope Benedict XVI preached, in the footsteps of Saint Andre Bessette, "seek God with simplicity in order to discover him ever present in the heart of our life!"

SAINT ANDRE BESSETTE,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: I marvel at these red berries, and they are beauties. Photo taken yesterday afternoon.

© Gertrude Feick 2022