Today January 6

Today is the feast of Blessed Andre Bessette (1845 - 1937). This kid met difficulty after difficulty in his long life. He was the 6th of 10 children and so weak and sick when he was born that many thought he wouldn't live. In our day he might have received no more than "comfort care" and been allowed to die but in those more faith-filled days the response was simply to baptize him immediately. Then his father, a humble French-Canadian carpenter, died when Alfred (his baptismal name) was only 9. Then his mother died 2 years later. No one wanted all the kids so they were parceled out to relatives. He was sent to live with his aunt and uncle. Lonely and illiterate, he clung to his Bible, loved to hear stories and tried to pray. Years later he said, "It is not necessary to have been well educated, to have spent many years in college, to love the good God." Trained by the Brothers of the Holy Cross, he learned to read and write, but needed to make a living. Then came the other difficulties: he was unsuccessful at a number of trades, including baking, shoemaking and blacksmithing. He even socratically admitted his ignorance (though he was indeed a wise man): "Personally I am nothing. God chose the most ignorant one. If there was anyone more ignorant than I am, the good God would have chosen him." Humble and shy though he was, he enjoyed a laugh with his few close friends. Though devoted to the Passion of Christ, he was no sorry saint. In fact, he said, "You mustn't be sad; it is good to laugh a little."

After he became a religious brother, he served as a porter, a messenger, and then the founder and instigator of the near-miraculous Oratory of St. Joseph on Mount Royale, the highest point in Montreal. He never forgot the little people, especially the sick who came to him. His prayers and visits to them were reputed to work miracles, though he always attributed them to st. Joseph, his favorite saint. he even distracted them with a novena, oil from lamps in front of St. Joseph's statue or a medal of the saint. But he never refused to pray for them and often advised, "The best way to be cured is to submit to His Will." And he prayed and spent time with sick and elderly of every race and creed. Fittingly for one known even now as the "little Brother," he said, "Our Lord is our big Brother, and we are the little brothers. Consequently, we should love one another as members of the same family."

When he died peacefully in his hospital bed in Montreal on this date 71 years ago, he was heard to say "The great Almighty is coming. . . " and when the brothers leaned close to his lips they heard him whisper, "Here is the grain." And when a grain of wheat falls and dies, it can yield twenty or sixty or a hundredfold. Blessed Andre, little Brother, we love you; pray for us.