Today February 9

Today is the feast of Brother Miguel, FSC (1954 - 1910). He was a bright if frail boy. He couldn't walk due to a deformity of both feet. But at age 5 he had a vision of a lovely lady dressed in white and wearing a white veil, standing in his backyard among the rosebushes. She was beckoning to him, so to Miguel's aunt's shock, he stood up and walked outside for the first time in his life. He was healed. Who was the woman? No one else saw her. Did she really exist? Who knows? But the cure was sudden and permanent -- what we would call miraculous.

His guardian angel sure worked hard. A wild bull got loose and gored him when he was 8 years old -- but he emerged unhurt.

He loved school; he felt at home there; he often stayed after school to help the Christian Brothers. He came to realize he wanted to be a religious brother; his family was appalled. They had much "higher" aspirations for their son, much more worldly ones. But his persistence (even after he obediently went away to a boys' school in another town in his native Ecuador) and his many prayers -- as well as concern for his health -- finally swayed his parents and they allowed him to return to the Christian Brothers. He took the habit at age 14.

He was quite the writer -- he wrote his first book at age 17. It was published and several of his works (in the fields of grammar and philology) are still in print and used as textbooks. He was a brilliant scholar, but always searched for new and better ways to express himself so that he might be better understood. He was a great and beloved teacher as well. But the source of his sanctity was not these natural gifts but his total dedication to God. All for God, he said, "Nothing can bring greater happiness than doing God's will for the love of God." He was always available for whoever needed to talk; you could say he had the gift of availability. He was a great and constant friend -- and the Brothers were lucky to have him! He made it a habit to offer up his intentions as soon as they were suggested to him and not necessarily listing each and every one by name. He offered them up, knowing God knew his every petition.

He was destined to travel to Europe -- once to Rome for the beatification of the founder, John Baptist de la Salle -- and once to France, Belgium, and Spain to do translation work. He died quietly and peacefully in Spain, and even though his work was not yet completed, he was serene. "If the work I am doing is useful for God, He will send someone else to finish it." Asked if he was unhappy to die so far from his beloved Ecuador, he said, "No, I am happy to die in Spain if it is God's wish." Those were his last words.

His body was found incorrupt in 1936 (during the Spanish Civil War). It was returned to his native land (mostly to protect it from anti-clerical raiders). He was beatified in 1977. Blessed Brother Miguel, pray for us.