Blessed Brother Andre‏

Dearest Ones,

God uses the most unlikely persons to do His work. Brother Andre is well known in Canada and throughout the world, not only for building the largest church in Canada, but for thousands of miracle healings. He is called an unlikely saint because he was uneducated, sickly and could neither read nor write until later in his life. But he was very religious and had great devotion to St. Joseph. He was determined to serve God in the Congregation of Holy Cross, which he entered in 1870. Brother Andre was born in 1845 in Montreal, Canada. As a boy, he worked on the family farm. However, at the age of 12, he became an orphan. He suffered from stomach problems all of his life and this made it difficult for him to hold jobs for very long. In the eyes of the world he was a total failure. Although the Holy Cross brothers were teachers, poor Andre didn't even know how to read or write. Because of this, he was asked to leave the Holy Cross Order, but he was very prayerful, and believed God had called him to this Order, so he appealed to the Bishop, who recognized his true faith and allowed him to stay. Andre was sent to a school for boys, where he did such menial jobs as answer the door, wake up the boys and deliver mail. He did this for forty years. His reputation for listening and praying for the sick became widespread and people began coming from all over for healing. Because his love for St. Joseph was so great, he felt inspired to build a huge churchin his honor on a mountain near the school. When he asked permission from the Bishop to do this, he was told he had to raise all the money himself. But Andre had no money to speak of, only pennies, nickels and dimes, which were donations. However, he didn't let that stop him, and in time he raised enough to build a small shed, where people could come and pray. After it was built, Andre continued to collect donations and improve the building little by little. He eventually added heating, a paved road leading to the building, a shelter for pilgrims and another shelter for the caretaker of the shrine. He became the caretaker and often, he gave up his bed to the sick or crippled, while he slept on the floor. Pilgrims came by the thousands to this small and simple shrine because of the miracles that occurred there. Brother Andre consoled many individuals. He always gave any credit for healings to St. Joseph. He knew God worked through St. Joseph. Toward the end of his life, he had many nights of darkness, spiritual darkness, in which he was tempted against his faith, but he compared this to the dark nights Jesus had, as he lived in this world which rejected Him. He offered his suffering so that the great church, his dream for St. Joseph, would be built. He did not live to see it finished, but he never lost faith. After he started to build the huge church on the mountain, the Depression had interfered and money was scarce. It must have been so hard because his own Brothers of Holy Cross did not believe in his dream and that was a great suffering, but he never let it stop him. He still kept his happy spirit, trusting in God and St. Joseph. Hee was not worried about where he was going or what he was going to do. He knew in his heart he must keep on to build in honor of St. Joseph because he wanted people to know the power of this great saint. His greatest accomplishment was the devotion to St. Joseph which he inspired. He died in 1937 at the age of ninety without seeing the completion of the church. He was beatified by Pope John Paul 11 in 1982 and will soon will soon be declared a saint, we hope. What do we learn from this poor uneducated saint? I can learn a lot. Brother Andre didn't mind starting small. You and I probably won't be asked by God to build a cathedral on a mountain, but we each have our own individual mountain to conquer. It is amazing how small steps can lead you up the mountain as they did for Brother Andre. Is there some service you have longed to perform for God and His people, but that you thought was too overwhelming for you? What small bit can you do in this service? Maybe it is your time that's needed. You may be called to climb the mountain of forgiveness, of letting go of the past. It may be something that happened to you in the past that is your mountain to conquer. With Andre we learn to look ahead - not back. Nothing can be changed in the past, but the way you view it can be changed. Most of living consists of leaving the past behind us, of putting it away from us so that it loses its power to dominate the present. Prayer: Blessed Andre, your devotion to St. Joseph is an inspiration. You gave your life so unselfishly to bring the message of his life to others. Pray that we may learn from St. Joseph what it is like to care for Jesus and do his work in the world. Amen.

All my love in Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Sister Francelle