"Brother Andre"

For Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Lectionary Reading - Luke 9:28-36, (37-43) NRSV

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

The Cause for Brother Andre

The mystical has a way of confounding us. We’re never quite sure how to respond when it confronts us. Peter’s response in the scripture above makes obvious how inadequate or misguided we can be. He reflects the all too human tendency to enshrine the moment when God has some other end in mind. Not that I or anyone else can claim to know the mind of God, but it would seem from the lectionary reading that God decided to stop Peter, James, and John dead in their tracks in terms of any shrine or monument building. What it appears that God wanted instead might be captured in the following, “Listen to the one whom I have sent, he sojourns among you for the purpose of beginning a mission to all humankind -- a mission which will one day usher in my Kingdom, a Kingdom of Justice, a Kingdom of Peace. Therefore, no monuments or edifices -- people will institutionalize and idolize them. Go instead and heal the world the way my son does.”

For me this past week I had the opportunity to understand the above in a new way. It occurred while attending a day long retreat for the Theological Education and Dialogue Committee of the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon or “EMO” as it’s often called. During our lunch break, I had the opportunity to sit with the Chancellor for the Portland Oregon Catholic Archdiocese. Deeply devoted to her tradition, yet a bit of an iconoclast as well, I have found over the years that Mary Jo can be a contradiction in terms. On the one hand, she can wryly cut to shreds unenlightened obtuse outdated notions about something. But on the other hand, she can take a centuries old institution like Catholic sainthood (a form of enshrinement) and enliven it with fresh meaning for our times.

The latter is what I experienced from Mary Jo at our table during lunch. Joining us for the conversation were two other ministers, both of whom are bright articulate compassionate individuals. Following a bit of small talk at the table, Mary Jo began to share about the coming sainthood or canonization of Brother Andre. Mary Jo’s story about Brother Andre was fairly succinct, so to do right by him I want to share the following from the Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Montreal website:

Brother André was a lay brother of the Holy Cross order who was devoted to Saint Joseph (the Virgin Mary's husband). André especially related to the carpenter Joseph because of their shared experience as laborers and migrants.

Born Alfred Besette in 1845 and orphaned at 12, Brother André joined the Holy Cross Order at 25. Due to his poor health, he was assigned the humble duties of receptionist and doorkeeper at the College Notre-Dame in Montreal. However, another of his assigned tasks was visiting sick students and he soon gained a reputation as a miraculous healer through his prayers to St. Joseph.

Before long, a new venue for his fast-growing healing ministry became necessary. Brother André raised $200 from small donations and giving student haircuts at 5 cents each to build a small wooden chapel in 1904 near the site of the modern basilica. Grandly named Saint Joseph's Oratory, the chapel was just 15 feet by 18 feet.

Brother André's powers attracted pilgrims from great distances and he performed his healing work until his death in 1937. In 1916 alone, 435 cases of healing were reported. Interestingly, Brother André never witnessed a miracle himself. He counseled and prayed with the sick, but they were cured after he had gone. He later said this was his greatest cause of suffering.

André's popularity was so great that he soon attracted the attention of church authorities, and a special commission was set up to test the alleged cures and André's integrity in 1911. The commission recommended that pilgrimages continue, without commenting on the miracles.

André was beloved throughout his life and still remembered today for his life of simple faith, continuous prayer and unfailing kindness. When he died in 1937, a million people filed past his casket despite bitter winter cold.

André's dream of building a great shrine to Saint Joseph became a reality in 1955, when the present basilica was completed. Brother André is buried in the basilica and was beatified (declared "Blessed") by Pope John Paul II in 1982, a status one step below sainthood.

If you’d like to read further regarding Brother Andre and his coming sainthood, there’s an even more interesting piece that you can peruse at the Catholic News Service website for December 22, 2009.

After Mary Jo recounted some of the above information, she shared that there have been reports of hundreds of miraculous healings attributed to Brother Andre at Saint Joseph’s Oratory since his death in 1937. And as some of us are aware, only three miracles have to be determined by the Vatican as scientifically inexplicable in order to be eligible for sainthood. So it would seem that miracles during Andre’s life as well as miracles following his death have continued to be quite numerous.

Mary Jo then noted that with sainthood or canonization in her faith tradition, it’s almost always coincides with fame an individual had in mortal life. Brother Andre’s sainthood would be vastly different however, for as she put it he was simply a person who opened the door for people at the Oratory and greeted them as they entered and prayed with those who were ill or diseased. In essence, Brother Andre was being sainted simply for the person he was and not for grand or glorious deeds.

Silence followed for a few brief moments at our table. It seemed like a Peter, James, and John moment from the scripture. We didn’t seem to know what to say or do in response to what Mary Jo had shared. None of us proposed building shrines of course, but providing affirmation escaped us as well. I have wondered in the week since that conversation that if Jesus had been at the table might he have felt simiarly exasperated toward myself and the other two ministers as he did toward the crowd when he came down from the Mount of Transfiguration?  You know, something like the words in the above scripture which began with, "You faithless generation......”

Eventually words did come from the other ministers. They were fine and very respectful words which reflected the men’s impressive minds -- but the words seemed a bit of an intellectualized response. For me, I had no fine words to speak. For me, all I had was what I was feeling and what I was feeling welled up so greatly that all I could tell Mary Jo was how grateful I felt for her sharing and that I would be looking further into the story of Brother Andre’s life. Interestingly enough, the other two ministers then echoed my sentiment as well. With a loving and appreciative smile coming upon Mary Jo’s face, she then got up and excused herself from our table. For me, it suddenly felt as though the four of us had had a Peaceable Kingdom moment. Perhaps we even had a healing ecumenical moment, a moment wherein we experienced being “one” – maybe something like the moments of silence which followed for Jesus, James, Peter and John after God had spoken from within the cloud on the Mount of Transfiguration. Then again, maybe Brother Andre had just paid a visit.