A CHILD'S CONSECRATION TO ST JOSEPH BEGINS WITH IMITATION OF ANDRE BESSETTE

 

In that most tumultuous year of 1929, there was a man called Desjardins from Ontario, Canada, who was involved in a serious accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He was told he would live the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Then he had the inspiration to visit Brother Andre in Montreal. Monsieur Desjardins had so little money, however, that he had to ask his friends for hand-outs. But when he arrived at the door of the Holy Cross Congregation, the brothers in their black soutanes told him that Brother Andre was too sick to see visitors. Andre was after all in his 80s. 

Monsieur Desjardins waited a whole month to see Brother Andre. When the two men met, Brother Andre performed a test of the wheelchair-bound man's faith. 

"You come to me so that I can heal you," said Brother Andre sternly, "But I am not a doctor."

Desjardins was perplexed and exclaimed, "But the doctors can no longer do anything for me."

"Yes, but you no longer have legs. They are entirely dried-up. One cannot make what is dead walk," reasoned Brother Andre coldly. 

"I'll not leave here without being cured!" cried Monsieur Desjardins from his wheelchair. 

This spark of faith softened Brother Andre who responded, "Well, if you have faith, in the name of St Joseph get up and walk."

Monsieur Desjardins stood and found his legs held him up. He could walk. Brother Andre gave him the solemn instruction to pray to St Jospeh. The other sick people who were amassed in huge crowds outside saw that a man who had been wheeled in, was now walking out. 

The case of Desjardins, the man who came a paraplegic and left perfectly well able to walk instructs us that Brother Andre asked for miraculous cures in the name of St Joseph. I submit that this may be a practice that everyone adopt and use when they are praying for an intention. But as this post concerns how to prepare a child for consecration to St Joseph, I ask that if you are a parent you might consider praying in the name of St Joseph in front of your child. If you wish your child to imitate Andre Bessette, you may imitate the little brother first. You'll know well enough not to model the grim attitude Andre took with Desjardins, but you may wish to tell your little ones that you take your lead from Brother Andre.  And to make prayer in the name of St Joseph a normal practice is the foundation of preparing your child to be consecrated to St Joseph. 

Brother Andre was little, like a little child, and you and I may teach children how he paid homage to St Joseph.  This may be an especially good idea for you if you have a son or sons - perhaps you may like to lead your boy or your boys in imitating the devotion that St Andre Bessette had to St Joseph and in turn your boys may model their masculinity directly on St Joseph, that they make heroic sacrifices for their families as St Joseph did for Holy Mary and Jesus. But it is just as important for girls, too. 

Consecration to St Joseph is not solely for adults. If you are a father or mother, you may wish to guide your child through the consecration to St Joseph by using Fr Donald Calloway's book, and by first reading a lot of it but not all of it with your son or daughter for bedtime reading, and secondly discerning with them if they feel called to consecrate themselves to St Joseph. The Holy Spirit may move your child to say yes at the best time. Father Calloway's book is not written for children, and it is meaty theological fare that is meant for adults who are fully catechized Catholics. When I wrote that you may read selected passages of the book to your child, but not all of it, I was thinking that you may omit parts such as that which defends St Joseph's perpetual virginity which may be too much for young ears, and there are many parts that would be too complex for a child's mind and make a child feel overwhelmed. But picking out paragraphs that are perfectly applicable for a child is a decent, meritorious practice. 

 I foresee a time when Father Calloway may come out with a simpler text called Consecration to St Joseph for Children.  But 'til then you may wish to do your own consecration to St Joseph and then curate the parts of the text that you read to your child. 

In addition to this, why not prepare for your child's consecration to St Joseph by following the exact ways Brother Andre had for showing love and confidence in Joseph? I got this idea because I am leaning on St Andre to teach me the simple, tender and lovely ways to love St Joseph. In a sense, I am becoming like a child again.  I think Andre Bessette was sent to me because in the past I struggled with devotion to St Joseph. 

A medal of St Joseph was always in Brother Andre's pockets. Once when Andre's superior, Father Cousineau was going to ask the Archbishop's permission for construction on the fledgling building, Cousineau asked Andre to pray hard that they be given the go-ahead for the further construction that would one day become St Joseph's Basilica, Andre gave him a medal of St Joseph and said, "While you are talking to the archbishop, Father, be sure to hold this firmly in your hand and don't worry. To hold a medal in one's hand makes one think more of St Joseph, than just wearing one. It is a sign of greater confidence."

Perhaps you and I may adopt this practice, of having a medal of St Joseph in one hand when we have a very important prayer intention. And making sure a child has a medal of St Joseph in their pockets and by teaching them to hold the same medal in their hands, because as Andre knew, to pinch such a medal causes us to have St Joseph in our thoughts.

A child may take the name Joseph or Josephine for their confirmation name. 

There is also the matter of having holy pictures of St Joseph on display in a child's bedroom. Brother Andre was the ultimate St Joseph fan-boy. Once when the magazine of his religious order, the Annals were about to publish a photo of Brother Andre, he implored his superior Father Deguire, not to include it. But Father Deguire dismissed Andre's wish, saying it was only a group photo.  Andre did not protest the photo any more, but he longed for the magazine to be a series of pictures of St Joseph and felt that a photo of him was occupying a space that belonged to Joseph. Yes, Brother Andre's ego was as small as his stature.

Perhaps most importantly, we may cultivate that faith in St Joseph that Andre had which led him to proclaim, "Go to St Joseph. Beg him to ask God for the graces and favors you need. He won't disappoint you." This faith may be heard by children, but is also the gift they need most. 

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Books that informed this post were Katherine Burton's Brother Andre of Mount Royal, C. Bernard Ruffin's The Life of Brother Andre and the book that is very much the Catholic book of the year, Father Calloway's Consecration to St Joseph.