WHEN A MIRACLE IS REFUSED, THE SAME MIRACLE MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE LATER

In the year of 1912, a man by the name of Azarias Claude went along to Holy Cross monastery with his wife to meet Brother Andre Bessette.  Azarias's only intention was to accompany his wife. But Brother Andre took an especially big interest in Azarias and in time they became firm friends.

Azarias was like a character out of a gothic novel - he had a large bald head, a big mustache, always dressed in black, and was an imposing 6'6' tall with a somber, deadly serious bearing. And one of his arms was nastily disfigured. He had pulverized the arm in an elevator door, and the bone had been so badly crushed that the arm was shorter than the other. 

Azarias quickly came to know Brother Andre's powerful intercession. He had been a lapsed Catholic but under Andre's influence, he suddenly developed a strong devotion to St Joseph and he assisted at Mass everyday. Just before meeting Andre, he had been very addicted to drink, but within a short time of knowing Andre, he received a grace to abstain completely from alcohol. Azarias had known a lot of tragedy; his wife had been pregnant 15 times, but all the children had either been miscarried or they had been stillbirths. When she became pregnant with her 16th child, Andre assured her that the baby would live. Their daughter, Marguerite, was born healthy and lived to be a ripe old age. 

One day came when Brother Andre asked Azarias if he would like to have his deformed arm miraculously healed.  Azarias didn't exactly say no, but he refused by saying that God had probably more important favors to grant him. But Brother Andre pressed him, "Do you know what you are saying?" Azarias gave a very certain no to the miracle in favor of other graces that he discerned he needed more. One more time, Brother Andre asked him if he knew he was passing up a miracle, and again Azarias soberly assured him he knew what he was doing. Then Brother Andre said something telling, "Return home with your crippled arm, but if later you want your arm healed, don't ask me to heal you. You accept the will of God and I won't be able to do anything for you."

The grace for a miraculous healing of Azarias's crushed arm was available that exact day when Brother Andre offered it. But when Azarias declined it, he was actively refusing the grace and accepting the will of God. A grace that is refused is not always offered again. There was something of a warning in Brother Andre saying that the same grace would not be available "later" and that at a future time he would be able to do nothing. This may seem that there was a "sell-by-date" on the grace because the same grace would become impossible to receive at a later time. But it is not so much tied to our earthly calendars, rather it may be God's will that if He offers a grace and it is turned down, He will not offer it again.

Azarias met all the usual conditions laid out by Brother Andre for being awarded a miracle. Most especially he had hope and trust in the Lord. He'd experience the miracle of being cured of alcoholism and he and his wife had been blessed with a baby girl when he was 48. Never for a moment did he doubt that the Lord could restore his arm. But he discerned that it was best to turn down the miracle, in the hope of being granted more important graces. It was God's will that the miracle be offered that day, but not in the future. Tellingly, Azarias was at peace with his decision. That peace which is the sign of accepting God's will.

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This post was informed by C. Bernard Ruffin's The Life of Brother Andre.