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February 17, 2024Last year a group of my priest friends and I went to Quebec. We intended to visit one or two churches, while spending most of the week relaxing and enjoying the Quebec Winterfest. This plan did not go quite as we planned, as each priest had a specific site they wanted to visit. In total we visited Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Notre-Dame de Québec and St Joseph Oratory. Though the inten-tion of the trip was not to visit all of these sites, I think that they all, in their own way, spoke to the diversity and beauty of the Church.
The site that was on my “we must go there” list was St. Joseph Oratory. I’ve wanted to visit that site for years, ever since I watched the documentary God’s Doorkeeper which is on the life of St. André Bessette. St. André is one of my favorite saints for a number of reasons, but mostly I love his humility and his devotion to St Joseph. You can imagine how excited I was when we pulled into the parking lot and entered the massive complex. My excitement quickly turn-ed into confusion when the architecture was not what I was expecting (to put it lightly). I was expecting a worship space similar to Our Lady of Victory in our diocese. Instead, the oratory was simpler (well, as simple as one can get considering everything was marble and massive). As I was walking through the space (which did include a breath-takingly beautiful vigil chapel in the crypt), I started to smile. The Oratory was not what I expected, but it was still beautiful. God was still present in the tabernacle and numerous healings still occurred on the site. I started to smile because I felt in my heart that St. André was helping me to grow in the virtue of humility as I moved deeper and deeper into the oratory. Rather than complain about my expectations not being met, there is something truly funny about a relatively new priest thinking to him-self “ I thought it would be prettier,” while standing in one of the holiest sites in Canada.
The season of Lent is a season of penance, preparation and humility. Every Lent, we are reminded that we are not quite as strong as we think we are when we give up things for Lent and discover how strongly we are attached to them. Every Lent we are brought to the reality that God exceeds our expectations when we encounter just how much God loves us as he journeys through the desert with us. There is a lot to unpack about the coming season of Lent, but I want to leave you with my favorite quote from St. André, “It is with the smallest brushes that the Artist paints the best paintings.”
Fr. Chris
Pastor
