6 January 2026 - homily for Tuesday after epiphany - St Andre Bissette - 1 John 4:7-10

Today, we continue to hear from the first letter of John. Love is a word commonly used in John’s Gospel and in the Letters of John as well.  The love that John is talking about in his writings is not a romantic love, but rather an agape love that cares about the well-being of the other person.  This type of love is all about giving of our very selves to the other person whom we love. In agape love, we are called to give of ourselves to our brothers and sisters in the same spirit in which God gave himself to us through his beloved son. If we forget this concept of self-giving in the way we live out our faith, perhaps we forget about the very essence of what our faith is all about. In his writings, Pope Francis asks us to love others beyond our differences, to reach out to others in a spirit of peace, solidarity, and brotherhood. May we push through some boundaries this year that are keeping us from living out agape love in our lives of faith.

As we continue to hear readings from the first letter of John, we celebrate a rather new saint who was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010: St Andrew Bissette. Bissette was a Holy Cross brother who was born in a small town outside of Montreal, Canada in 1845. One of 12 children who was orphaned at the age of 12, he did poorly in school and worked as a laborer as a boy. His devout faith and spirit of holiness as a boy inspired his pastor to recommend him for the congregation of the Holy Cross, where he worked a porter as a consecrated religious brother for many years at the College of Notre Dame in Quebec. Inspired by his countless acts of holiness and mercy, he attracted a large following, similar to the following that Padre Pio and John Vianney inspired. The faithful wrote Bissette many letters and visited him in huge crowds, wanting his blessing and wanting to be in his holy presence. A saint like Andre Bessette points to the way that small acts of holiness and kindness can bring the love of God to others.  Always in frail health, he ended up living until the age of 91, dying in 1937.  Let us unite our prayers with the prayers of St Andre Bessette today.