Today, feast of St. Brother Andre Bessette, we do well to consider the vocation of the brother.
In its simplicity, there is a profound, four-fold poverty about this vocation and charism. Within such poverty, there hides an extravagance of grace and generosity.
First, most obvious, there is the surrender of wife, children, family and biological legacy.
Secondly, there is no holy orders, priestly endowment or clerical status. So neither of the vocational sacraments are enjoyed. The priest/bishop configures his masculinity to represent Christ, bridegroom of the Church. We call him "father" as we recognize in him a spiritual paternity. And so, the priest fully realizes his masculine purpose at a higher-than-natural plane. The brother is deprived of this privilege and power.
Thirdly, unlike the woman religious, the brother does not enjoy a virginal, bridal surrender to Christ, the bridegroom of the soul. Ontologically and spiritually, every human soul is feminine, receptive and surrendered to Christ. The consecrated woman fluidly sublimates her psyche and feminine energies into a "bridal" spiritual communion with Christ. The male does not enjoy this distinctive relationship of spiritual intimacy. While spiritually the brother, like every man, is "feminine," psychologically, socially, and culturally the brother relates to Christ as brother, not bride. This is more distant, less intimate, less fulfilling.
Lastly, the brother ordinarily finds a path of humble, hidden service, bereft of worldly status, power and privilege. Few brothers obtain academic doctorates or advanced degrees. Few attain positions of power and influence. Frequently, they teach the young, serve the poor, perform manual labor in low-status service. A radical, Christ-like poverty!
I have enjoyed friendship with brothers throughout my life. In 5th-8th grade I was taught by the Christian brothers. In Maryknoll College seminary I came to know some brothers who served as handymen, infirmarian and such. For about 30 years Christian Brother Ray Murphy has been a dear friend and mentor. Through my nephew I befriended brothesr in the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. And through my daughter, a Memores Domini within the Communion and Liberation movement, I am friends with men members. These are "lay" in the manner of secular institutes, living professionally in the world, but are vowed to poverty, chastity and obedience within communities of prayer and so are in form essentially vowed brothers.
Perhaps because they are unburdened by status, power and privilege, there is a refreshing lightness about these men. They do not take themselves seriously. No self-importance or pretentiousness. Loose, free, genuine, spontaneous. Delightful!
Many are quite talented and intelligent, but in a modest, anonymous fashion. For example, teaching brothers may have a number of masters' degrees which serve well in instructing young men. My friend Brother Ray was encouraged by his mentor, the great historian John Lukacs, to pursue doctoral studies. He declined to keep his focus on education of adolescents.
Their foundational, defining call and charism is to be: a brother. Consider the foundational familial identities/relationships: filial, fraternal/sororal, spousal, paternal/maternal. The fraternal or brotherly is the lightest, the least intense/dramatic/intimate, the most sober and detached. The filial, spousal and paternal/maternal are saturated with emotion, passion, need, intensity, drama. Even sororal, or sisterly, relationship is far more intimate, intense, emotional. The psychic boundaries of the female psyche are open, fluid, generous, compassionate, and pervious. Naturally, they engage with others (sisters, brothers, friends) with intensity, passion, urgency. By contrast, the fraternal is a detached, sober, more superficial relationship: often focused on shared interests like sports, business, or projects and missions. And so, for example, a single woman who is an aunt will effortlessly become a second mother to nephews and nieces. This does not flow so instinctively for the uncle.
And so, there is relatively a certain solitariness about the life of the vowed brother. He enjoys neither the bridal surrender to Christ nor the spontaneous intimacy which women naturally share. He is not self-consciously father in the biological or sacramental realms.
And yet, what I sense from brothers is not isolation, despair, loneliness; rather, a distinctive lightness, joy, freedom and authenticity. He embodies in stark form the solitary nature of all masculinity: that of John the Baptist and all the hermits. Intrinsic to masculinity...even that of the husband, father, priest... is a "standing alone" with God in the desert. Spiritually and psychologically the man stands alone...drawing support, comfort, sobriety and prudence from God the Father, with Jesus The Son, in the Holy Spirit. From this solitude the male is endowed with the steadiness, strength, sobriety and magnanimity which flow out to comfort and fortify others.
The vowed brother is the icon of just this solitude. From it flows the light, chaste, sober, free, clear, virile love of brotherhood.
Thank God for our religious brothers!
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