Redeemed by Beauty: The Life of Brother Andrew

by Carmel Duca

Redeemed by Beauty is, in Brother Andrew’s own words, the story of “an unfaithful man used by God.” It is the biography of Ian Travers-Ball who felt called to share his life with the poor. After joining the Jesuit order, as an ordained priest in India, he moved on to co-found – together with Mother Teresa of Calcutta – the Missionaries of Charity Brothers.

This book follows Andrew on this path from gambler to troubadour to sannyasi. It is the human struggle for wholeness and holiness through helplessness, powerlessness, fragility and woundedness. Andrew’s hallmark and uniqueness would be his closeness to and identification with the hidden and suffering people. It is the inner journey of a soul in need of redemption. Together with God, Our Lady and the Church, the poor were the main agents of grace in Brother Andrew’s life. Andrew – always the mystic – could experience beauty amidst the suffering and the misery of the poor, and in the ordinariness of his own life.

Paperback: $24.95 | Kindle: $9.99

REVIEWS

Redeemed by Beauty follows the unusual journey of Brother Andrew, a journey full of unexpected choices as he tries to be faithful to God’s call. Coming from a comfortable Australian family, the first surprise is his teenage addition to gambling. A series of events wakes him up to the reality that gambling cannot be a career and God is calling him to religious life, to serve the poor. After joining the Jesuits, he volunteers to go to India, where he tenaciously struggles to be faithful despite the difficulties. India is where he discovers the beauty and the joy of people even in the midst of their suffering; and, contemplating this, he develops a gift for writing. The author, Br Carmel draws on Br Andrew’s writings to follow his journey, as he comes to see the work of Mother Teresa in Calcutta and realises he has found what he has been looking for all along. Invited by Mother Teresa to lead the young Missionaries of Charity Brothers, he takes the name Brother Andrew and oversees a remarkable expansion to many poor parts of the world. Undaunted by the limitations and weaknesses of the Brothers, many themselves poor and little educated, he realises that they are exactly the ones God wants to touch the hearts of the poorest. This realisation becomes his message to all who struggle; God is waiting to work through our woundedness and weakness. Attentive to the whispers of the Holy Spirit, he goes to live with the poor in Vietnam, ends up living through the fall of Saigon and then being expelled. It is possibly the pain of this and the burden of leadership, which causes some years of struggle, hidden drinking and angry outbursts. Just as he thinks he has recovered, the new leadership challenges him with the belief that he needs help; and he decides to leave. The mystery around this has led Br Carmel to seek out the many friends, family and colleagues of Br Andrew. Drawing on interviews and the many letters they preserved, the book is able to look into the inner journey he made towards peace. Trusting in God, he set out with no home, no money, moving from retreat to retreat, wherever he was invited. Continuing in the charism he shared with Mother Teresa, he was able to see and welcome the poverty of ordinary people and show them that God welcomes them as they are. His message is that our brokenness and weakness are precisely the places through which God loves us – just as we are.” – Br Marc Daniel Delapeyre, MC

 

TESTIMONIALS

“A compelling testimony about a new religious brotherhood, the Missionaries of Charity Brothers, and its Jesuit co-founder, Fr. Ian Travers-Ball, who took the name Brother Andrew.” – Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, co-author with Bishop Richard Henning of Missionary Priests in the Homeland: Our Call to Receive

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After graduating from the University of Malta, Carmel Duca joined the Missionaries of Charity Brothers in 1990. He has served in missions in the Americas and India.

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