First things first:
Happy 17th Birthday to my beloved son Andre!
Happy 17th Birthday to my beloved son Andre!
There are two very special people in my life named Andre'. One is my son Andre, who turned 17 years old today! It is so hard to believe that he is now seventeen!!
My firstborn son arrived two weeks after his due date, in 1994. Since then he has been kissed at least a million times. I call him "Angel Face." When I get to heaven, one of the first things I will thank God for is the wonderful life we have shared. I will never forget the day that he and I thanked God together because he was able to grow up with a full time mother. We never took the importance of that for granted.
Together we sang many songs, played many games, learned a lot, hugged a lot, laughed A LOT, participated in many, many Masses, shared many adventures, created many things, learned about the lives of many saints, and visited some really beautiful places. We met many people, made many friends, and hopefully served many people.
Andre is a fine young man, never any trouble, always helpful, thoughtful, and insightful. One of my favorite things about Andre is that he is not worldly. He sees things with an eternal perspective, and deeply cares about people. He shows self restraint not typically seen or encouraged in our world today. Truly, we have had a very wonderful, because it is God-centered, life.
My other Andre' is a lot like my son. He was other-worldly, too, and allowed God to love much through him. As a result, countless lives were touched, and
continue to be touched to this day, including mine and now yours. He is my newest friend in heaven, and for some reason not completely known to me yet, he reached out in friendship before I knew him.What saints have interceded for you and have become your friends?
Known during his life first as Alfred Bessette and then as Brother Andre' Bessette, and as of last year as St. Andre' of Montreal, he is a very delightful friend and a very powerful intercessor in heaven. Although not everyone who came to see Brother Andre' during his lifetime was granted the miracle of a physical healing, everyone who was open to it received spiritual healing, for no one who asks for it is denied greater faith. So consider asking St. Andre' to intercede on your behalf for greater faith, and let God accomplish wonderful things through you!
I had been given a little blue biography of Brother Andre' several years ago. It moved around the house, unread, usually from book pile to book pile. Every time I saw it, I knew that then Brother Andre' was encouraging me to read it. I would say to myself, Someday I will. Recently, I spotted that very book on the floor as I entered my bedroom and wondered how it got there. You must really want me to read this book about you, St. Andre'! You want to be my friend. Right then and there, I resolved to read that little blue book, and so I did. It was wonderful!
Shortly after that, my sister showed me two bottles of oil that our aunt had sent her. I had read about that oil in the little blue book about Brother Andre'! It had been burned in front of the statue of St. Joseph at the great Shrine Brother Andre' had built in St. Joseph's honor in Montreal. When sick people went to see Brother Andre', he would rub the oil on them, or rub them with a medal of St. Joseph, and many people received physical healing from God. Brother Andre' always gave God the credit for these miracles, through the intercession of St. Joseph.
My sister asked me if I wanted one of the bottles of oil. I accepted with delight, and am sure that St. Andre' was reaching out to us from heaven. Every morning and every night, I make the Sign of the Cross with Holy Water and then with the oil.
To learn more about St. Andre' Bessette, visit:
http://godisatworkinyou.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-friend-in-heaven_15.html
Giving thanks for my son before Mass this morning.
http://godisatworkinyou.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-friend-in-heaven_15.html
Giving thanks for my son before Mass this morning. How blessed I am to have not one but two wonderful Andre's in my life, and I have asked St. Andre to look after my beloved son, another St. Andre' in-the-making.
God is at work in my Andre's, and in you!