St. Andre of Montreal

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St. Andre of Montreal lived a life of service to the Lord by glorifying him in everything he did. When St. Andre visited his bishop to let him join the order of the Holy Cross, he begged him saying, “My only ambition is to serve God in the most obscure tasks.” This type of surrendering to God, desiring to glorify the Lord in any way he could, was the cornerstone of St. Andre’s life. So what does it mean to glorify the Lord? Well, St. Andre would say that it means to love as God loves us. It didn’t matter to him what God called him to do, he had already submitted to God’s will in that way. Instead he found importance in how he lived his calling. He realized that God is with us through all things. The place we are, the work we are doing, none of that has any bearing on whether God dwells in our life. And as long as He is at my side, we are called to do all things for His greater glory. A big part of doing living like this is being able to set aside our wills and accept that God as the ruler of our lives. Unless we have fully given ourselves to the belief that because of His love for us, God should be at the center of our lives, we will fall short in serving Him. I admire the fervor that St. Andre was able to maintain even though the majority of his life was spent opening doors. Since the pilgrimage, I have struggled to continue living a joy filled life. I have begun to try to live holiness from where I stand and stop trying to grind away at my will. Just like St. Andre, I am called to live with fervor for the Lord and share with my brothers and sisters the peace of Christ. I must never forget this calling, however, at the same time I must accept that I cannot do this by myself. All things in life are achieved by the grace of God, and the same goes for this. By myself, I am unable to be Christ’s light on earth. Instead, I need to come to Him as I am and ask Him for the graces to change so that I might be that light. And with new life in Christ, go out and serve Him evermore passionately.

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