But before learning the details of this drama, it is important to get to know these two people.

André was the second in a family of five children. The fidelity of his parents and the piety of his grandparents impregnated his childhood. "Thanks to them, I was close to the Church and never left it."

During his adolescence sports and nature were his all-consuming interests. "The body was very important to me. But it was in nature that I was at peace. It was clear to me that Someone was at the origin of that beauty—an Artist, a Creator. Sometimes this awareness moved me to tears."

St. Francis of Assisi also played an important role in his formation. "St. Francis represented an ideal which I thought I could follow by my own power. I was not conscious of my limitations."

The dream of his youth, nevertheless, was not that of becoming dependent on God. Rather he wanted to be independent. "I wanted to live in a log cabin in the country and do my own thing."

As for Elizabeth, she came from an Anglican family. When she was born, her mother was 42 and her father, 60. "I was an only child, the queen of the house, idolized by my parents."

Her father fought in World War I. As a result of the war, he lost both a leg and his faith. He rebelled against God.

"I was very close to my father. He was my idol." Her mother went to church from time to time, but this was not enough to inspire faith in her daughter.

Elizabeth had two dreams: to have a career and to find the man of her dreams. "I wanted to be loved rather than to love."

At university, she searched for God to some extent. Though she was Anglican, she checked out all the Christian groups, including the Catholic ones.

"I began to want to live a life of love, even at the cost of suffering," she said, "I wrote that in my journal, and I remember saying it to God. I didn’t realize, of course, the ramifications of this desire; however, it was beginning to grow within me like a seed.

"In order to pursue my search, after my studies, I decided to have an experience of life at l’Arche, the community of Jean Vanier. I stayed there for two years."

Before meeting Elizabeth, André had had some girlfriends, but it never worked out. "These disappointments gave me the grace to say to God, ‘I give you my life. Do with me what you will.’"

During a prayer meeting, someone said in prophecy that a young person in the room was called to the monastic life. "I had never felt called to that, but that night I said to the Lord, ‘If it’s me that you are calling, I am open to your will, but it is you who will have to accomplish this in my life as it is impossible for me.’"

Shortly after that, André started to spend time at l’Arche. "As soon as I saw Elizabeth, I had the sense that I had met the woman God had prepared for me from all eternity."

He understood then that by the words of the prophecy during the prayer meeting, the Lord had put him to the test like Abraham.

Before giving Abraham the fulfillment of his promise, he had asked that he renounce his son Isaac.

"I had the sense that God wanted me to give him everything if I was ready to follow him—even to the point of my becoming a monk. And like with Abraham, he gave me the fulfillment of his promise: Elizabeth.

"This feeling was so strong when we met," he said, "that I had no doubt. She was beautiful and she had faith! For me, it was all settled," he concluded with a big smile while Elizabeth burst out laughing.

Then André got involved in another new Christian movement: the Neo-Catechumenal Way. There he discovered community life within the Church.

"The celebrations and the sharings spoke to me. I was touched to see that we were all very different but identical in our weaknesses and desires. I was experiencing Church, and it truly nourished me."

At the time of joining this group, Elizabeth was more critical of it. "I went mostly because I was in love with André," she admitted laughing. "But gradually I, too, began to experience Truth there, especially at the time of André’s accident."

In this community, they received teachings about being open to life, teachings which had a profound impact on Elizabeth. "Because my dream was a career, for me, motherhood meant washing diapers, scrubbing pots and pans, and being stuck in the house. I saw it as a horrible life. It was definitely not a part of my dreams."

But at the birth of their first child, Elizabeth tasted the joys of motherhood. "It was the first important manifestation of God in my life. This joy certainly could not have come from me! It was something completely unknown and new but very, very beautiful."

After their marriage, the couple bought a piece of land and built a log cabin on it, exactly as André had dreamed. "We organized our lives so that we could be almost completely independent: no electricity, a big garden, some farm animals, bees, and orchard, etc. We lived with little," Elizabeth remembered.

Although their plans were progressing well, the depths of the mercy of God seemed to escape them. "I told myself that God loves everyone, including me," said André. "But in truth, what I really thought was that God loved me because I was a nice guy!

"I didn’t know that my sins could make others suffer. As long as one is independent and self-satisfied, he doesn’t care about others. ‘Let them live their lives and let us live ours.’ That’s how I saw it."

Despite the almost idyllic life that he had built for himself, André was not totally happy. "There were days, from time to time, when it was as if I were paralyzed inside. On those days, I didn’t speak, and I stayed in bed. I didn’t know what was happening to me. It was as if I was in a state of temporary depression."

This interior paralysis manifested itself even when he took part in celebrations. "I was incapable of celebrating. I would smile, but in my heart, I wanted to leave. I experienced this handicap especially at l’Arche.

"There the physically and mentally handicapped people were not at all affected by the fear of ridicule. But I, on the other hand, was afraid of what others thought of me. I thought I was loved for what I did and not for who I was.

"It was my pride that blocked me. I was paralyzed inside in the same way that I am now incapable of moving certain parts of my body. Physical paralysis was a natural next step."

Six years after they were married, tragedy struck. One afternoon at the end of the summer, on August 19, 1989, the family was swimming in a river.

"The children were small," said André. "Jeremie was not even five; Gabriel was three; Kateri, a year and a half; and Anne was on the way. Elizabeth was five months pregnant.

"It was probably the last time that summer that we would be able to go swimming. Everyone had gotten out of the water except Elizabeth, and I decided to go back in one more time before leaving. I had dived in that spot hundreds of times.

"I came running, and I dove in close to Elizabeth intending to tease her by splashing her as I entered the water. It all happened very quickly. I suddenly realized that I was a little too close to her, and she being pregnant, I tried to avoid her. That’s what brought me to the bottom. In hitting my head, I fractured my fifth cervical vertebrae and sectioned the spinal cord."

As a result, André was permanently paralyzed from the neck down.

to be continued

Part 2 will tell about the wonderful work of God in André and Elizabeth, a journey which could only have occurred through the accident.

Translated and reprinted with permission from the October 7, 2007 issue of Le Nic, a magazine from Rawdon, Quebec.