Charles de Foucauld
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Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858–1916)
"The intuitions and spirituality of Charles de Foucauld are at the origins of our way of life. Born into a wealthy French family Charles lost his faith and his bearings after being orphaned at an early age. He barely made it through military school, was often disciplined for his behavior and for openly parading his mistress about town. He was lost. He managed to pull himself together when needed as part of military operations in Algeria and it was through seeing the faith of the Muslim people there that his own journey towards faith began. He left the military and undertook a very risky exploration of Morocco, which was closed to Europeans at the time, disguising himself as a poor rabbi and traveling with various caravans. This event aroused all the questions and yearnings of his heart as he faced his own vulnerability and witnessed up close the lived faith of Islam. It took him many years and wanderings before he met the one whom he called his beloved brother and Lord, Jesus. But when he finally encountered him, Charles was overwhelmed by the love of God he found in Jesus. His inner quest took him to the Holy Land and later to the Trappists where he spent several years. The more his prayer became a mystical meeting with Jesus, the more he was drawn to seek Jesus in others. He came to understand his vocation as imitation of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. By this he meant a truly contemplative life rooted in the ordinary life of poor people. It was not a straight path or even very clear for himself. But he followed the thing inside of himself which kept pushing him further and deeper. This intuition led him to leave the Trappists and to eventually return to Algeria, to share with those from whom he had received so much, the love of God that he had discovered." |
Quotes
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"God wants that, in all things, we respect one another, love one another, treat one another as the most tender of brothers."
-Charles de Foucauld (1858–1916) "My Lord and and my God, help me to find all of my joy in endlessly repeating your praise: “You are entirely perfect, and you I love without limit.” -Charles de Foucauld "Love means to obey you, [O God]… with swiftness, with faith, in those times when the heart and spirit are shaken, when one’s entire way of thinking has been turned upside down… Love means being ready to give all that one has in exchange for every suffering out of love for the Lord." -Charles de Foucauld "Bring them the Gospel not by your words but by your example, not by proclaiming it but by living it. Make the salvation of all people the one, single work of your life, until Jesus the Savior, which is a name expressing perfectly [who Jesus is], likewise expresses perfectly what you are. But how can this be done? Be all things to all people with a single, clear desire in your heart: to give them Jesus." -Charles de Foucauld "We must never act without praying – never. We also must not pray without acting, when we have the means to act." -Charles de Foucauld "It is not necessary [for you] to teach others, to cure them, or to improve them. No, it is only necessary to live among them, sharing the human condition and being present to them in love." -Charles de Foucauld "The soul will bring forth fruit in exactly the measure in which the inner life is developed in it. If there is no inner life, however great may be the zeal, the lofty intention, the hard work, no fruit will come forth; it is like a spring that would give out sanctity to others but cannot, having none to give; one can only give that which one has." -Charles de Foucauld "We must stand up for the rights of our neighbor who is suffering from injustice. We must defend them all the more vigorously because we see Jesus present in them. This undoubtedly is our duty because of our love for others for Christ’s sake. We have no right to be ‘sleeping watchmen’ or dumb watchdogs [cf. Is 56:10]. Whenever we see evil we must sound the alarm." -Charles de Foucauld "This is what I came to do: work at the establishment of fraternity on earth, work to make this love reign, this fraternity that the Heart of Jesus has brought from heaven." -Charles de Foucauld "We must pass by the desert and travel through it to receive the grace of God; it’s there that we empty ourselves, that we chase from ourselves all that is not God." -Charles de Foucauld "In order to save us, God came to us and lived among us, from the Annunciation to the Ascension, in a close and familiar way. God continues to come to us and to live with us in a close and familiar way, each day and at every hour, in the holy Eucharist. So we too must go and live among our brothers and sisters in a close and familiar way." -Charles de Foucauld "We should be a living Gospel. The people who live distant from Christ, especially unbelievers, should know the Gospel not through books or words, but in view of our lives." -Charles de Foucauld "Hope is a duty. Charity hopes for all. Hope is but faith in the goodness of God." -Charles de Foucauld "The best prayer is the one in which there is the most love." -Charles de Foucauld "Have a love that goes with special preference towards the humble and the poor, remembering that it is directly to Jesus that the smallest act of kindness and love is addressed when it is done to the least among his brothers and sisters. Welcome them with respect and love, be all the more considerate towards them, for they are the suffering members of Jesus’ body." -Charles de Foucauld "Read and re-read ceaselessly the Holy Gospel… so as to always have before one’s mind the actions, words and thoughts of Jesus, in order to think, speak and act like Jesus, to follow the examples and teachings of Jesus, not the examples and ways of behaving of the world. So easily do we fall into this latter, as soon as we take our eyes off the Divine Model." -Charles de Foucauld "When we can suffer and love, we can do much, it’s the most that we can do in this world: We feel our suffering, but we don’t always feel that we love and that’s an additional suffering! But we know that we want to love and to want to love is to love." -Chalres de Foucauld "The weakness of human means is a source of strength. Jesus is the Master of the Impossible." -Chalres de Foucauld "We must love people as Jesus loved them and since that is what his name ‘Jesus Savior’ means, we like him, must make the salvation of all people the work of our life. It is by loving people that we learn to love God.” -Chalres de Foucauld Writing by Pope Francis |
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Charles de Foucauld, perhaps like few others, grasped the import of the spirituality which radiates from Nazareth. This great explorer hastily abandoned his military career, attracted by the mystery of the Holy Family, the mystery of Jesus’ daily relationship with his parents and neighbours, his quiet labour, his humble prayer. Contemplating the Family of Nazareth, Brother Charles realized how empty the desire for wealth and power really is. Through his apostolate of charity, he became everything to everyone. Attracted by the life of a hermit, he came to understand that we do not grow in the love of God by avoiding the entanglement of human relations. For in loving others, we learn to love God, in stooping down to help our neighbour, we are lifted up to God. Through his fraternal closeness and his solidarity with the poor and the abandoned, he came to understand that it is they who evangelize us, they who help us to grow in humanity.To understand the family today, we too need to enter – like Charles de Foucauld – into the mystery of the family of Nazareth, into its quiet daily life, not unlike that of most families, with their problems and their simple joys, a life marked by serene patience amid adversity, respect for others, a humility which is freeing and which flowers in service, a life of fraternity rooted in the sense that we are all members of one body. The family is a place where evangelical holiness is lived out in the most ordinary conditions. There we are formed by the memory of past generations and we put down roots which enable us to go far. The family is a place of discernment, where we learn to recognize God’s plan for our lives and to embrace it with trust. It is a place of gratuitousness, of discreet fraternal presence and solidarity, a place where we learn to step out of ourselves and accept others, to forgive and to feel forgiven.
-Pope Francis |
The Trinity with Brother Charles
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Brother Charles is perhaps best remembered for his Jesus-centred thinking: “I should carry on in myself the life of Jesus: think his thoughts, repeat his words, his actions. May it be he that lives in me.” It is a very real part of his way of living his faith. He meditates constantly on the Gospels. He loves to adore Jesus in the Eucharist. He must become as Jesus so that Jesus can be taken to those who need his divine care and love. But the spirituality of Charles is not only Jesus-centred. He was also conscious of the presence of an all-powerful Father. In one of his meditations he wrote down these words:
Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures – I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul: I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father. And nowadays, those who are inspired by Charles’ example perhaps know this passage of his writing best. It is writing about the Father who governs all by his providence and to whom we can run like a little child. In addition, Brother Charles himself prayed the Veni Creator, a hymn to the Holy Spirit, daily. He implored the Creator Spirit to come, bestow his sevenfold Gift (Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Piety, Counsel, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord) on us and guide us in ways beyond our conscious understanding and apprehension: Come Holy Spirit, creator, come from your bright heavenly throne, come take possession of our souls and make them all your own. You who are called Paraclete blest gift of God above, the living spring, the living fire, sweet unction and true love. You who are sevenfold in your grace, finger of God’s right hand; his promise, teaching little ones to speak and understand. O guide our minds with your blest light, with love our hearts inflame; and with strength, which never decays, confirm our mortal frame. Far from us drive our deadly foe; true peace unto us bring; and through all perils, lead us safe beneath your sacred wing. Through you may we the Father know; through you the eternal Son, and you the Spirit of them both, thrice-blessed Three in One. All glory to the Father be, with his co-equal Son: the same to You great Paraclete, while endless ages run. Amen. So here, with brother Charles, we have an example of Trinitarian spirituality, with no clear focus on any one Person of the most Holy Trinity. We can emulate this example, if we wish, by praying the Prayer of Abandonment and the Veni Creator, combined with a meditative reading of the Gospels or a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. In such an approach we would invite communion with each of the Three Persons individually and together. |
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Public Domain Image.
Image has been cropped. |
