Charles de Foucauld

The Lord is near at hand!

As we prepare for the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord, some words from Charles de Foucauld can help us in that preparation.

Father de Foucauld, or "Brother Charles of Jesus" as he is known, served in the Holy Land before going to North Africa. He was murdered in 1916 on December 1 by marauders.

Brother Charles is best known for his wonderful "Abandonment Prayer":


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.

Brother Charles also gives us important food for thought about the Eucharist as it relates to the Advent and Christmas seasons:

What happiness! God is with us, God is in us, our God in whom we are
and act, God who is close to us in the Tabernacle. O my God, what more do
we need? How happy we are! Emmanuel, "God with us," these are, for
all intents and purposes, the first words of the Gospel...and the last words are
"I will be with you until the end of time."

***

The Eucharist is Jesus, it is all Jesus! My Beloved Jesus, you are
whole and alive in the Eucharist, as fully as you were in the home of the Holy
Family in Nazareth...as fully as you were amidst your Apostles. In the
same way, you are here, my Beloved and my All.

***

To adore the Holy Host, that should be the foundation of every human's
life.

***

These passages are found in an excellent book called, 15 Days of Prayer with Charles de Foucauld by Michel Lefon, pp. 73-75.

Come, let us adore him.