It’s no secret that this blog draws a lot from the example and friendship of Blessed Charles de Foucauld. (If this is under any doubt, the tag cloud in the right column should clarify the facts!)

Today, 1 December, is Brother Charles’ feast day!

It’s impossible to put into one post how the themes of this blog and the themes of Charles’ life are related. There are too many points. I can’t discuss them all. I’ve been spending the whole year doing so. But in bullet form, Blessed Charles directly inspires the following themes of this blog:

• He wanted to “see Jesus in all people”.
• He was a contemplative in the middle of the action of the world and specifically sought a contemplative way of life, even though he was eventually led outside the cloister.
• He wanted to live with others but remain close to God, although he found that he first had to draw close to God in order to have something to give to others.
• He valued silence and considered Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa to be friends and companions on the road.
• He was driven by love of the Eucharistic presence.
• His face, as we see it evolve in photographs, is a definite example of the transfiguration of the human body by indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And people have noticed. Lots of people. I sometimes wonder if this has been remarked about him more than any other saint (except, perhaps, Francis de Sales, though with him we, of course, have no photos).

In short, Charles lived every major theme I can think of relating to “contemplation on the muddy roads of the world”. Here we have an example and a friend in heaven.

Blessed Charles, pray for us!