Charles de Foucauld: Essential Writings by Robert Ellsberg begins with a 20-or-so-page biography and then continues with selected writings and written quotations for about 100 pages.

This was one of my first introductions to Blessed Charles, the “little brother” of Jesus who wanted to “see Jesus in all people”. His life is a big trajectory filled with many small trajectories; telling it in 20 pages is hard. His writings are numerous and rarely designed for someone else to read; selecting from them is hard. It cannot have been easy to write or edit this book.

In fact, as the book itself notes, all of Blessed Charles’ writings are available in French. What’s available in English is limited (see this page for a bibliography). This book tries to correct that and focuses on key themes in Charles’ life and, consequently, his writings:

• the hidden life of Jesus at Nazareth
• the theme of “crying the Gospel with our lives”
• abandonment to God’s will

There are some very thought-provoking passages on the Eucharist. But given how much the Eucharistic presence drove Brother Charles’ life, perhaps the emphasis is not as much there are one might expect.

I think most people who have read this book and also my blog can guess that my emphasis in reading Brother Charles’ life would not be exactly the same as the author’s. But this book is still, in my opinion, a very good book and a very good resource for anyone interested in Charles de Foucauld or in a contemplative life lived among the daily ups and downs of the world.