Biography of Charles de Foucauld

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naK9sDJCHRo

A short biographical video of Blessed Charles de Foucauld – a contemplative who lived among the Muslim people of the Sahara Desert – recently uploaded to YouTube by a Little Sister of Jesus. Includes thick, aristocratic French accents, but if you can get through that, this is the life and message of a contemplative living in the world. After a tumultuous youth, he encountered Jesus and discovered new meaning for his life. His spirituality is often called a spirituality of Nazareth. He died in 1916 in Algeria. A number of religious and lay communities were founded following his insights, most notably the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus. He is known for "The Prayer of Abandon" which is a prayer taken from his meditations on the Crucifixion.

Charles de Foucauld: Journey of the Spirit

A few months ago I again picked up Cathy Wright LSJ's book Charles de Foucauld: Journey of the Spirit. I say again because it is my second copy, my first being in another country due to my somewhat itinerant and rather impermanent living; it's also at least my fourth read. This is what the back cover says: …

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And In This Lies Their Strength

Father René Voillaume, Little Brother of Jesus (1905–2003): Christians will continue to be caught in this dilemma. Either they will appear to be strangers in the world, unable to accept its tasks without reservation, or they will have to deny the authenticity of their faith, while yielding to the temptation to rethink its formulation, if not its content, …

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เหมาะสม (Suitable)

When we speak Thai, the word เหมาะสม (suitable) comes up at a frequency and under circumstances that might (nearly) disturb anyone whose first language and cultural background is Anglo. This is suitable, that is suitable. A route of travel is suitable. A new gadget is suitable. Even results of scientific experiments are suitable. When I hear this …

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Crossing the Threshold

I wonder how many souls would be willing to cross a threshold from a kind of general friendship with God, in a life of grace begun and spluttering only sometimes in contemplative gazes and peace, to a life of either open or masked contemplation, in which the finding of God present in and behind the realities and …

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We’re Too Stupid

In the Summa theologiae, Ia-IIae, q. 68, a. 2, Saint Thomas Aquinas basically says we are too stupid.  Even with the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, we'd be stupid enough to damn ourselves if the Holy Spirit did not add over and above this, not only virtues, but dispositions for a way of acting in …

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Seeking God’s Face – Finding God’s Children

Today, the Gospel read at Mass in the Latin Rite is the parable of the sheep and the goats: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40 NRSV) Today's Psalm speaks of our eyes wanting …

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Tired at the Tabernacle

There are some days when I'm just knackered. I have a bad tendency to worry too much about my feelings, rather than be thankful for what God is doing while I'm passively receiving. On these tired days, I need to kill my instincts to reflect on myself and just smile: God is working still and understands my …

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