Youth needs to be radical, generous and set a good example: three qualities that St. Charles de Foucauld lacked!
Therefore, during the 10 days preceding his canonization, which will take place on May 15, 2022 at the Vatican, we invite you to receive a short text, an intention and a sentence by Charles de Foucauldso that you learn in his school, and let yourself be led along the path of holiness.
đź“…Retreat program:
Day 1: withdraw from the world
Day 2: become
Day 3: go to the desert
Day 4: the spirit of poverty
Day 5: be a missionary
Day 6: the sacrifice of the Cross
Day 7: Eucharist, the salvation of the world
Day 8: the Sacred Heart as an emblem
Day 9: entrust everything to the Virgin Mary
Day 10: give your life
👉Get to know the community animator a little more:
Father Matthieu Raffray is a priest of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, a doctor of philosophy and a professor at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome.
👉Get to know Carlos de Foucauld a little more:
CARLOS DE FOUCAULD (Brother Carlos de JesĂşs) was born in France, in Strasbourg, on September 15, 1858. Orphaned at the age of 6, he grew up with his sister Maria, under the care of his grandfather, orienting himself towards a military career.
Teenager, lose faith. Known for his liking for the easy life, he nevertheless reveals a strong and constant will in the face of difficulties. He undertakes a dangerous exploration of Morocco (1883-1884). The testimony of faith of the Muslims arouses in him a question about God: “My God, if you exist, let me know you”.
Returning to France, he is very moved by the discreet and loving welcome of his deeply Christian family, and begins a search. Guided by a priest, Father Huvelin, he meets God in October 1886. He is 28 years old. “As soon as I understood that there was a God, I understood that I couldn’t do anything else but to live only for Him”.
During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she discovers her vocation: to follow Jesus in his life in Nazareth. He spends 7 years in Trappist, first NS de las Nieves, then Akbes, in Syria. Soon after, he lives alone in prayer and adoration near the Poor Clares of Nazareth.
Ordained a priest at the age of 43 (1901) he left for the Sahara, first Beni-Abbes, then Tamanrasset in the midst of the Tuaregs of Hoggar. He wants to go to meet the furthest away, “the most forgotten and abandoned.” He wants each one of those who visit him to consider him as a brother, “the universal brother”. He wants to “shout the gospel with all his life” in great respect for the culture and faith of those among whom he lives. “I would like to be good enough for them to say:” If such is the servant, then he will be the Master … “
On the evening of December 1, 1916, he was killed by a gang that surrounded the house.
He always dreamed of sharing his vocation with others: after having written several religious rules; he thought that this “life of Nazareth” could be lived everywhere and by everyone. Today the “spiritual family of Charles de Foucauld” comprises various associations of the faithful, religious communities and secular institutes of laity and priests.
-Biography taken from https://www.vatican.va/
–Sentences and quotes translated from French by