By John Wood
On the 15th May 2022 Pope Francis canonized Charles de Foucauld who is considered a pioneer of interreligious dialogue.
Born in 1858, Charles was a French aristocrat and religious, whose work and writings led to the foundation of the Congregation of the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus. During his adventurous life, he was a Cavalry Officer in the French Army, and then an explorer and geographer before becoming a Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg in Algeria’s Sahara Desert. He lived a life of prayer, meditation and adoration, in the incessant desire to be, for each person, a “universal brother”, a living image of the love of Jesus. On the evening of December 1, 1916, he was killed by bandits.
Charles de Foucauld is best known for his Prayer of Abandonment, even if he is not its direct author. The prayer is a reformulation of a meditation he wrote at the time of his vocational crisis as a Trappist. Should he make his solemn vows or yield to the persistent voice that called him elsewhere? He was pursuing his daily meditation of the Gospel and had arrived at Luke 23:46: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”
Charles de Foucauld is best known for his Prayer of Abandonment, even if he is not its direct author. The prayer is a reformulation of a meditation he wrote at the time of his vocational crisis as a Trappist. Should he make his solemn vows or yield to the persistent voice that called him elsewhere? He was pursuing his daily meditation of the Gospel and had arrived at Luke 23:46: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” One can guess what he was going through when you read the prayer which the Little Sisters of Jesus have reworded slightly, improving the style, removing repetitions to make it suitable for oral recitation. They arrived at the formula which is now so widely known.
With thanks to Little Sister Kathleen of Jesus. The text in the above paragraph and the prayer below have been taken from her book: The Universal Brother.
Prayer of Abandonment
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 in 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.
