Letting ourselves be found...

   All which I took from thee I did but take,

Not for thy harms,

But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms. 

All which thy child's mistake

Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home: 

 'Rise, clasp My hand, and come!'

- Excerpt from The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson 

"As we are searching for God, the good news is that God is searching for us.  Better yet, He has found us.  The great question is not whether we have found God but whether we have found ourselves being found by God.  God is not lost.  We were, or, as the case may be, we are. ... 

Here is what St. Paul says: “It is full time now for you to wake from sleep.”  He is telling us to wake up the gift already given.  This season of the Church’s calendar is called Advent, which means “coming”.  Christ came, Christ comes, Christ will come again.  There is no time–past, present, or future–in which Jesus the Christ is not God with us.  He was with you yesterday, is with you today, and will be with you tomorrow. 
So we are invited to give up our searching and let ourselves be found by the One who wants to be with us, and to have us with Him, forever." - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, God With Us

Our existence, our goal...

  "Our entire existence, our whole being must 

shout the Gospel from the rooftops. 

Our entire person must breathe Jesus, 

all our actions. 

 Our whole life must cry out that we belong to Jesus, 

reflect a Gospel way of living. Our whole being 

must be a living proclamation, a reflection of Jesus." 

 St Charles de Foucauld

"The goal of every human life 

should be the 

adoration 

of the Blessed Sacrament."

St Charles de Foucauld

Priest, Martyr ~ 1858-1916
nee France ~ Missionary in the Sahara of Algeria

Inspiration and writings led to the founding

of the Little Brothers of Jesus congregation

Feast Day – December 1

 

Charles returned to the Faith, after living an immoral life.  

Regarding his conversion, Charles said,

"The moment I realized that God existed, I knew I could not do otherwise than to live for Him alone.  …My religious vocation dates from the same moment as my faith:  God is so great.  There is such a difference between God and everything that is not."

______________________

Prayer of St Charles de Foucauld: both prayed and lived...

Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will. Whatever You do I thank You. I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only Your will be done in me, as in all Your creatures, I ask no more than this, my Lord. Into Your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to You, O Lord, with all the love of my heart, for I love You, my God, and so need to give myself - to surrender myself into Your hands, without reserve and with total confidence, for You are my Father.

______________________

Click here: Charles de Foucauld - YouTube (4:40 mins)

Click here: Fr Michael Shields - Follower of Bl Charles de Foucauld in Siberia - YouTube  (8:40 mins)

A Saint For Sinners: Charles De Foucauld - Good Catholic

Legacy of Charles de Foucauld – The life story and work of Blessed Charles de Foucauld

St Charles de Foucauld, pray for us!