# The prayer of abandonment: Blessed Charles de Foucauld
*2015-03-30*

> Bill Young reflects on the life and spirituality of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, focusing on his radical surrender to God's will.

## A life of radical contrast

Today is Tuesday of Holy Week, and we are praying from a book called Living with Christ. The prayer for today is called 'Abandon Myself,' written by Blessed Charles de Foucauld. Charles was not your everyday Catholic; he defied common sense and the advice of almost everyone around him. Born in 1858, he lived a life of extreme contrasts—once a prodigy and a French playboy, he later became a soldier in the French army who explored the deserts of Morocco at great personal danger.

## The hermit in the desert

Eventually, Charles became a holy hermit. He lived on such a restricted diet that he lost his teeth and appeared prematurely aged by the time he was 50. He traveled through Africa and France, and by his own account, he never converted a single soul to Catholicism. He lived his final years among nomadic tribes in the southern Hoggar region, where he was eventually assassinated by bandits in 1916 who were looking for gold and arms.

## A calling to love the forgotten

Blessed Charles believed his life was a calling to love. He stated that we should concern ourselves with those who lack everything—those whom no one gives a thought. He urged us to be the friends of those who have no friends, acting as brothers in the love of God and the love of men. He hoped that we could suffer in love and do as much as possible for others in this world.

## The prayer of abandonment

Blessed Charles was beatified at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on November 13, 2005, by Pope Benedict XVI. His legacy is captured beautifully in his 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 of my heart. For I love you, Lord, and so I need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father. Amen.'

*True peace is found in the boundless confidence of surrendering oneself entirely to the will of the Father.*