My Prayer for 2014

My hearts desire for 2014 is summed up well in a prayer by Charles de Foucauld, a Catholic priest of the 19th century. Here is some background on who he was, provided by Interrupting the Silence.

Charles de Foucauld was born in Strasbourg on September 15, 1858. He grew up in an aristocratic family. He served as a French army officer in Algeria but left the army in 1882 and went as an explorer to Morocco.

In 1890 he joined the Trappist order, but left in 1897 to follow an as yet undefined religious vocation. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1901. Thereafter he left for the Sahara, living at first in Beni Abbès and later at Tamanrasset among the Tuaregs of the Hoggar. He wanted to be among those who were, “the furthest removed, the most abandoned.” He wanted all who drew close to him to find in him a brother, “a universal brother.” In a great respect for the culture and faith of those among whom he lived, his desire was to “shout the Gospel with his life”. “I would like to be sufficiently good that people would say, “If such is the servant, what must the Master be like?”

He wanted to establish a new religious order and wrote several rules for this religious life. This new order, the Little Brothers of Jesus, however, would not become a reality until after his death.

Charles de Foucauld was shot to death by rebels December 1, 1916. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on November 13, 2005 and is considered a martyr of the Roman Catholic Church.

The prayer by de Foucauld captures the surrender I seek to cultivate in this coming year. It is the way of the child, the way of Jesus with his Abba in the Kingdom of the Heavens. In the previous year I have tasted sweet waters as I have risked surrendering to Jesus more fully, and am emboldened to continue this more fully in the coming year. May you find comfort and direction in it as well, dear friends!

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 need to give myself,

to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,

and with boundless confidence,

for you are my Father.