PRAYING WITH ST. CHARLES DE FOUCAULD, UNIVERSAL BROTHER

This retreat will follow the spiritual itinerary of Charles de Foucauld, canonized by Pope Francis on May 15, 2022. The point of departure of his conversion is to recognize the absolute of God, to desire to live only for Him, to rejoice in His happiness, and to do everything possible to imitate his Beloved Jesus, in particular His poverty. Then we are invited to pass from an exterior Christ to a Christ who lives in us, of whom we are witnesses, in the sharing of the life of our brothers and sisters. In us and through us, Jesus wants to continue to save them and to love them. Our love must not be a matter of words: obedience is its touchstone, and it expresses itself in our prayer of which the summit is the intimate union of the Eucharist where Jesus gives himself to us. Our death is an act of total abandonment and confident love as will have our life. Ample time will be devoted to Lectio Divina on the writings of St. Charles.

Fr. Stephen Coffey, a Massachusetts native, is a monk of the Camaldolese Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict and lives at the Monastery of the Risen Christ in San Luis Obispo, where he is director of oblates. He is a retreat director, spiritual director, and is involved in other formation ministries at the Hermitage in Big Sur and at San Lorenzo Seminary in Santa Ynez. He is a graduate of St. John’s School Theology in Collegeville, MN and holds degrees in Christian Spirituality from Creighton in Omaha and in Pastoral Leadership from Chaminade in Honolulu.