November 18, 2007.
Dear Friends,
We will gather together for our Badaliya Prayer on Sunday November 18,2007 at
3pm at St. Paul's Church in Cambridge, in the small chapel located in the
Parish Center. Please join us in person or in spirit as we pray for peace and
reconciliation in the Middle East and especially in the Holy Land.
On November 13, 2005 Louis Massignon's friend and mentor, Father Charles
de Foucauld was beatified in Rome. In 1909 the hermit priest came to Paris seeking
approval for his vision of establishing a prayer association made up of Christians
from all walks of life joined together in a missionary spirit of prayer for
the Muslims in French colonial North Africa. He called it the Union Sodality.
It was on this trip to Paris that he met the young Louis Massignon for the first
time. Many years of letters and three meetings with Brother Charles established
their relationship. For Massignon, Brother Charles was a man consumed with the
fire of his love for the Divine, an exemplary model of faith for all Christians.
Massignon became one of the first 49 members of the Union Sodality in Paris.
After Foucauld was killed on December 1, 1916 during World War I, and the members
of the small association were sure that it would not survive, it was Louis Massignon
who made sure that it did. He asked that René Bazin write the first biography
of Charles de Foucauld that was published in 1921 and later Massignon himself
published the priest's Directory for his vision of prayer and life dedicated
to Christ.
It was this biography that inspired a young French woman named Magdeleine Hutin.
After losing her two brothers at the front in World War I, her father in 1925
and her sister in 1926, she wrote: "The only light that brightened this
somber period was reading the life and writings of brother Charles of Jesus
in whom I had finally found the whole ideal of life of which I dreamed: the
Gospels, lived.... complete poverty, the love of humiliation and especially
love in all its plenitude;Jesus Caritas, Jesus-Love...and I begged the Lord
to hasten the hour of my departure for Islamic countries, toward the Sahara
or toward the Hoggar, in order to go there to find traces of little Brother
Charles of Jesus and to live his same way of life there".
Despite severe health-related obstacles, by 1939 the Little Sisters of Jesus
had their very humble beginnings. By now there are religious communities world
wide dedicated to the vision of Blessed Charles de Foucauld and lay fraternities
with members in the thousands. Both Little Sister Magdeleine and Father René
Voillaume, who established the Little Brothers of Jesus in 1935, were supported
and encouraged in their vocations by Louis Massignon. Today at least one fourth
of the Little Sisters of Jesus live in Muslim countries world-wide. In their
News Notes they write that "given the roots of their foundation this is
no surprise however in our world in 2007 they serve in the midst of the struggle
for both Muslim and non-Muslim communities to bridge the chasms of misunderstanding,
as well as being part of a struggling Christian community". May we be inspired
in our Badaliya prayer, in honor of the Beatification of Blessed Charles de
Foucauld, by the words of Little Sister Gabrielle Yvette who has lived for many
years in Morocco.
"A life of friendship with Jesus, a life of friendship with people, especially
the poor, those looked down on: this is the path of contemplation that Little
Sister Mageleinne offers us.... She was among Arab people, Muslims, colonized
and poor. She wrote: "Human dignity is such a splendid thing. Respect is
always the essential. It is easy to find generous love. The rare thing is a
love that is considerate and respectful of every person'. For Little Sister
Magdeleine this kind of friendship IS the preaching of the Gospel".
"Living among Muslim believers has formed us. We learn that we must let
go of any desire to change the other person. We learn to recognize all the value
of the other's faith, let oneself be in the presence of radical difference.
It draws us into the Mystery of God...God is greater than our religions. It
makes us daring enough to believe that beyond everything that divides us and
could stand as a barrier, we can meet one another as persons. When you experience
friendship and mutual trust, and at the same time know that our religions aren't
interchangeable and that neither we nor they are going to change to the path
of the other, we find ourselves square at the heart of our own faith. We are
believers together, and it takes on a humbler face and opens us to mutual respect.
I often think that if our congregation had not been born in the heart of the
Islamic world we might not have understood so well that our call was simply
to live our lives and make of them a witness, without looking for any results".
"I knew many Muslims, simple people, human to the core, whose lives were
a testimony to God's love. I discovered with joy that when Jesus proclaimed
the Beatitudes he was talking about an immense multitude of people, vastly overflowing
the boundaries of the Church".
"A word about our little Church in North Africa. Submerged in a totally
Muslim world, the Church is called to live fellowship, respecting the other
without wanting to annex them. We believe that this gives meaning to staying
in these countries even though there are political currents of Islam that are
growing harsher. We believe that it is worth the effort to offer our support
to men and women of good will and try to help each other become more and more
deeply human by recognizing our differrence, respecting it, and appreciating
our mutual riches as we work together to make the world a more human place".
In thanksgiving for these Little Sisters and all who share their vision,
the vision of Blessed Charles de Foucauld and his disciple Louis Massignon,
let us pray for the peace and reconciliation "that will make the
world a more human place".
Peace to you.
Dorothy