What plan do you have for your life? Have you got it all figured out? 

Many things happened in Charles de Foucauld’s life that weren’t part of his plan—becoming an orphan at a young age, being forced to go to Catholic school when he had no faith, the list goes on. Perhaps that is why, when Charles inherited a large amount of money, he took the opportunity to revel in his own plan. He dove head first into a life of pleasure, partying, women, and drinking. Looking back, Charles described his young self like this: “I was all egoism, all vanity, all impiety, all desire for evil; it was as if I had gone a little mad.” 

But eventually there was a plan Charles could no longer resist: God’s plan. 

Charles crossed paths with a priest who encouraged him to go to Confession and receive the Eucharist. This encounter with Jesus changed everything. Charles realized that his plan would never satisfy his soul. So he spent the rest of his life learning to follow God’s plan. He became a priest, spread the faith, was martyred, and became a saint.   

The saints tried in each moment to align themselves with the will of God. It was this synthesis and the surrender of their own individual will to the will of God that made them saints.

The will of God in the broadest sense is that you become the-best-version-of-yourself, that version of you that most perfectly allows God to come into the world through you. God doesn’t want to control you, or manipulate you, or stifle you, or force you to do things you don’t want to do. If that were God’s desire, then he would not have given you free will. God wants you to realize your unimagined potential and become all you can be.

Today, let’s open our hearts to the possibilities of God’s plan with this remarkable prayer from Saint Charles de Foucauld:

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.

Amen.



Feast Day: December 1

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Eligius and Saint Nahum

Symbols: White Religious Habit With the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Also Known As: Brother Charles of Jesus

Canonized: May 15, 2022

Canonized By: Pope Francis