Month: December 2021

Canonization of Brother Charles. International Team, December 2021

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CANONIZATION OF BROTHER CHARLES: A JOY AND A COMMITMENT

A letter from the International Team to the brothers around the world.

Dear Brothers:

The long-awaited news has finally arrived: Pope Francis will canonize Brother Charles in Rome on 15th May 2022, along with six other Blesseds. This news has filled all of us: laity, men and women religious, deacons, bishops and priests who are inspired by Brother Charles’ spirituality with great joy.

The Second Vatican Council says that “the Spirit dwells in the Church and in the hearts of the faithful as in a temple (…) with various hierarchical and charismatic gifts, directs and enriches the Church with all its fruits (…). He makes her rejuvenate, constantly renews her and leads her to the consummate union with her Spouse “1

Brother Charles was a docile instrument to the action of the Holy Spirit and allowed himself to be guided by that same Spirit with passion and great interior freedom, always seeking to do the will of the Father. Let’s not forget that he prayed the “Veni Creator” three times a day. Guided and driven by the Holy Spirit, he entered the monastic life, and became a servant of the Poor Clares in Nazareth. He accepted being ordained as a diocesan priest and became a missionary among Muslims “who were abandoned deep in the African desert.” Continue Reading →

Intensive care. Aurelio SANZ BAEZA

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I’m alive, and the monotonous sound of the respirator, of the machines that control me, lets me know that my heart has not stopped. I don’t know when or how I got here. My watch stopped in my mind, and I stopped seeing time pass in that object that situates me in the moment and that, for now, I do not miss. The sounds of my house, my work, my street, the bar where I have coffee or beer, have remained on a hard disk that I do not know if I will retrieve. The virus knocked everything out of control, and separated me from those I love. What used come to me through the media remotely about how people were in the same situation that I am now, is my reality at this moment. Like so many things in life, you think that it will never happen to you.

I realize that there are people who are taking care of me; I can’t see them clearly, and it’s like being in a spaceship, where you only see their eyes through their safety goggles and the screens that protect them from me, just like what I use at work. I am a danger, but a danger that requires their attention and, I believe, much tender care, even if they didn’t know me before. I don’t know their names, nor does their voice reach me clearly – although always without demands – and I don’t understand what they’re saying to me. I let myself be attended to. I can’t move and nor do I even wish to move a finger. Continue Reading →