Iesus Caritas Priestly Fraternity. Spain.
EASTER RETRAIT 2020
THE LIFE FOR BROTHER CHARLES
INTRODUCTION,
Tuesday, 14 April, evening
From this telematic way, this Easter retreat, -meeting between brothers and contemplative moment to celebrate the Risen Jesus- I offer you the reflections and invitation to adoration, Christ, bread and wine, freed from death and from the slab, walker, pilgrim with us in this difficult moment of humanity … Living Christ today invites us to be in these three days in retreat joyous with the human beings who have in their life the hope of a better world. 
Through him we were saved from the cross. Because of him we are motivated to continue in the work of the Kingdom. “Everything belongs to God … We owe him all the moments of our life. Our being and existing: let’s do everything for God ”. Charles de FOUCAULD, “Spiritual Writings”.
From our brother Carlos, with all the aspects and factors of his life, his intuitions and contradictions, we savor life, as he who savors what is small and simple who is truly poor. He let himself be found on the morning of Resurrection and his joy comes to us, who try to live his charism as men of faith.
Let us make this Easter a space for joy, for dreams – brother Charles dreams – for life, and life taken advantage of every moment, with the hope of those who dream of a new world 
and the sufferings, their own and those of humanity, they are not an obstacle: “If sadness invites you one day, tell him that you already have a commitment to joy and that you will be faithful to him all your life. Where there is truth, there is also light, but don’t confuse light with flash.” (Pope Francis)
The joy that is not always laughed at, nor the product of personal triumph. The joy of the disciples to see the Lord, along with fears of “what will happen now.” It is the joy of brother Charles who meets every day in Nazareth, in Beni-Abbès or Tamanrasset with people, from whom he learns a language, a way of relating, a listening, as in Morocco he found a faith in the Muslims who transmitted to him the greatness of God. These were not good times, neither politically nor economically for the world; misery and epidemics also plagued many countries, in different ways and with disparate consequences, such as the First World War, the plundering of resources in the Western colonies in Africa, in Asia… What greater pandemic than the selfishness of the powerful ones? Is there a vaccine for that?
I have had to redo everything prepared for these days in the face of the current situation, and, realistically, we cannot leave aside the situation of our world, the one closest to us or 
the one that does not touch us closely. It is a very special Easter, as I believe that until now we had not lived. In spite of everything, let us live it as the Church and our deep being invites us, just as each one of us is.
Especially for me, on these Easter days, our brothers who have already celebrated their full Easter recently will be in our hearts: Manolo BARRANCO, Mariano PUGA, Michel PINCHON, Margarita GOLDIE, Antonio L BAEZA … so many resurrected brothers and sisters .. .
Let us return in these days to let ourselves be surprised by the Good News of the Risen Jesus, of the one who is alive in the humble, in hospitals, slums, prisons, villages without light or water in so many places in the world; of that Christ who has passed through the cross, but who has not passed from the people; He who, from so many men and women who in these months are working for us, frees us from fear and reaches out to us.
So we put ourselves in the presence of God, without forgetting the presence of pain, hope and happiness. We put ourselves in his hands, as we pray in the Prayer of Abandonment, and we pray it … “My Father, I abandon myself to you …”
With all the love of our hearts, with infinite trust, let us continue believing in life, starting this Easter retreat.
“Wherever I live and life springs up in me, there I will see the Risen One and experience God.” Anselm GRÛN, “Seeking God in everyday life”, Narcea.