The Most Dangerous Prayer You’ll Ever Pray

Charles de Foucauld was born in Strasbourg in 1858.[i]  He was orphaned at the age of 5 and lived a difficult childhood.  At 23 he enlisted in the army.  The military took him to Africa where he fought in a conflict.  Foucauld was an atheist for the first 28 years of his life.  But at age 28, he converted to Christianity.  Filled with such a love for God and for others, Foucauld was ordained as a priest at age 43.  His real life’s work had just begun.

Foucauld was convicted to surrender his entire life to helping others know the great love of God.  He decided to return to Africa and to practice a “ministry of presence” among Arabs, especially among the poor.  For the next 15 years he lived out the love and lifestyle of Jesus among the poorest of the poor in Africa.  He became known as the “apostle of the Sahara.”

Though he was murdered in 1916, his humble life of service to nonbelievers inspired the establishment of three religious movements in the twentieth century.  Each sought not to isolate themselves in a monastery or retreat but to live out the way of Jesus in the midst of unbelievers.  Foucauld became known for his incarnational approach to ministry and for his deep surrender to God.

He captured this spirit in a famous prayer known as the “Prayer of Abandonment.”  It was the prayer he lived by.

I just may be the most dangerous prayer you’ll ever pray:

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.”