Carlo Carretto (1910-1988), Italian writer, mystic, and member of the Little Brothers of Jesus, modelled himself upon desert contemplative Charles de Foucauld.
At the age of 44, after a prominent career as a Catholic activist, Carlo was summoned by a voice that said: 'Leave everything, come with me into the desert.
I don't want your action any longer, I want your prayer, your love.'
Carretto responded by leaving for North Africa, where he joined the Little Brothers and embraced the example of Charles de Foucauld.
Among the fruits of his response was Letters from the Desert, the first and most popular of his many books. Simply, it reminds us that in the evening of our lives we will be judged by love, resourced by a life of prayer, a passion for justice and the spirit of solidarity
Carlo Carretto – for ten years he lived an hermit’s life in the Sahara,
a life of prayer, silence and work. Whilst there he wrote his “Letters from the Desert”
A priest would visit him from time to time, and leave in a Tabernacle for him
The Blessed Sacrament. From this he derived great comfort,
and It became a good focus for thoughtful meditation and prayer.
“To find oneself confronted by a piece of bread, and then to be told that this is the presence of Jesus, involves an act of faith: reason is inadequate.”
“This Bread - it is Jesus himself, Son of God and Son of Mary, Jesus of Bethlehem, of Nazareth, of the Last Supper.
Jesus of Calvary, Jesus of the Resurrection; Jesus – the same yesterday, today and the same for ever.
Jesus, the Bread – the Window, that opens on to the invisible God”.
For Carlo Carretto, the Blessed Sacrament was a window through which he could see Jesus. He spent much time every day in front of that window, gazing on heaven itself, and adoringly looking at Jesus, the One who took flesh in order to become visible for you; who became the Eucharist in order to gain entrance to your everyday life and stay with you as long as possible, as He did with Carlo Carretto.
Mother Teresa also had the greatest devotion to Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
She maintained that the charitable work undertaken by herself and the sisters
was grounded in Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as they gazed in adoration each morning through the window of the monstrance at the Jesus they would also see through the windows of the poor, sick, maimed and dying people whom Jesus had called them to serve.
"This is My Body .... This is My Blood."
At that moment, as Jesus's words are spoken, heaven and earth become one in this bread and wine, the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar,
overflowing into the tabernacle of streets and doorways.
