'He was named Jesus: He wanted His name to express His work, the work of His life.... If we want to imitate Him, the first thing to do is to make the salvation of souls the work of our life...' (Note 13 June 1916; see Itineraire Spirituelle, J-F Six, 359; cf Nouveaux Ecrits Spirituelles, Gospel Meditations, 56-9, with the note 1, 1897-1899). From his conversion till his death, this is the dominant theme in Brother Charles' life: if Jesus was, above all, the Savior, then Charles wished to do the same. Not, of course, by his own efforts, but by allowing Jesus to live in him and to continue his work through him. Let's look at this aspiration of Charles in more detail.

Firstly, Jesus is the Savior of all: this is Charles' basic conviction. But it took him time, and an openness to 'signs of the times' in his experience, to get beyond the commonly accepted view that 'nonbelievers' (infideles) were not saved as a general rule, with the exception of special acts of God's mercy. In Tamanrasset particularly, Charles becomes increasingly aware of the good in those around him, a good that while personal is clearly linked to their culture and religion, to their Touareg culture and Islamic religion. In fact, while impatient of all that is false and degrading, whether among those of his own faith or that of his hosts, and while proclaiming, without compromise, Jesus and his Gospel in his life, Charles shows a total respect for the faith, or its secular equivalent, of all those he meets, provided only it be sincere. So, for example, he tells Dr. Herisson, a Protestant by origin but little practising, that 'God, I feel sure, will accept all persons of genuine goodwill, be they Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Mohammedan or pagan' (conversation on the night of Christmas, 1909). Similarly, Charles asks his cousin, Marie de Bondy, to send some plain rosaries, made of wood and without a cross.. They are for Muslims; I teach them to pray, saying 'My God, I love you' on the small beads, and 'My God, I love you with all my heart' on the large ones'. Again, at the request of his friend Moussa, the local chief, he went to assist his aunt Tihit on her death bed, knowing well that both Moussa and his aunt were convinced and practising Muslims and that he was recognized and accepted as a 'Christian marabout' (holy man). In fact, paradoxically, Charles became a kind of'chaplain' to the local Muslim community. For he is convinced, as his acts show, that God's grace is at work in the hearts of all, of everyone without exception, as Vatican 11 has explicitly declared (Gaudium et Spes, 22). So, sure of being heard, he constantly prays, 'May everyone go to Heaven'. And this leads to a reciprocal attitude on the part of his Muslim friends: writing to his sister, just after his death, Moussa concludes: 'Charles the marabout has died not only for all of you, he has died for us too. May God have mercy on him, and may we meet in Paradise'.

Secondly, Jesus, the Savior of all, is Savior by all of his life. 'From My conception and birth I am your Savior, and the work of salvation is my one aim' (meditation, 1901). This view of Jesus' life, while always present, becomes Charles' dominant theme following his priestly ordination. At the end of his ordination retreat, he writes: 'I am called to 'follow: to imitate Jesus, the Savior, the Good Shepherd, who came 'to bring fire on earth' and 'to save what is lost'. Each part of Jesus' total life-span is seen as a part of his one saving 'work'. And each part brings its own particular contribution. Charles insists especially on the role of Nazareth: the 'work' of Nazareth, Jesus' daily labor with all its Godward and human components, is already an expression of the 'work' of Salvation completed on the Cross and in the Resurrection. This view, elaborated by Pope John Paul in Laborem Exercens (110-131), gives a new depth to our ordinary work-a-day life. Jesus' public ministry is also seen in terms of 'work', thus referring back to Nazareth and forward to the final acceptance of rejection, suffering and death, not as such, but 'into the hands of the Father', who is life and giver of life.

Thirdly, Jesus the Savior calls us, his followers, to join Him in His saving work. Charles, of course, is conscious of receiving the gift of salvation (for example, in the long meditation on his conversion experience, at Nazareth in 1897), but he feels an increasing urge to share in this 'work', for the benefit of those to whom he is sent. 'If we want to imitate Him, as we should, let's make His work (of saving people) our work'. With the out-going thrust of his life, after ordination and his consequent mission to Beni-Abbes and later to Tamanrasset, this becomes Charles' one desire, both for himself and for the members of the Association (from 1909 onwards) to which he devoted much of his last years. So, in the Association handbook, he says: 'We need Priscillas and Aquilas (lay apostles)... Let them make the salvation of people the work of their lives, like Jesus'. How? 'by the priesthood of the faithful, let them offer themselves and Jesus for all His intentions (those of the 'Our Father')..., and let them mix with those around them, using with each the most suitable means, with one a word, with another silence, with all example, goodness, brotherly affection...' In a word, Charles sees himself, and his hoped for followers, as called to be 'saviors with Jesus, an expression used later, but which clearly sums up his purpose. Their model is Mary, who, as soon as she receives Jesus, is urged to go and share in His saving work. This is how Charles understands the Visitation: 'I came into the world to save it... and as soon as I am born, I push my Mother to work at this with Me' (1898). And he adds: 'I ask all to whom I give Myself to do the same'.

The message of salvation is, of course, at the heart of Christianity, but Charles' insistence on the need for Christians to share in Jesus' saving work is something new. Implicit from the beginning (in the 'follow me' of the gospels and in St. Paul's conception of the mystical body, taken up in Lumen Gentium 7), it has only recently emerged in Christian consciousness. In fact, if Christian love is a sharing in Christ's love, then our love, like His, must be a saving love, redemptive by its very nature. Charles came to realize this, probably, through his realistic devotion to the Heart of Jesus, and his constant insistence on imitation as the mark of the true disciple. An imitation, we can add, which is not only of internal attitudes, but also of living out these attitudes in the ordinary Nazareth texture of our daily life and human relationships.

Such cooperation in salvation begins in the small sphere of our concrete life and activities. Otherwise it would be unreal. But, from the incarnated foundation, it needs to extend, like Jesus' love, to all: it has no limits.