Author CARLO CARRETTO
Publisher DARTON LONGMAN AND TODD
ISBN 0232516774
Carlo Carretto was a Little Brother of the Gospel, a member of the band of those who follow the teachings of Charles De Foucauld. He was prominent in the Roman Catholic Youth Movement in Italy and after burning his address book and turning his back on that life of ministry went into the North African Desert to minister to those in need there and to deepen in his knowledge of God. His writings are usually well translated from their original Italian and are very readable and this particular book is still available new and worth obtaining. Carretto was no stranger to suffering and this short book of a little over one hundred pages is rich as he grapples with the problem of how to reconcile a God Who is Love with the pain, agony and suffering so evident in the world. He writes poignantly and penetratingly and readably. His style is almost staccato at times, short sentences, abrupt but profound phrases and the result is a valuable document. He has a right to speak to those who suffer and does not attempt watertight explanations. He probes and reflects on the way God works to enrich the lives of those pass through searching times and the book closes with the stories of three Catholic women Benedetta, Marianella and Veronica. The stories are moving as is the whole book. Carretto knew God and is bold as he, on occasions, has reason to criticize his own church and expose the superficiality of the life lived by modern man in general. Some readers will scarcely be able to understand that this author was Roman Catholic and a member of a religious order because his approach to truth resonates again and again with what someone from a Protestant background would have written. Perhaps the difference is found in the depth, the fact that he himself had, at the hands of a friend who was a nurse, an injection that was faulty and resulted in continuing weakness for the rest of his life and this, coupled with his obviously contemplative life leads to one of the best books I have read on the inner meaning of suffering.
