Algiers (Fides News Agency) – “The Lord took me by the hand and I followed him blindly.” With these words, which capture the essence of a life entirely devoted to the Gospel, Diego Sarrió Cucarella, Bishop of Laghouat-Ghardaïa, has published a new and moving pastoral letter entitled Marcher à la suite du Christ (Walking in the Footsteps of Christ).

Issued in the heart of the Algerian Sahara, the Letter marks the fifth anniversary of the recognition of the heroic virtues of Venerable Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus, foundress of the Little Sisters of Jesus, on 13 October 2021.

Born in Paris in 1898 as Élisabeth Marie Magdeleine Hutin, the future Little Sister Magdeleine left a lasting mark on the history of the 20th-century Church through her charism of universal fraternity and her radical closeness to the poorest and to the Muslim world. Her cause for beatification took a major step forward five years ago, when Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing her heroic virtues, acknowledging the extraordinary depth of her spiritual witness.

The primacy of relationship over pastoral efficiency

At the heart of Bishop Sarrió Cucarella’s reflection lies a profound insight that challenges the Church today: the true fruitfulness of mission does not depend on the pursuit of “measurable” efficiency, activism or strategies for success, but on encounter and deep union with Christ.
In his pastoral letter, the Bishop of Laghouat-Ghardaïa recalls how, from her earliest steps in the Algerian desert in Sidi Boujnan, near Touggourt, where the first fraternity was established in 1939, Little Sister Magdeleine understood that the Lord was not calling her to build an immense work or impose herself through human power. Rather, she was called to allow the Gospel to bear fruit through silence, prayer and the sharing of everyday life.

In an age that exalts speed, productivity and measurable results, the Venerable’s witness leads us back to the school of Bethlehem and Nazareth. In Bethlehem, God chose the smallness and vulnerability of a child to reveal his salvation, teaching us that Christian strength lies in self-giving love, not in the desire to dominate reality. In Nazareth, the Son of God shared the ordinary, hidden life of human beings for many years.
From this springs the charism of the Little Sisters: presence comes before action; listening before teaching; fraternal love before any pastoral project.

In the footsteps of Charles de Foucauld in the Sahara

The pastoral letter highlights the unbreakable spiritual bond between Little Sister Magdeleine and St Charles de Foucauld. Although they never met in person—Brother Charles died in 1916—the young Magdeleine recognized in his writings the Gospel ideal that burned within her heart. She discovered them through René Bazin’s book Charles de Foucauld, explorateur du Maroc, ermite au Sahara (1921).
Like a grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies in order to bear much fruit, Charles de Foucauld left behind no large-scale or highly efficient structures, but rather a witness to radical abandonment to God, expressed in his famous prayer of abandonment.

Drawing on this spiritual legacy, Bishop Cucarella stresses that the Church in the Sahara, though small in numbers and rooted in a land where the majority of the population is Muslim, must not measure its vitality according to the logic of power or worldly efficiency. Mission is fulfilled by drawing near to others, forging bonds of genuine friendship and mutual respect, following the example of Jesus, who chose to dwell among humanity.

A joy that blossoms in the desert

This vision finds its fulfilment in Christian joy, the joy that Little Sister Magdeleine witnessed through the light in her eyes and her smile. It is a joy untouched by superficiality, one that does not ignore trials or loneliness, but springs from the experience that the Lord always precedes his disciples.

In commemorating the five-year anniversary of the recognition of her heroic virtues, the Diocese of Laghouat-Ghardaïa once again draws upon the Venerable’s teaching to rediscover how following Christ gives rise to genuine humility and docility: entrusting oneself to the hands of the Father: “Dieu m’a prise par la main et, aveuglément, j’ai suivi” (“The Lord took me by the hand and I followed him blindly”).
This is a blind trust not in the sense of renouncing inner freedom or the ability to discern, but rather as a way of seeing things and the world through reason enlightened by faith. It means recognizing that life bears its richest fruit precisely when entrusted to God’s will.
A message that, from the sands of the Sahara, continues to illuminate the path of the universal Church.
(MLK) (Source: Fides News Agency, 14/10/2026)