i

THE

SOUL OF THE
APOSTOLATE
DOM CHAUTARD,

o.c.r.

AUTHORISED TRANSLATION

Rev.

J. A. MORAN, S.M.

Μ. Η. Gill and Son Ltd
50 Upper O'Connell Street
Dublin i

This edition first published i()5~
Reprinted 1959
Reprinted 1965

Nihil obstat:
Eduardus Gallen

Censor Theol. Deput.

Imprimi potest:
+ loannes Carolus

Archiep. Dublinen.
Hiberniœ Primas
Dublin!, die 11 Februarii 1957

Cover design by Des Fitzgerald

Printed in the Republic of Ireland at the press of. the Publishers

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Gustave Chautaed was bom of well-to-do parents in
Briançon, an important frontier town in the Hautes-Alpes,
March 29, 1858. After a brilliant career in the local schools,
he was sent to the Commercial College of Marseilles. Here
he came under the influence of the celebrated Père /Allemand,
who exercised the same kind of apostolate in this city as
did St. Philip Neri formerly in Rome. Gustave became
one of the holy priest’s most zealous disciples, spending
much of his time visiting the sick and catechizing children.
On April 14, 1877, he entered the Cistercian noviciate of
Aiguebelle, Valence, taking the name of John Baptist.
He took his final vows in i88r, and was ordained in 1884.
In 1897 he became Abbot of Chambarand. Two years
later he was called to govern Sept-Fons, Moulins. As this
monastery possessed dependent houses in Brazil, Palestine,
China, Holland, and Savoy, the change greatly widened
his sphere of activity and added enormously to his respon­
sibilities. Besides, he was often appointed to represent the
Order in important matters. To him were entrusted the
negotiations which resulted in the restoration of Citeaux,
the Cistercian Mother-house, secularised since 1790 ; and to
his courage and tact was due the preservation of the French
monasteries in 1902, when they were threatened with disso­
lution by the anti-clerical government. His encounter with
Clemenceau on this occasion belongs to history. For once the
“Tiger” knew how to take a beating, and remained ever
after the Abbot’s close friend. Even the Holy See sometimes
chose Dom Chautard for confidential missions. On Sunday,
September 29, 1935, when about to begin a sermon on the
uncertainty of life, he collapsed in the chapter-room and
died without recovering consciousness. The great heart
that could beat only for God was now at rest and forever.
Was it possible to combine so much external activity with
the interior life he so strongly recommended ? It was, and
he shows us how in his book. Like St. Bernard, he was
no conduit but a reservoir, giving only of his superabund­
ance ; a burning and a shining light, outwardly shining
because burning inwardly.
iii

WORDS OF POPE ST. PIUS X

Saint Pius X, in an audience granted in 1908 to Mgr.
Cloutier, Bishop of Three-Rivers, Canada, addressed the
following words to the Bishop, who was laying before
His Holiness his many projects for the good of his diocese :
“And now, my dear Son, if you desire that God should
bless your apostolate and make it fruitful, undertake
everything for His glory, saturate yourself and your
devoted fellow-w’orkers with the spirit of Jesus Christ,
animating yourself and them with an intense interior life.
To this end, I can offer you no better guide than The
Soul of the Apostolate by Dom Chautard, Cistercian
Abbot. I warmly recommend this book to you, as I value
it very highly, and have myself made it my bedside book.”

AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE BENEDICT XV

(From the French)

To Our dear son, Dom J.-B. Chautard, Abbot of the
Trappist Monastery of Notre Dame de Sept-Fons,
We address our warmest congratulations on his having
excellently shown in his book entitled L'Ame de Tout
Apostolat, the necessity of the interior life for all engaged
in good works, for the true success of their ministry ; and
desiring that this work in which are to be found gathered
together doctrinal lessons and practical advice suited to the
needs of our time, may continue to spread and to do good,
We send with all Our heart to its pious atithor an
affectionate Apostolic Blessing.
Given at the Vatican, 18 March, 1915.

Benedict PP XV

OTHER TESTIMONIALS

His Eminence Cardinal Vico sent along with the letter of the
Sovereign Pontiff, the following lines :
I hasten to send you herewith the Parchment that Our Holy
Father, Pope Benedici XV, has kindly entrusted to me to transmit
to you.
You will read in this revered autograph letter the great praise
that His Holiness gives to your valuable book, L'Ame de Tout
Aposlolat. The Holy Father has read this book with deep satisfaction.
Already Pius X of holy memory had entrusted me with the care
of expressing his warm congratulations to the pious prelate who
translated your book into Spanish.
vi

LETTERS OF APPROBATION

VÜ

From His Eminence Cardinal Sevin

Your book is a golden book. I have read it eagerly. Never has
Pius X met with a commentator more pious, more learned, more
eloquent, more practical on the thoughts with which he has filled
his Exhortation to the Clergy and twenty other Encyclicals.
You may be sure that I have made this treasure known around
me. Your book is used in the spiritual readings of both my semi­
naries. To Bishops and to a number of priests I have expressed a
sincere admiration for your work.
From His Eminence Cardinal Mercier,
Archbishop of Mechlin
The events in which 1 have just taken part did not allow me
sufficient freedom of mind and the leisure that I should have had
to read your book with the attention which it deserves and to fix
my mind on the sublime thoughts that you have set forth with
such apostolic ardour.

From His Eminence Cardinal Vives
It is no small merit to have been able in your excellent work
on the Interior Life and Apostolate to condense doctrine and
practical method.
From His Eminence Cardinal Amette,
Archbishop of Paris
I read with much edification your book : L’Ame de Tout Apostolat,
and I will be happy to recommend it to our priests and to zealous
persons who devote themselves to good works. In Paris especially
where the exterior work of the apostolate is so absorbing, it is of
great importance to be always animated by that sap of the interior
life which can alone assure its success.
From His Eminence Cardinal Fischer,
Archbishop of Cologne

I fully approve of what you have written with so much learning,
so much experience in this matter and so much unction.

From His Eminence Cardinal Lucon,
Archbishop of Rheims
I appreciate the truth of the thesis which you develop and
completely approve of it.

viii

LETTERS OF APPROBATION

From His Eminence Cardinal Arcoverde,
Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro.

To put on Jesus Christ, to live the life of Jesus Christ is the
soul of every apostolate as you say in your excellent book.
From His Lordship D. Penon, Bishop of Moulins
Fresh and profound thoughts, impressive comments on several
well known texts and on new texts taken from Holy Scripture and
the Fathers, striking examples, most of them collected and vouched
for by yourself in the goods works with which you have been
intimately connected, in fine and above all, the personal note,
with which you show forth the success of an apostolate, which
results from the union of zeal and piety by the Eucharistic and
liturgical life, add a more powerful attraction and assure a fuller
efficacy to what you have already said so well in the first develop­
ment of your fundamental thesis.
Priests, religious both men and women, lay people interested in
the apostolate, will have no pretext for doing without this vade
mecum. Zealous souls especially may distribute it widely so that
it may be for everyone’s use, not for reading once only, but habitually,
so that they may go back to it, employ it for meditation, that it
may serve for annual and monthly retreats and also for the training
of seminarists or novices.

CONTENTS
Prologue..................................................................................

Page
xv

Part one : Good works and the interior Life are the will of God
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Good works and consequently zeal are the will of God....
God wills Jesus to be the Life of good works.....................
What is the interior Life ?...................................................
How much this interior Life is neglected.........................
Reply to a first objection : Is the interior Life lazy ?....
Reply to another objection : Is the interior Life selfish ?
Objection drawn from the importance of salvation of souls

Part

two

i
4
7
16
18
24
29

: The Union of the active Life and the interior Life

x Priority in the eyes of God of the interior Life over the
active Life.................................................................
34
2 Good works should be the overflow of the interior Life....
3 Active works begin and end in the Interior Life, and in
it find their means...........................................................
4 The interior Life and the active Life are entirely inter­
dependent ......................................................................
5 Excellence of this union.......................................................

38

41

45
49

Part three : The active Life is full of danger unless united with
the interior Life and with progress in virtue

1 Active works, a means of sanctification for interior souls,
become for others a danger to their salvation.............
2 The active worker without the interior Life.....................
3 The interior Life is the basis of the holiness of the apostolic
worker... ............................................................................
(а) It protects the soul against the dangers of the
exterior ministry...............................................
(б) It renews the strength of the apostle................
ix

52
57
68

70
72

CONTENTS

X

(c)
(d)
(e)
(/)

It multiplies his energy and his merits.................
It gives him joy and consolation.........................
It refines his purity of intention.............................
It is a defence against discouragement.................

Page
73
76
77
79

Part four : Rich results of the ministry through the interior Life
The inferior Life is a condition of the fruitfulness of the Ministry: 83
(a) The interior Life draws down the blessings of God. 86
(b) It helps the apostle to sanctify others by good
example...............................................................
89
(c) It produces in the apostle supernatural radiation.
How powerful this radiation is.........................
93
(d) It makes the gospel worker truly eloquent.......... 112
(e) Because the interior Life begets interior Life its
results on souls are deep and lasting............. 116
(/) Importance of the formation of chosen souls and
of spiritual direction............................ 124
. (g) The interior Life, through the Blessed Eucharist,
is the true cause of the success of the apostolate. 142

Part

five

: Some principles and counsels for the interior Life

1 Some counsels for the interior Life for men busied in good
works. Convictions. Principles. Practical hints......
2 Mental prayer, a necessary element of the interior Life,
and consequently of the apostolate................................
I. Is this fidelity absolutely necessary ?...............
II. What my mental prayer ought to be ?...........
III. How I should make my meditation...............
3 The Liturgical Life, is a source of the interior Life, hence
of the Apostolate..........................
I. What is the Liturgy?..................................... *
II. What is the Liturgical Life?...........................
III. The Liturgical Spirit............................................
IV. The advantages of the Liturgical Life.................
(a) It helps me to be permanently supernatural in
all my actions........................
(b) It helps me most powerfully to conform my
interior Life to that of Our Lord.................

149

152
153
155
157
169
169
171
175
193

193
197

CONTENTS

XÎ

Page
The Liturgical Life makes me live the Life of
the Blessed in Heaven..................... 202
V. Practice of the Liturgical Life........................... 203
4 Custody of the heart is the keystone of the interior Life,
and thus the essence of the apostolate............................ 211
I. Necessity for custody of the heart................... 215
II. The presence of God, the foundation of custody
of the heart........................................... 217
III. Devotion to Our Lady helps custody of the heart 218
IV. Apprenticeship of the custody of the heart.... 219
V. Conditions of custody of the heart.................... 221
5 The Apostle must have an ardent devotion to Mary
Immaculate....................................................................... 222
(c)

Epilogue....................................................................................

230

PROLOGUE
Ex quo omnia,
Per quem omnia
In quo omnia x.
0 God of goodness and majesty, how wonderful and
dazzling are the truths that Faith teaches us concerning
Thine own interior life !
Father all holy, Thou dost ever behold in Thy perfect
reflection the Word—-Thy Word exults entranced by Thy
beauty—and from Your joint ecstasy flames forth a furnace
of love, the Holy Ghost.
You alone, O adorable Trinity, are the true interior
life, perfect, overflowing, infinite.
Goodness without limit, You wish to spread abroad
Your inner life. You speak, and Your works spring forth
out of nothingness to show Your perfection and sing Your
glory.
Between You and the dust that Your breath has quick­
ened an abyss exists. This the Holy Spirit of Your love
wishes to bridge over ; He will thus be enabled to
satisfy His infinite need of loving and of giving Himself.
He draw’s forth then from Your bosom the decree that
we become divine. This clay fashioned by Your hand will
have the pow’er to become deified, as it wrere, and share in
Your eternal happiness.
Your Word offers Himself for this task, and He is made
flesh, that wre may become as gods. 12
And yet, O Word, Thou hast not left the bosom of Thy

1. Liturgy. Fifth antiphon of Matins for the Feast of the Most
Holy Trinity (quoted from I Cor., VIII, 6).
2. Factus est homo ut homo fieret deus (St. Augustine, Ser nt. g de
Nafiv.).
xiii

XÎV

PROLOGUE

Father. There Thy essential life subsists, and it is from
this source that the marvels of Thine Apostolate will flow.
O Jesus, Emmanuel, Thou dost give to Thine Apostles
Thy Gospel, Thy Cross, Thy Eucharist, and Thou givest
them their mission to go forth and beget for Thy Father
His sons of adoption. Then Thou dost ascend to Thy Father.
It is on Thee, O Spirit divine, that the care devolves of
sanctifying and ruling the Mystical Body of the God-Man.1
To bring down the Life divine from the Head to the
members of this Mystical Body, Thou dost deign to choose
fellow-workers. Fired by the flames of Pentecost they will
go forth to sow broadcast in the minds of men the word
which enlightens, and in their hearts the grace which
enkindles. Thus will they convey to men that divine life
of which Thou art the fullness.

*

* *
O divine Fire, enkindle in all those who share Thine
apostolate the flames which transformed those fortunate
ones in their retreat in the Upper Room. They will then
be no longer mere preachers of dogma or of morals, but
apostles living to transfuse the divine Blood into the souls
of men.
Spirit of light, imprint this truth in indelible characters
on their minds : that their apostolate will be successful only
in the measure that they themselves live that supernatural
inner life, of which Thou art the Sovereign Principle and
Jesus Christ the Source.
O infinite Charity, enkindle in their wills a burning thirst
for the inner life. Penetrate their hearts with the out­
pourings of Thy sweetness and strength ; make them feel
that even here below there is no true happiness except in this
life of imitating and sharing Thy life and that of the
Heart of Jesus in the bosom of the Father of all mercy and
of all tenderness.i.

i. Deus cujus Spiritu totum corpus sanctificatur et regitur
(Liturgy).

PROLOGUE

XV

O Mary Immaculate, Queen of the Apostles, deign to
bless these simple pages. Grant that all those who read
them, may understand that if it pleases God to make use
of their activity as the ordinary instrument of His Pro­
vidence in showering heavenly gifts on the souls of men,
this activity, if it is to produce any result, must in some
way share the nature of the divine Act, as thou didst behold
it in the bosom of God, when He, to whom we owe the power
of calling thee Mother, became incarnate in thy virginal
womb.

PART ONE
GOOD WORKS AND THE INTERIOR LIFE
ARE THE WILL OF GOD
1. Good works, and consequently zeal, are the will of God.

Sovereign liberality is an attribute of the Divine Nature.
God is infinite goodness. Goodness longs to give itself and
to make others share the riches it enjoys.
The life of Our Lord on earth was a continual mani­
festation of his boundless liberality. The Gospel shows the
Redeemer scattering on His way the treasures of love from
a Heart eager to draw men to truth and to fife.
This apostolic flame has been handed on by Our Lord to
His Church, which is the gift of His love, and which con­
tinues His life, shows forth His truth, shines out with His
holiness. The mystical Spouse of Christ, burning with the
same ardour, carries on through the centuries the apostolic
work of her divine Model.
Admirable is the plan, a law established by Providence,
that by man shall man know the path of salvation.1 Jesus
Christ alone has shed the Blood which redeems the world.
/Hone too He could have distributed its power to act on
souls directly, as He does in the Holy Eucharist. But He
has willed to have fellow-workers in the giving of His graces.
Why ? No doubt His divine Majesty demanded that it be so,
but His loving affection for men urged Him no less. And
if it is seemly that a distinguished monarch governs as a rule
through his ministers, how great is the condescension on
the part of God to deign to associate poor creatures in His
labour and in His glory !
Born on the cross, sprung from the pierced side of thei.

i. Ad communem legem id pertinet qua Deus providentissimus,
ut homines plerumque fere per homines, salvandos decrevit ... ut
nimirum, quemadmodum Chrysostomus ait, per homines a Deo
discamus (Letter of Pope Leo XIII to Card. Gibbons, 22 Jan. 1899).
I
2

2

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Saviour, the Church by its apostolic ministry carries on the
bountiful, redeeming action of the God made man. This
ministry in the design of Christ becomes the essential factor
in the spread of His Church among the nations and the
ordinary instrument of its conquests.
In this apostolate the first rank is held by the secular
clergy, whose hierarchy forms the great body of the army
of Christ, a clergy distinguished by so many holy, zealous
bishops and priests, and honoured so gloriously by the
recent canonization of the saintly Curé of Ars.
Beside this official clergy have arisen from the beginning
of Christianity companies of volunteers, genuine chosen
troops, whose continued and abundant growth will always
be one of the clearest signs of the vitality of the Church.
First of all in the early centuries came the contemplative
Orders, whose unceasing prayer and severe mortifications
contributed so powerfully to the conversion of the pagan
world. In the Middle Ages arose the preaching Orders,
the mendicant Orders, the military Orders, and the
Orders pledged to the ransom of captives in the power of the
infidel. Finally modern times have seen springing up in
crowds teaching institutes, missionary societies, con­
gregations of all sorts, whose mission is to spread abroad
every form of spiritual and corporal well-being.
Furthermore at every period of her history the Church
has found valuable helpers in the ordinary faithful, such
as those fervent Catholics, whose name to-day is legion,
persons devoted to good works, ardent souls, -who uniting
their forces give without reserve to the service of our
common Mother their time, abilities, and fortune, often
sacrificing their liberty and at times their lives.
A wonderful and consoling spectacle indeed is this
providential harvest of good works, springing up at the
requisite time, and so marvellously suited to the occasion.
The history of the Church proves it ; every new want to be
met, every danger to be overcome, has invariably found
the institution called for by the need of the time.
Thus in our own day we see a number of good works
almost unknown of old spring up to fight against evils

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

3

specially dangerous: Laymen’s Retreats, Catholic Societies
or Clubs for various timely purposes, the Apostleship of
Prayer, the Work of the Propagation of the Faith, the Holy
Childhood, the Association of the Catholic Press, the Total
Abstinence Societies, and other good works, of both local
and general usefulness. All these are forms of apostolic zeal
produced by that spirit which fired the soul of Saint Paul :
“ But I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your
souls 1 "—the spirit which wishes to spread everywhere the
benefits of the blood of Christ.
May these humble pages reach the soldiers of Christ, who
full of zeal and ardour for their noble mission, might by
the very activity they display, run the risk of not being
above all, men of interior Life ! Because of this they might
one day be punished by unexpected failure, suffer serious
spiritual loss, and be tempted to give up the fight and
withdraw discouraged from the field.
The thoughts developed in this book have helped us our­
selves to fight against dissipation of spirit through good
works. May they help others too to avoid this bitter failure
and have their courage renewed, when they see that the God
of good works must never be deserted for the good works of
God ; that St. Paul’s “ Woe unto me if I preach not the
gospel 12 ” does not give us the right to forget " What doth
it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss
of his own soul ? 3
Parents for whom the “ Introduction to a Devout Life”
is not out of date, husbands and wives who feel bound to
an apostolate towards each other as well as to their children
whom they train in the love and imitation of the Saviour,
may also apply to themselves the teaching given by this
little book. May they see more clearly the necessity to lead
a life not only pious but interior, so as to make their zeal
efficacious and spread in their homes the sweet odour of the

1. Ego autem libentissime impendam et superimpendar ipse
pro animabus vestris (II Cor., XII, 15).
2. Vae mihi si non evangelizavero (I Cor., IX, 16).
3. Quid prodest homini si mundum universum lucretur, animae
vero suae detrimentum patiatur ? (Matt., XVI, 26).

4

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

spirit of Christ, together with that unchanging peace which
in spite of the trials of life will ever remain the attribute
of families thoroughly Christian.
2. God wills Jesus to be the life of good works.

Science is proud of its immense success and justly so.
One thing however has hitherto been impossible for it to
accomplish, and will be for ever impossible : to create life,
to produce from a chemical laboratory a grain of corn,
a larva. The wholesale discomfiture of the defenders of
spontaneous generation has taught us the falsity of these
claims. God reserves for Himself the power of creating life.
In the vegetable and animal order living beings can
increase and multiply ; even so their fecundity operates
only under conditions fixed by the Creator. When it is
a question of intellectual life, God reserves this to Himself,
and He it is who directly creates the reasoning soul. More­
over there is a domain of which He is still more jealous,
that of supernatural life, since it flows from the divine life
communicated to the Humanity of the Incarnate Word.
The Incarnation and the Redemption establish Jesus as
the source and the only Source of this divine fife, in
which all men are called to share, " Through Our Lord,
Jesus Christ—through Him and with Him and in Him." 1
The essential activity of the Church consists in spreading
this fife by the Sacraments, by prayer, preaching and all
the other works connected with these.
God does nothing except through His Son. "All things
were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing
that was made.” 12
This is true in the natural order, but much more so in
the supernatural order, when there is question of imparting
His inner life, and sharing with men His own nature in
order to make them children of God.
1. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum—per ipsum et cum
ipso et in ipso (Liturgy).
2. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil
quod factum est. (Joan., I, 3).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

5

“ I am come that they may have life. In Him was life.
I am the life.” 1 How precise are these words I What
light there is in that parable of the Vine and the branches,
in which the Master develops this truth ! How much He
insists on it to impress on the minds of His apostles this
fundamental principle that he alone, Jesus, is the life,
and how much on this consequence, that in order to share
in this life and communicate it to others, they must be
grafted on to the God-Man !
Men called to the honour of working with the Saviour
in transmitting this divine life must then look on them­
selves as mere channels, whose function is to draw from
this unique source.
The apostle who would disregard this principle and
think that he can produce the least sign of supernatural
life without borrowing it all from Our Lord, would make one
think that his theological ignorance was equalled only by
his silly self-conceit.
But if the apostle, while recognising in theory that the
Redeemer is the primary cause of all divine life, were to
forget this truth in his actions, and blinded by a foolish
presumption insulting to Our Lord, were to count but little
on anything except his own strength, this would be a less
disorder than the preceding, but one just as insufferable
in the eyes of God.
To reject the truth, or to ignore it in one’s actions,
always constitutes an intellectual disorder in doctrine or in
practice. It is the denial of a principle which should always
inspire our conduct. Obviously the disorder will be still
more marked if the light of truth, instead of shining clear,
finds the heart of the apostle in opposition to the God of all
light through sin or voluntary sloth.
Now for a man, while busied in good works, to behave
in practice as if Jesus was not the sole principle of super­
natural life is what Cardnal Mermillod has called “ the
Heresy of good works.” With this expression he brandsi.
i. Veni ut vitam habeant (Joan., X, io)—In ipso vita erat
(Joan., I, 4).—Ego sum vita (Joan., XIV, 6).

6

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

the folly of an apostle, who forgetting his secondary and
dependent part would look for the success of his apostolic
work from his own personal activity and talents.
Is not this a denial in practice of a great part of the Treatise
on Grace ? This conclusion shocks you at first sight ; never­
theless when you think it over a while it is only too true.
Heresy of good works ! Feverish activity taking the place
of the action of God ; grace disregarded ; the pride of man
wishing to dethrone Christ’s supernatural life ; the power of
prayer, the plan of the Redemption put in the background,
at least in practice ; this is a situation which is far from
imaginary, and which the study of souls shows to be very
common although in various degrees in this age of natural­
ism ; for nowadays men judge especially by appearance
and act as if the success of a work depended chiefly on
clever organisation.
By the simple light of sound philosophy, Revelation
apart, one cannot help pitying a highly gifted man, who
would refuse to acknowledge God as the principle of the
marvellous talents that all observe in him.
What would be the feelings of a Catholic w'ell versed
in his religion at the sight of an apostle who would set up
a claim, at least implicitly, to do without God in imparting
to souls even the smallest degree of divine life ?
“ What a madman ! ” we would say if we heard a minister
of the gospel making use of such words as these : " My
God, do not raise any obstacle to my enterprise, just do
not interfere with it, and I undertake to carry it through
successfully.”
Our feeling would be a mere reflection of the aversion
which the sight of such disorder provokes in God—the sight
of a presumptuous man carrying his pride to the point of
washing to give supernatural life, to produce faith, to put an
end to sin, to guide men to virtue, to enkindle souLs to
fervour—all by his own powers and without ascribing these
results to the direct, unfailing, universal, and overwhelming
action of the Precious Blood, the price, the cause and the
medium of all grace and of all spiritual life.
Therefore, God owres it to the Humanity of His Son to

THF. SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

7

put these false christs to confusion by paralysing their
works of pride or by allowing them only to pass away like
a fleeting mirage.
With the exception of all that acts on the soul ex opere
operato God owes it to the Redeemer to withdraw the
choicest of His blessings from the apostle who is full of
self-conceit, and to reserve them for the branch that
humbly recognises that it draws its strength from the Vine
that is Christ.
Otherwise, if God blessed by deep and lasting results an
activity poisoned by that virus which we have called the
Heresy of good works, then He would seem to encourage
this disorder and allow its contagion to spread.
3. What is the interior Life?

The words, life of prayer, contemplative life, are applied
in this book as in the Imitation of Christ to the state of
those souls who devote themselves to a Christian life which
is out of the common, but still accessible to all, and in
substance obligatory for all.1
Without undertaking a study of asceticism, let us remind
ourselves that everyone is obliged to accept the following
principles as absolutely essential for the inner government of
his soul.
First Truth. Supernatural life is the Life of Jesus Christ
Himself in my soul by Faith, Hope and Charity ; for
Jesus is the meritorious, exemplary and final cause, and as
the Word with the Father and Holy Ghost, He is the
efficient cause of sanctifying grace in our souls.
The presence of Our Lord by this supernatural life is not
the real presence proper to Holy Communion, but a presence
of vital action like the action of the head or the heart
on the members of the body ; an interior action which God

I. Although not treating here of the phenomena which accompany
certain extraordinary states of union with God, we are convinced
that God often grants special graces of mental prayer to generous
souls who thirst to live a life of union with Him.

8

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

hides as a general rule from my soul in order to increase the
merit of my faith ; an action in consequence hidden usually
from my natural faculties, and which faith alone obliges me
to believe formally ; a divine action which does not interfere
with my free will and makes use of all secondary causes,
persons, things, events, to make known to me the Will of God,
and to offer me the opportunity of acquiring or of increasing
my share in the divine life.
This life begun in baptism by the state of grace, made
perfect by confirmation, regained by penance, maintained
and enriched by the Holy Eucharist, is my Christian life.
Second Truth. By this life Jesus Christ imparts to me
His spirit. Thus He becomes the principle of a higher
activity which prompts me, if I do not obstruct it, to
think, to judge, to love, to will, to suffer, to work with Him,
by Him, and like Him. My exterior actions become the
manifestation of that life of Jesus in me. And thus I tend to
realise the ideal of the Interior Life, expressed by Saint
Paul : “ And I live, now not I ; but Christ liveth in me.”
Christian life, piety, interior life, holiness do not differ
in essentials ; they are different degrees of the same love ;
they are the twilight, the dawn, the light, the splendour
of the same sun.
When in this book we use the expression interior life
we refer not so much to the habitual interior life, which
we may call the principle or capital of the divine life
deposited in us by sanctifying grace, as to the actual interior
life which invests this capital and puts it to work in the
activity of our soul and in our fidelity to actual graces.
Thus I may define it : the state of activity of a soul which
strives against its natural inclinations in order to regulate
them, and which endeavours to acquire the habit of judging
and acting in everything according to the light of the gospel
and the example of Our Lord.
There are then twro movements. By the first the soul
turns away from anything in created things which is
opposed to supernatural life, and seeks, without ceasing,
to be recollected : “ aversio a creaturis.” By the second

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

9

the soul moves towards God and is united with Him :
“ conversio ad Deum.”
The soul wishes in this way to be faithful to the grace
which Our Lord offers her at every7 moment. In a word,
she lives united to Jesus and bears out in action the truth
of the words : “ He that abideth in me and I in him, the
same beareth much fruit.” 1

Third truth. I should be depriving myself of one of the
most powerful means of acquiring this interior life if I did not
strive to have in my heart a precise, lively faith in this
active presence of Jesus in my soul ; if I did not strive to
make this presence within me a living reality, penetra­
ting more and more into the life of my faculties. Jesus
becoming in this way my light, my ideal, my counsel, my
support, my resource, my strength, my healer, my con­
solation, my joy, my love, in a word my life, I shall acquire
all the virtues. Then only shall I be able to utter with
sincerity the admirable prayer of St. Bonaventure, which
the Church puts before me as thanksgiving after Mass :
Transfige dulcissime Domine Jesu . . .

Fourth truth. In proportion to the intensity of my
love for God, my supernatural life can grow every moment
by a new increase of the grace of the active presence of
Jesus in my soul ; an increase produced :
i° By meritorious acts (of virtue or work or suffering
in its various forms, such as privation of creatures, pain of
body or mind, humiliation, self-denial ; prayer, Mass, acts
of devotion to Our Lady, etc.).
2° By the Sacraments, especially the Blessed Eucharist.
It is then certain—and this consequence overwhelms me
by its height and its depth, but especially delights and
encourages me—it is certain that by each event, person
or thing, Thou, O Jesus, Thyself dost present Thyself
personally to me each moment. Thou hidest under these
appearances Thy wisdom and Thy love and dost request
my co-operation to increase Thy life in me.
i. Qui manet in me et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum (Joan.,
XV, 5).

ΙΟ

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

0 my soul, it is Jesus who presents Himself to thee by
the grace of the present moment : every time there is a
prayer to be said, Mass to be celebrated or heard, reading
to be done, acts of patience, of zeal, of renunciation, of
combat, of confidence, of love. Would you dare look the
other way or turn aside ?
Fifth truth.
The triple concupiscence caused by
original sin and increased by each of my actual sins estab­
lishes in me elements of death opposed to the life of
Jesus. Now in proportion as these elements develop they
lessen the exercise of that life. Alas ! they may even reach
the point of destroying it.
On the other hand feelings and inclinations contrary to
that life, even violent and prolonged temptations, cannot
injure it as long as my will is in opposition to them. And then,
consoling truth, they even contribute to its increase, like
every other element of the spiritual combat ; and this in
proportion to my zeal.

Sixth truth. Without the faithful use of certain means
my intelligence would become blind and my will too weak
to co-operate with Our Lord to increase or even to maintain
His life in my soul. Thereupon would come a progressive
lessening of this life and a movement towards voluntary
tepidity. 1 Through dissipation, cowardice, self-delusion,
or blindness, I compromise with venial sin. Therefore 1 am
not secure of salvation, because tepidity easily disposes to
MORTAL SIN.

I. This tepidity is quite distinct from the dryness and even
the disgust which fervent souls sometimes experience in spite of
themselves. Venial faults which steal on us through human frailty
and are resisted or detested as soon as committed do not prove
tepidity of the will.
The soul that is tepid in this way has two wills in opposition ; one
good, the other bad ; one hot, the other cold. On one hand it
desires salvation, and therefore avoids evident mortal sins ; on
the other hand it does not want what the love of God demands ; it
wants on the contrary the comfort of a free and easy life ; for this
reason it indulges in deliberate venial sins.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

II

If I had the misfortune to fall into this tepidity (and still
more, if I went yet lower) I should have to make every
effort to get out of it. I should have to :
i° Revive the fear of God in my soul by putting myself
in a vivid way face to face w'ith my last end, my death,
the judgment of God, hell, eternity, the wages of sin, etc.
2° Revive my compunction by the loving contemplation
of Thy wounds, O merciful Redeemer I In spirit on Calvary'’
I would prostrate myself at Thy sacred feet, so that Thy
living Blood flowing over my head and my heart might
wash away my blindness, melt the ice of my soul and shake
off the torpor of my will.
Seventh truth. I must seriously fear that I have not
the degree of interior life that Our Lord requires of me :
i° If I cease to increase my thirst to live in Jesus, that
thirst which gives me both the desire to please God in every
thing and the fear to displease Him in any way whatever.
This will of necessity take place if I do not employ the
means of prevention, more especially : morning praycr,
Mass, sacraments, office, particular and general examina­
tions of conscience, spiritual reading ; or if through my
fault I fail to profit from them.
2° If I have not the minimum of recollection which
wall allow me during my work to watch over my heart, so that
it may be pure and generous enough not to stifle the voice of
Our Lord, which warns me of the elements of death as soon
as they appear and urges me to resist them. Nowr, this
minimum will be wanting if I do not use the means which
will secure it : liturgical life, aspirations, especially in the
form of supplication, spiritual communions, practice of the
presence of God, etc.
Without this recollection venial sins will go on increasing
in my life and I may not even be aware of it. To hide them and

When this tepidity is not resisted, that very fact shows there is bad
faith in the soul, not complete, but partial ; that is to say there is
one part of the will which says to God : “ On such or such a point
I do not wish to stop displeasing you ” ( P. Desurmont, C.SS.R.,
Le retour continuel à Dieu).

12

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

even conceal from me a more lamentable state of affairs
self-delusion will make use of a seeming piety that is more
speculative than practical, of my zeal for good works, etc.
I shall be responsible for my own blindness, because my
want of this absolutely essential recollection has caused
and fostered it.
Eighth truth. My interior life will be what the custody
of my heart is : “ Before all things keep a guard over thy
heart, for from it springs forth life." 1
This guard over the heart is nothing else than a watchful
care, habitual or at least frequent, to preserve all my actions,
as they are performed, from anything that could corrupt their
motive or their execution.
This watchfulness is calm, at ease, without strain, but
resolute, because it is based on filial recourse to God.
It is a work for the heart and the will rather than for the
mind, which must remain free to carry out its duties.
Far from hampering action this custody of the heart makes
it perfect, by regulating it according to the spirit of God and
adjusting it to the duties of our state in life.
This exercise may be practised at any hour. It is a glance
from the heart over present actions and a quiet attention
to the various parts of an action as we perform it. It is
carrying out exactly the Age quod agis of the Imitation
of Christ. The soul like an alert sentinel keeps watch over
all the movements of the heart and all that passes in the
mind : impressions, intentions, passions, inclinations, in a
word all its interior and exterior acts, its thoughts, words,
deeds.
Custody of the heart demands a certain amount of
recollection ; there is no place for it in a soul given to
dissipation.
By frequently performing this exercise we gradually
acquire the habit of it.
“ Quo vadam et ad quid 1 Where am I going and fori.

i. Omni custodia serva cor tuum quia ex ipso vita procedit
(Prov., IV, 23).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

13

what ? ” What would Jesus do ? How would He act in
my place ? What would He advise ? What does He ask
of me at this moment ? Such are the questions which arise
of their own accord in the soul eager for interior life.
For the soul which goes to Jesus through Mary this
custody of the heart takes on a more affectionate quality
and recourse to this good Mother becomes an almost
continual need for the heart.
Ninth truth. Jesus Christ reigns in the soul when it
aspires to imitate Him seriously, wholly, lovingly. There
are two degrees in this imitation :
i° The soul strives to become indifferent to creatures
considered in themselves, whether they suit its tastes or
not. Following the example of Our Lord it wishes as a rule
only the Will of God in everything : “I came, down from
heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent
me” 1
2° For Christ did not please Himself.12 The soul becomes
more willingly disposed to do what is contrary to its
natural inclination and what is repugnant to it. It practises
then the ” agendo contra ” of which Saint Ignatius speaks in
his well-known meditation on the Reign of Christ. It is
acting against natural inclination in order to tend by prefer­
ence to what imitates the poverty of the Saviour and His
love for suffering and humiliation. Following the expression
of St. Paul the soul then truly knows Our Lord : You have
learned Christ.3
Tenth truth. Whatever my state in life may be, Our
Lord offers me, if I am only willing to pray and be faithful to
His grace, every means of returning to an interior life that
will bestow on me His intimate friendship and enable me to
develop His life in me. Then as this life increases in me
my soul will always be filled with joy even in the midst of
1. Descendi de caelo non ut faciam voluntatem meam, sed
voluntatem ejus qui misit me (Joan., VI, 38).
2. Christus non sibi placuit (Rom., XV, 3).
3. Didicistis Christum. (Ephes., IV, 20).

14

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

trials, and will realise for itself the words of Isaias : “ Then
shall thy light break forth as the morning and thy health shall
speedily arise and thy justice shall go before thy face and the
glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Thou shalt call and the
Lord shall hear ; thou shalt cry and he shall say, ‘ Here I
am.’ And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will
fill thy soul with brightness and deliver thy bones, and thou
shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water,
whose waters do not fail." 1

Eleventh truth. If God calls me to devote my energy
not only to my own sanctification but also to good works, I
must establish this firm conviction before all else in my
mind : Our Lord must be and wishes to be the life of these
works.
My efforts by themselves are nothing, absolutely nothing :
” Without me you can do nothing 12.” They will be useful
and have the blessing of God only if by means of a true
interior life I unite them constantly to the life-giving
action of Christ. Then they will become all-powerful :
I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me.3 But if
they spring from pride and self-conceit, from confidence in
my own talents, from a desire of success, they will be
rejected by God ; for would it not be sacrilegious folly on
my part to steal from God a share in His glory in order
to glorify myself ?
Far from producing want of initiative this conviction wall
be my strength. And it wrill make me realise the need of
prayer to obtain this humility, which is such a treasure for
my soul, since it is a guarantee of God’s help and of success
in my labours.
Convinced of the importance of this principle I will
seriously examine myself during my retreats to discover :
whether my conviction of the nothingness of my activity
left to itself and of its effectiveness when united to Our

1. Is., LVIII, 8, 9, ii.
2. Sine me nihil potestis facere (Joan., XV, 5).
3. Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat (Phil., IV, 13).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

15

Lord's is not getting a little dull ; whether I stamp out
utterly all self-satisfaction and vanity, all complacency in
my life as an apostle ; whether I am steadfast in complete
distrust of myself ; whether I pray God to give life to my
work and preserve me from pride, which is the first and
chief obstacle to His assistance.
This credo of the interior life, once it has become for the
soul the foundation of its existence, assures it even here
below of a share in the happiness of heaven.
The interior life is the life of the elect. It answers the
end which God had in creating us.1
It answers the end of the Incarnation : God hath sent His
only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him.12
It is a state of happiness : The end of human creatures
is to be united to God ; in this does their whole happiness
consist.3 It is a joy unlike the joys of the world, for if
thorns exist on the outside, roses bloom within. “ How much
are poor worldly people to be pitied,” said the holy Curé
of Ars. “ They carry on their shoulders a mantle lined with
thorns, they cannot make a movement without being hurt ;
while true Christians have a mantle lined with fur.”
They see the cross ; they do not see the consolation.45
·
Heavenly state ! The soul already lives in heaven. δ
Like St. Margaret Mary it sings, “ I possess at all times

1. Ad contemplandum quippe Creatorem suum homo conditus
fuerat ut ejus semper speciem quaereret atque in soliditate amoris
illius habitaret (St. Gregory the Great, Moralia, VIII, 12). Man was
created to contemplate his Creator, in order that he might always
seek the vision of His countenance and dwell in the certainty of
His love.
2. Filium suum unigenitum misit Deus in mundum ut vivamus
per eum (I Joan., IV, 9).
3. Finis humanae creaturae est adherere Deo ; in hoc enim feli­
citas ejus consistit (St. Thomas Aquinas).
4. Crucem vident, unctionem non vident (St. Bernard).
5. Semper memineris Dei et caelum mens tua evadit (St. Ephrem).
—Mens animae paradisus est, in qua dum caelestia meditatur quasi
in paradiso voluptatis delectatur (Hugo of St. Victor).
Always be mindful of God and your mind will scale the heavens.
The mind is the soul’s paradise, wherein, while it meditates on
heavenly things, it rejoices as though in a paradise of delight.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

and I hold in all places, the God of my heart and the
Heart of my God.”
It is the beginning of beatitude : Inchoatio quadam
beatitudinis.1 Grace is the seed of heaven.
4. How much this interior Life is neglected.

St. Gregory the Great, a clever administrator and zealous
apostle but none the less a great contemplative, sums up
in the words, “ He lived with himself," 2 the state of soul
of St. Benedict when, at Subiaco, he was laying the founda­
tion of his Rule, which became one of the most powerful
levers of the apostolate that God has made use of on earth.
We must come to quite the opposite conclusion about
the great majority of our contemporaries. To live with
oneself, in oneself, to wish to govern oneself and not be
governed by exterior things, to reduce one’s imagination,
one's feeling, even one’s intelligence and memory to the
part of servants of the will, and to make this will conform
always to the Will of God, is a programme that is less and
less welcome in this century of feverish excitement, which
has seen a new ideal spring up : the love of action for action’s
sake.
To escape from this discipline of the faculties any pretext
is held to be good enough : business, family cares, health,
good reputation, love of country, the honour of one’s
congregation, the pretended glory of God ; all these vie
with each other to prevent us from living within ourselves.
This sort of frenzy for exterior life finally succeeds in gaining
an irresistible attraction over us.
Is it to be wondered at, then, that the interior life is
neglected ?
“ Neglected ” is putting it mildly; it is often despised and
turned into ridicule by those very men who ought to be
the first to appreciate its advantages and its necessity.
Pope Leo XIII wrote a special letter of protest against
1. St. Thomas Aquinas, 2a, 2ae, q. 180, a.4.
2. Secum vivebat.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

I?

the dangerous consequences of an exclusive devotion to
good works.
To avoid the toil of living the interior life priests go so far
as to pay but little attention to the value of the life with
Jesus, in Jesus, for Jesus ; they forget that in the plan of
the Redemption everything is founded on the eucharistie
life no less than on the rock of Peter. The feverish partisans
of the exterior Apostolate are working unwittingly to thrust
what is essential into the background. For them the
tabernacle is not yet empty ; they believe in the Blessed
Eucharist, but no longer see in it a source of life as necessary
for them as for their works. The eucharistie life in their
opinion can hardly be adapted to the demands of modern
civilisation, still less can it suffice for its needs ; the interior
life, which of necessity derives from the eucharistie life,
for them has had its day.
For persons steeped in these theories, and their number
is legion, Holy Communion has lost the true meaning which
it had among the early Christians. We must not be aston­
ished then that, as the intimate union with Jesus in the
Blessed Sacrament almost no longer exists for them, they
have come to consider the interior life only as a mere
memory of the Middle Ages.
Indeed to hear these workers speaking of their exploits
one would think that the Almighty, in whose eyes the
world is but a toy and before whom the universe is only
dust and ashes, cannot do without their co-operation.
Gradually a number of the faithful, aye even priests and
religious, go so far in their veneration for action as to
make a kind of dogma of it ; this dogma inspires their
attitude and their actions and leads them to give themselves
up without restraint to the exterior life. " The church, the
diocese, the parish, the congregation, the work has need
of me,” they would like to say . . . I am almost necessary
to God.” And if they do not dare show such folly openly,
still at the bottom of their hearts lie hidden both the
presumption which is the base of their self-conceit, and the
dwindling faith w'hich has begotten it.
Neurasthenic people are often advised to give up all work,

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

sometimes for a long period. This remedy is for them
unbearable ; their very illness keeps them in a state of
feverish excitement which has become for them a second
nature, and drives them to expend without intermission a
fresh outlay of strength and emotion which increases their
disease.
The same thing frequently happens with regard to the
interior life in the case of men busied in good works. They
despise or rather detest the interior life all the more,
because in the practice of it lies the only remedy for their
morbid state. Rather than do that they strive to bury
these thoughts under an ever increasing avalanche of illmanaged enterprises ; thus they set aside all hope of cure.
The ship drives on full steam ahead. While those who
control it admire the speed at which it goes, in the eyes of
God the boat for want of a skilful pilot is off course and
runs the risk of shipwreck. What Our Lord asks for above
all else is adorers in spirit and in truth. As for the apostolic
worker without interior life, he imagines that he is giving
great glory to God by aiming chiefly at exterior results.
This state of mind explains why in our day, in spite of
the appreciation shown for schools, dispensaries, missions,
and hospitals devotion to God in its interior form by
penance and prayer is less and less understood. No longer
having any belief in the value of hidden sacrifice, these
people do not hesitate to regard as sluggards and visionaries
those who give themselves to the hidden life in the solitude
of the cloister with a zeal for the salvation of souls equal
to that of the most energetic missionaries ; nay, they even
ridicule those people engaged in good works who think it
essential to escape for a few moments from even the most
useful exterior duties to purify and rekindle their zeal
before the Tabernacle so as to obtain from the divine Host
the best results for their work.
5. Reply to a first objection : Is the interior Life lazy ?

This book is intended for persons who are devoted to
good works, and are filled with an ardent desire to toil hard,
but who run the risk of neglecting the measures necessary

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

IQ

to make their devotedness fruitful for souls without lessening
their own interior life.
It is not our object to rouse up those would-be apostles
who devote themselves to repose ; nor to galvanise those
souls whom selfishness deludes into thinking that idleness
is a means of fostering piety ; nor to shake off the indiffer­
ence of those lazy folk, those sleepy heads who in the hope
of material advantages or honours will accept certain work
provided it in no way disturbs their ease or their ideal of
tranquillity. Such a task would require a special volume.
Leaving to others then the task of getting the indifferent
to understand the responsibilities of an existence which God
wishes to be active, and which the demon in collusion with
human nature makes barren by inaction and lack of zeal,
let us return to those zealous souls for whom our pages
are destined.
No comparison can give any idea of the infinite intensity
of the activity which prevails in the bosom of Almighty God.
The interior life of the Father is such that it begets a divine
Person. From the interior life of the Father and the Son
proceeds the Holy Ghost.
The interior life given to the Apostles in the Upper Room
at once inflamed their zeal.
This inner life is a principle of devoted action for any wellinformed person who does not wilfully misunderstand it.
But even supposing that the life of prayer did not reveal
itself exteriorly, it is in itself and of itself a source of
activity, beyond compare. Nothing could be further from
the truth than to see in it a sort of oasis for those who want
to pass their life in tranquil ease. The fact that it is the
shortest road to the kingdom of heaven is reason enough
why the text, “ The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent bear it away 1 ” should be specially applied
to it.
Dom Sebastian Wyart,*2 who was as well acquainted

x. Regnum caelorum vim patitur et violenti rapiunt iilud (Matt.,
XI, 12).
2. Having served as Captain in the Papal Zouaves, he entered the
Order of the Reformed Cistercians whose Abbot General he became.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

with the work of an ascetic as with the fatigue of a soldier’s
life, and who knew the cares of study and the worries
attached to the office of superior, was fond of remarking
that there were three kinds of work :
i° Work almost exclusively of the body performed by
those who are employed in manual labour, such as labourers,
craftsmen, soldiers. This work, he asserted, in spite of what
one may think, is the easiest of the three.
2° The intellectual work of the scholar, the thinker,
in his arduous search for truth ; that of the writer, of the
professor, who take every means to convey the truth to
other minds ; that of the diplomat, the merchant, the
engineer ; the intellectual effort required of a general during
a battle to foresee, direct and decide, etc. This labour in
itself, he said, is far more difficult than the first, and the
saying, “ The blade wears out the sheath,” expresses this
difference.·
3° Finally, there is the work of the interior life. He did
not hesitate to declare that of the three this wras the most
exacting, when taken seriously.1 But it is also the one that
offers the most consolation here below’ ; and it is the most
important ; it goes to make not so much the man’s pro­
fession as the man himself. How many there are of those
who can boast of their prowess in the first two kinds of
work which lead to fortune and success, but w’ho show only
sluggishness, laziness and cowardice, wdien there is question
of trying to acquire virtue ?
The ideal for a man who is determined to acquire the
inner life is to strive to acquire unremitting control over
himself and his surroundings, so as to act in all things only
for the glory of God. To realise this ideal he must strive
under all circumstances to remain united to Our Lord and
thus to keep his eyes fixed on the goal to be aimed at and to
weigh everything by the light of the Gospel. Where ami.
i. Major labor est resistere vitiis et passionibus quam corpora­
libus insudare laboribus (St. Gregory the Great).
Greater effort is needed to resist our vices and passions than to
toil in manual labour.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

21

7 going and for -what ? 1 he repeats with St. Ignatius.
Everything in him then, intelligence and will as well as
memory, feeling, imagination and the senses, depends on
principle. But what an effort it will cost him to reach this
result ! Whether he mortifies himself or allows himself
some lawful joy ; whether he is thinking or acting ; whether
he works or rests ; whether he tends to what is good or
feels aversion for what is evil ; whether he is moved by
desire or fear ; whether he meets joy or sorrow7 ; full
of hope or of fear ; angered or calm ; in everything and
always he steadily strives to steer his course in the direction
of God’s good pleasure. In prayer, especially before the
Blessed Sacrament, he isolates himself still more completely
from things visible, so as to reach the point of conversing
wdth the invisible God as if he saw Him.2 Even in the midst
of his apostolic work he aims at realising this ideal which
St. Paul admires in Moses.
Neither the troubles of life, nor the storms raised by the
passions, can make him swerve from the line of conduct
he has laid down for himself. Besides, if he stumbles for
a moment, he pulls himself together at once and goes
marching forward more steadily than ever.
What a task it is ! Now we understand why God rewards
even here below with special joys the man who does not
shrink from the strain that this work entails.
“ Idlers ? ” concluded Dom Sebastian. “ Are these true
religious, these truly interior and zealous priests, idlers ?
Nonsense. Let the busiest men of the world come and see
w’hether their work can be compared to ours.”
Who does not know this from experience ? We should be
tempted to prefer sometimes long hours of wearying toil
to half an hour of serious meditation, to hearing Mass
wrell, to careful recitation of the breviary.3 Father Faber

1. Quo vadam et ad quid ?
2. invisibilem enim, tanquam visibilem sustinuit (Heb., XI, 27).
3. Quotation from Dom Festugiere, O.S.B. : “ Whatever may be
the difficulties of the active life, it is only the inexperienced who dare
deny the trials of the interior life. Many active workers, very pious
men, admit that often what costs them most in life is not action but
prayer of obligation. They are relieved when the hour for action
strikes.”

22

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

expresses his grief in admitting that for certain people
" the quarter of an hour after communion is the weariest
quarter hour of the day.” When a retreat of three days is
to be made, what unwillingness some feel ! To withdraw
for three days from a life which though busy is comparatively
easy, and live in the· supernatural, making it sink into all the
details of our existence during this retreat ; to force one’s
mind during this time to see everything by the light of
Faith alone and one’s heart to forget everything so as to
aspire to Jesus alone and His life ; to remain face to face
with oneself and lay bare the infirmities and weaknesses
of one’s soul ; to cast this soul into the crucible with no
pity for its angry protests—this is a prospect which repels
a number of people, wrho are otherwise quite ready to face
any fatigue, provided it is only a question of expending
purely natural energy.
And if only three days of such occupation seem already
too exhausting, what will the natural man think of the idea
of a whole life to be made gradually subject to the rule of
the interior life ?
No doubt in this work of woaning the soul grace has a
large share and makes the yoke sweet and the burden light.
But still what efforts the soul has to make ! It is always hard
to get back on to the right road and return to the principle
of “ our conversation is in heaven.” 1 St. Thomas explains
this very w’ell : man is placed in between the things of this
world and spiritual benefits in which eternal happiness
consists. The more he clings to the one, the further he
recedes from the other and vice versa.12 If one side of the
scale goes down, the other goes up just as much.
Now the catastrophe of original sin which upset the whole
economy of our being has made this double movement of
drawing towards and drawing away very difficult to carry
out. To re-establish order and balance in this little world
1. Conversatio nostra in caelis est (Phil., Ill, 20).
2. Est homo constitutus inter res mundi huius et bona spiritualia
in quibus aeterna beatitude consistit, ita quod quanto plus in­
haeret uni eorum, tanto plus recedit ab altero, et e contrario (ia,
2ae, q. 108, a.4).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

23

which is man, and to preserve it by the interior life, requires
work, suffering, and sacrifice. We have a ruined house to
rebuild and then to preserve from a fresh collapse.
What a task it is ! We have a heart weighted with the
burden of a corrupt nature, “ a heavy heart.” 1 We must
tear it away from earthly thoughts by vigilance, self-denial,
and mortification ; we must remake its character especially
in all those points where it is most unlike the features of our
Saviour’s soul, for instance in its dissipation, bad temper,
self-satisfaction, display of pride, or inordinate natural
feeling, harshness, selfishness, want of kindness, etc. ; wre
must resist the allurement of immediate pleasure by the
hope of spiritual happiness, which we will enjoy only after
a long wait ; we must detach ourselves from all that may
make us love things here below, and make a holocaust
without reserve of all creatures, desires, longings, con­
cupiscence, exterior goods, self-will, and private judg­
ment I
And yet this is only the negative side of the interior life.
This is the hand-to-hand struggle, which made St. Paul
groan ; 12 and which Father de Ravignan expressed as
follows : “You ask me what I did during my novitiate ?
Well, there were two of us ; I threw the other fellow out
of the window and then I was alone.” After this ruthless
fight against an enemy ever ready to spring up again when
defeated, we must guard our heart against the slightest
return of the natural spirit, our heart purified by penance ·
and now burning with the desire to repair the insults offered
to God ; it must devote all its energy to keeping itself
solely attached to tiie invisible beauty of the virtues to be
acquired so as to imitate those of Our Lord ; it must
endeavour to maintain an absolute trust in Providence even
in the smallest details of life. This is the positive side of

1. Gravi corde (Ps. IV).
2. Condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem ;
video autem aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis
meae, et captivantem me in lege peccati, quae est in membris
meis. Infelix ego homo ; quis me liberabit de corpore mortis
hujus ? (Rom,, VII, 22-24).

24

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

the interior life ; any one can guess the unlimited field of
work that it opens up.
This work is personal, steady and constant. And yet it is
precisely by this work that the soul acquires a wonderful
facility and astounding quickness in carrying out apostolic
works. This secret belongs to the interior life alone.
The immense labours accomplished in spite of indifferent
health by St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, St. Bernard,
St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Vincent de Paul, fills us with
astonishment. But we are still more amazed to see how these
men in spite of their almost unceasing toil kept themselves
in the most constant union with God. Quenching their
thirst more than others do at the source of life by con­
templation, these saints drew from it a vast capacity for
more work.
One of our great Bishops overburdened as he was with
his duties explained this to a statesman, who also was hard
pressed with work and who had asked the Bishop the secret
of his constant calm and of the admirable results of his work.
“ My dear friend,” said the Bishop, “ add to your other
occupations half an hour’s meditation every morning. Not
only will you get through all your business, but you will
find time for still more.”
Finally, do we not see St. Louis, king of France, finding
in the eight or nine hours which he was accustomed to give
to the exercises of the interior life the secret of his strength
in applying himself with so much care to state affairs and
to the good of his subjects ? So much so that a socialist
orator avowed that never even in our own time had so
much been done for the working classes as under the reign
of this king.
6. Reply to another objection : Is the interior Life selfish ?

We are not talking of lazy persons or of spiritual gluttons
for whom the interior life consists in the joys of agreeable
idleness and who seek far more the consolations of God than
the God of consolation. They have only a false piety. But

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

25

the man who either thoughtlessly or after consideration
declares that the interior life is selfish does not understand
it any better than they do.
We have already said that this life is the pure and
abundant source of the most generous works of charity
towards souls and of the charity which aims at the relief
of suffering on earth. Let us examine the usefulness of this
life from another point of view.
Was the interior life of Mary and of Joseph selfish and
sterile ? What blasphemy and what absurdity ! And yet
no exterior work is attributed to them. The mere influence
upon the world of an intensive interior life, the merits
of the prayers and sacrifices applied to the extension of the
benefits of the redemption were enough to establish Mary
Queen of the Apostles, and Joseph Patron of the Universal
Church. 1
“ My sister hath left me alone to serve,” 2 says the fool
who borrows the words of Martha, and sees only his own
exterior work and its result.
His folly and want of understanding of the ways of God
do not go the full length of imagining that God can scarcely
get on without him. And yet he still loves to repeat with
Martha, incapable of appreciating the excellence of Mag­
dalen’s contemplation, “ Sfieak to her that she help me.” 3
He even cries out, “To what purpose is this waste?” 4
condemning as a waste of time the moments that his fellow
apostles, more spiritual than he, reserve for contemplation
so as to make sure of their interior life with God.
“And for them do I sanctify myself that they also may be
sanctified in truth,”5 replies the soul of the apostle who has
caught the full bearing of this phrase “ that they also,”
and who, knowing the value of prayer and sacrifice, joins to
the tears and blood of the Redeemer the tears of his own
1. In another chapter we shall see that it is the interior life
which gives good works their fruitfulness.
2. Soror mea reliquit me solam ministrare (Luc., X, 40).
3. Dic illi ut me adjuvet (Luc., X, 40).
4. Ut quid perditio haec ? (Matt., XXVI, 8).
5. Pro eis ego sanctifico meipsum ut sint et ipsi sanctificati in
veritate (Joan., XVII, 19).

26

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

eyes and the blood of his heart, which becomes more and
more pure every day.
With Jesus the interior soul hears the voice of the crimes
of the world rising towards heaven and calling down punish­
ment upon the guilty ; it delays the sentence by the
omnipotence of its supplication which is able to restrain
the hand of God when he is about to hurl the thunderbolt.
“ Those who pray,” said the eminent statesman, Donoso
Cortes, after his conversion, “ do more for the world than
those who fight ; and if the world goes from bad to worse,
it is because there are more battles than prayers.”
“ Hands lifted up,” said Bossuet, “ destroy more bat­
talions than hands that strike.” In the midst of their deserts
the solitaries of the Thcbaid cherished in their hearts the
same fire of zeal which animated St. Francis Xavier. “ They
seemed to some,” says St. Augustine, “ to have abandoned
the world more than they should : ” Videntur nonnullis res
humanas plus quam opportet deseruisse.
“ But people
forget,” he adds, “ that their prayers, purified more and
more by this withdrawal from the world, were all the more
powerful and necessary for this depraved world.”
A short but fervent prayer will usually promote a con­
version far better than long discussions and fine speeches.
He who prays is in touch with the Primary Cause ; he acts
directly on it. In this wray he has influence over all secondary
causes, since it is only from the first principle that they
derive their efficacy. Consequently the desired effect is
gained both more surely and more quickly.
Ten thousand heretics according to a credible revela­
tion were converted by a single burning prayer of the
seraphic St. Teresa. Her soul all on fire for Christ could not
understand a contemplative life, an interior life, which
would take no interest in the intense anxiety of the
Saviour for the salvation of souls. “ I would,” she said,
“ accept purgatory till the last judgment to deliver a single
one of them. What would the length of my suffering signify
if I could thus set free a single soul, let alone many,
for the greater glory· of God ? ” Addressing her nuns
she said : “ Bring to bear, my children, on this apostolic

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

27

objective your prayers, your disciplines, your fasting, your
desires.”
And this of a certainty is the work of the Cannelite,
Trappistine and Poor Clare nuns. See how they follow the
progress of apostles, supplying them abundantly with
their prayers and their penances. Their prayers swoop
down from on high on the souls of men, their divine prey, as
far as the Cross advances and the light of the Gospel shines.
Better still, it is their hidden but active love of souls which
everywhere throughout the world of sinners awakens pleas
for mercy.
Here below no one knows the reason for those conversions
of pagans in distant lands, for the heroic endurance of
persecuted Christians, for the heavenly joy of martyred
missionaries. All this is invisibly connected with the prayer
of some humble cloistered nun. With her fingers on the
keyboard of divine forgiveness and eternal light, her silent
and lonely soul presides over the salvation of souls and the
conquests of the Church.
“ I want the Trappists in this apostolic vicariate,” said
Dr. Favier, Bishop of Pekin, “ even to abstain from all
exterior ministry in order that nothing may distract them
from the work of prayer, penance and sacred study. For I
know the great help our missionaries will gain from the
existence of a monastery of fervent contemplatives among
our poor Chinese people.” And later on he said, “ We have
at last succeeded in penetrating a region hitherto difficult
of access. 1 attribute this success to our Trappists.”
“Ten Carmelite nuns in prayer,” said a Bishop of CochinChina to the Governor of Saigon, “ will be a greater help
to me than twenty missionaries preaching.”
Secular priests, religious, both men and women devoted to
the active, but also to the interior life, share in the same
power over the heart of God as the souls of the cloister.
Father Chevrier and Doni Bosco are striking examples of
this. The venerable Anne-Marie Taigi in her duties as a poor
housekeeper was an apostle, just as was St. Benedict Joseph
Labre avoiding the beaten track. M. Dupont, the holy man
of Tours, and others consumed by the same ardour, were

28

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

powerful in their good works because of the interior life they
led. And General de Sonis in between two battles found
the secret of his apostolate in his union with God.
Was the life of the holy Curé of Ars selfish and sterile ?
Silent contempt is all that such an assertion deserves.
Every sensible mind attributes the zeal and the success of
this priest who was without natural talent to the perfection
of his union with God. As contemplative as a Carthusian,
he felt a thirst for souls, which his progress in the interior
life had made unquenchable ; and he received from Our
Lord in whom he lived, a share, so to speak, in the divine
power to make conversions.
Was his interior life without result ? Suppose we had
a Saint Vianney in each diocese ; before ten years the
world would be regenerated ; and much more completely
than it could be by countless good works not sufficiently
founded on the interior life, even if they were supported
by the talent and activity of thousands of apostles and
helped by unlimited funds.
Nowadays the whole power of hell seems more than ever
bent upon fighting against the moral power of the Church
and stifling the divine fife hi souls.
Beyond all doubt, the chief reason for hoping that all
these efforts will prove unavailing is that at no other
period, perhaps, has there been so great a proportion of
souls even among lay people anxious to live united to the
Heart of Jesus and to extend His reign by promoting
around them the interior life. This is very evident in recent
years. A small minority, perhaps, these chosen souls.
But what matters the number, if there is intensity of soul ?
Every apostle should be one of those chosen souls.
No doubt the giving up of the liturgical life and the
ending of its enlightening influence over the faithful have
contributed to give us a spiritual fife which has become
narrow, dry, superficial, exterior, or wholly sentimental ;
it no longer possesses that depth and that enthusiasm
of the soul, which only the liturgy, that great source of
Christian vitality, can give.
But there may be another cause ? If we priests are able

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

2Ç

to produce in souls only a surface piety, without any
powerful ideals or strong convictions ; if we teachers are
more keen to gain successes in examinations and glory for
our school than to impart to our pupils a solid religious
instruction ; if we toil and labour without aiming above
all at the training of the will, so as to imprint on these
plastic natures committed to our care the mark of Jesus
Christ, could not the mediocre results obtained be attributed
to the commonplace quality of our interior life ?
“ A holy priest,” the saying goes, “ makes a fervent
people ; a fervent priest a pious people ; a pious priest
a fairly good people ; a fairly good priest, a godless people.”
The spiritual children are always one degree less intense
in holiness than their spiritual fathers in Christ.
We would not go so far as to accept this proposition, but
we consider that the following words of St. Alpbonsus
sufficiently express to what cause we must assign the
responsibility for our actual situation :
“ The good morals and the salvation of the people
depend on good pastors. If there is a good parish priest
in charge of the parish, you will soon see devotion flourish,
the sacraments frequented, mental prayer esteemed and
practised. Hence the proverb : like pastor like parish,
Qualis pastor, talis parochia. According to the text of
Ecclesiasticus (X, 2) : “ Those who dwell in a state take
after their ruler : Qualis est rector civitatis, tales et habitantes
in ea.” (Homo apost. VII, 16).
7. Objection drawn from the importance of salvation of souls.

But how can I dare limit my works of zeal ? says the
soul devoted to exterior work and seeking for arguments
against the inner life. Can I ever do too much, when the
salvation of souls is at stake ? Does not my activity make up
for everything, and amply too, by my sublime practice of
devotedness ? He who works, prays. Sacrifice excels prayer.
Does not St. Gregory say that zeal for souls is the most
agreeable sacrifice that we can offer to God ? Nullum
sacrificium est Deo magis acceptum quam zelus animarum.”
(Hom. 12, in Ezech).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

First of all, let us fix the exact sense of this quotation
from St. Gregory by borrowing the words of the Angelic
Doctor.
“ To offer sacrifice spiritually to God is to
offer Him something which glorifies Him.
Now of all
things, the most pleasing that man can offer to the
Lord is unquestionably the salvation of a soul. But each
one must first offer his own soul, as the Scripture says :
If you wish to please God, have pity on your own soul.
When this first sacrifice has been offered, then we shall be
allowed to procure for others a similar happiness. The more
closely a man unites to God first, his own soul and then
another’s soul, the more acceptable is his sacrifice. But this
intimate and generous but humble union can be effected
only by mental prayer. To devote oneself to the life
of prayer or of contemplation or to get others to do so,
pleases the Lord more than to give oneself to good works,
or to induce others to do so. And so,” he concludes, “ when
St. Gregory asserts that the sacrifice most pleasing to God
is the salvation of souls, he does not mean by that to give the
active life the preference over contemplation, but he means
that to offer to God one single soul gives Him infinitely
more glory and obtains more merit for us than if we
presented Him with the most precious things to be found
on earth.” 1
The necessity of the interior life should in no way deter
generous souls from works of zeal, provided it is clear that
the will of God makes it a duty to undertake the respon­
sibility for such works. To shun this work, or only to carry
it out carelessly, or to desert the field of battle under
pretext of improving our soul and reaching a closer rmion
with God, would be a grave error and in certain cases a
source of real danger. Woe unto me, says St. Paul, if I
preach not the gospel*
With this reservation let us hasten to say that to devote
oneself to the conversion of souls, while neglecting one’s
own salvation, w’ould be an even greater mistake. God12
1. St. Thomas Aquinas, 2a, 2ae, q. 182, a2, adj.
2. Vae mihi si non evangelizavero (I Cor., IX, 16).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

31

wishes us to love our neighbour as ourselves, but never more
than ourselves ; that is to say, never to the extent of harming
ourselves personally. This in practice is equivalent to
requiring us to take more care of our own souls than of those
of others, since our zeal ought to be guided by charity and
Charity for oneself first (Charity begins at home) is a
theological axiom.1
“ I love Jesus Christ ” said St. Alphonsus de Liguori,
“ and that is why I bum with the desire of giving souls to
him, my own first, then a countless number of others.”
This is putting into practice the advice of St. Bernard,
In all places belong to thyself.i.
2 The same saint declared :
No man is truly wise who is not wise for himself— Non
ergo sapiens, qui sibi non est.
This holy Abbot of Clairvaux, a miracle of apostolic zeal,
followed this advice. Geoffrey of Auxerre, his secretary,
describes him for us : “ He belonged first entirely to
himself, and thus he belonged entirely to all men.” 3
"I do not tell you,” writes the same saint to Pope Eugenius
III, “ to withdraw completely from secular occupations.
I only exhort you not to give yourself up completely to
them. If you are a man belonging to everybody, belong
also to yourself. Otherwise what would it serve you to
save all the others, if you are lost yourself ? Keep then
something for yourself, and if every one wants to drink
at your fountain, do not deprive yourself of drinking there
too. What ! must you be the only one to remain thirsty ?
It would be in vain for you to lavish care on others, if
you neglect yourself. Let all your consideration then
BEGIN FOR YOURSELF AND FINISH IN THE SAME MANNER.

Be for yourself the first and the last, and remember that
in the business of your salvation, no one is more nearly
related to you than the only son of your mother.”4
i. Prima sibi caritas.
2. Tuus esto ubique.
3. Totus primum sibi et sic totus omnibus (Gaufridus, Vita S.
Bernardi).
4. A te tua inchoetur consideratio ne frustra extendaris in alia,
te neglecto ... Tu tibi primus, tu ultimus ... in acquisitione
salutis nemo tibi germanior est unico matris tuae (St. Bernard, 1,
II de Consid., c. III).

32

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

This retreat note of Bishop Dupanloup of Orleans is
very suggestive : “I am so dreadfully active that I am
ruining my health, disturbing my piety, and not increasing
my knowledge. This must be corrected. God has given
me the grace to see that what is especially opposed to the
building up of an interior life in my soul is my natural
activity, and the attraction of business matters. I have
recognised moreover that this want of interior life is
the source of all my faults, of all my troubles, of all my
dryness, my weariness, my bad health of soul.
I have resolved therefore to direct all my efforts to
acquiring this interior life which is wanting in me ; with
that object I have by the grace of God taken the following
resolutions :
i° I will always take more time than is necessary to do
each thing ; this means that I shall not be hurried and
distracted.
2° Since I have always more things to do than time in
which to do them and since this prospect worries me and
drives me to distraction, I will no longer consider the things
I have to do, but the time that I have at my disposal.
I will make use of my time without losing a moment of it,
beginning with the most important duties ; for those that
are left undone, I shall not worry about them, etc.”
A jewel merchant prefers the least fragment of a diamond
to several sapphires. Thus in the order established by God
our intimacy with Him glorifies Him more than all the good
which we may be able to procure for a great number of souls,
but to the detriment of our own spiritual progress. Our
Heavenly Father, who devotes Himself more to the direction
of a soul in which He reigns than to the natural government of
the whole universe and the civil government of all empires 1
looks for this harmony in our zeal.
He prefers sometimes to let an enterprise fail, if He sees
it is becoming an obstacle to the development of divine
charity in the soul engaged in it.i.

i. P. Lallemant, Doct. spirit.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

33

Satan on the contrary does not hesitate to encourage a
success that is purely superficial, if he can by means of this
success prevent the apostle from making progress in the
interior life ; so clearly does his rage guess what it is that
Our Lord values most highly. To destroy the diamond he
is quite willing to give us a few sapphires.

3

PART TWO
THE UNION OF THE ACTIVE LIFE AND THE
INTERIOR LIFE
1. Priority in the eyes of God of the interior Life over the active Life.

In God is life, all life. He is life itself. Now it is not in
His exterior works, for instance in the Creation, that the
Infinite Being manifests this life in the most intense form,
but rather in what theologians call operationes ad intra,
in that ineffable activity of which the end is the perpetual
generation of the Son and the unceasing procession of the
Holy Ghost. This is pre-eminently His essential, eternal
work.
Consider Our Lord’s life on earth, a perfect realisation
of the divine plan. Thirty years of recollection and solitude,
then forty days of penance and retreat, the prelude to His
short public career. How many times too during His apos­
tolic journeys do w’e not see Him withdraw into the
mountains or the desert to pray, He retired- into the desert
and prayed, 1 or pass the night in prayer, He passed the
whole night in the prayer of God ? 12 We have a still more
striking example : Martha desires Our Lord to condemn
the so-called idleness of her sister and thus to declare the
superiority of the life of action ; the answer of Jesus,
Mary hath chosen the better part,3 establishes the pre­
eminence of the interior life. What else are we to conclude
from this but that it is an example given to make us
understand the superiority of the life of prayer over the life
of action.
After the Master the Apostles, faithful to His example,
reserve for themselves first of all the duty of prayer, and

1. Secedebat in desertum et orabat (Luc., V, ιό).
2. Pernoctans in oratione Dei (Luc., VI, 12).
3. Maria optimam partem elegit (Luc., X, 42).
34

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

35

next that of the ministry, the preaching of the gospel,
leaving to the deacons more exterior duties : We will
give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry oj
the word.1
In their turn Popes, holy Doctors of the Church, and
theologians assert that the interior life is in itself superior
to the life of action.
Some years ago a woman of faith, of virtue and of great
strength of mind, superior-general of one of the most
important teaching congregations in France, was invited by
her ecclesiastical superior to consent to the secularisation
of her nuns. Should she sacrifice the religious life in order
to continue the work of teaching, or give up the one to
preserve the other ? Much perplexed, and not seeing how
to find out the Will of God, she set out privately for Rome,
was granted an audience with Leo XIII, and explained
her doubts and the pressure that was being brought to
bear on her in favour of the active work of her order.
The venerable Pontiff after a few moments of reflexion
gave this definitive answer: “Before everything, before any
kind of work, guard the religious life of those of your
daughters who have really the spirit of their holy vocation
and the love of the life of prayer. If you are not able to
preserve both that and good works, God will know how to
raise up in France other workers if necessary. As for you,
by your interior life, especially by your prayers, and your
sacrifice, you will be more useful to France by remaining
a true religious, though exiled from her, than by remaining
in your native land deprived of the treasures of your
consecration to God."
In a letter addressed to a great institution, exclusively
devoted to teaching, Saint Pius X declared his mind clearly
in the following words :
IT> learn that an opinion is being spread to the effect
that you ought to put in the front rank the education of your
pupils and your religious profession only in the second place :i.
i. Nos vero orationi et ministerio verbi instantes erimus (Acts,
VI, 4).

3θ

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

this, it is said, is required by the spirit and the needs of our day.
It is altogether against our wish that such an opinion
should have any weight with you, or with any religious insitution, which like yours has e-ducation as its object. Let it then
be taken as quite settled, as far as you are concerned, that
the religious life far excels the common life, and that if you have
grave obligations to your neighbour in your duty of teaching,
still more important are the obligations which bind you to
God. 1 But the whole reason for the religious life is the
acquiring the interior of life.
“ The contemplative life,” says the Angelic Doctor,
“is by its nature better and more effective than the
active life.” 12
St. Bonaventure multiplies comparatives to show the
excellence of this interior life : Vita sublimior, securior,
opulentior, suavior, stabilior. 3
Vita sublimior.

The active life keeps us occupied and distracted, the
contemplative life introduces us to the region of the highest
truth without drawing our attention away from the very
principle of all life. Principium quod Deus est quaeritur.
Being more sublime it has a much more extensive horizon
and held of action : “ Martha by bodily toil in one place
was busy about a few things, Mary by her charity in many
1. Omnino nolumus apud vos caeterosque vestri similes, quorum
religiosum munus est erudire adolescentulos, ea, quam pervulgari
audimus, quidquam valeat opinio, institutioni puerili primas vobis
dandas esse religiosae professioni secundas, idque aetatis hujus
ingenio et necessitatibus postulari . . . Itaque in causa vestra illud
maneat religiosae vitae genus longe communi vitae praestare ;
atque si magno obstricti estis erga proximos officio docendi, multo
majora esse vincula quibus Deo obligamini (St. Pius X).
To give up for a time the religious habit to keep a school going
is not here blamed by Saint Pius X, provided that every means is
taken to preserve the religious spirit in all things.
2. Vita contemplativa simpliciter melior est ... et potior quam
activa.
3. A life that is more sublime, more free from care, richer, pleas­
anter, more lasting.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

37

places accomplished many things. For she in the contem­
plation and the love of God beholds everything, she devotes
herself to everything, she understands and takes in every­
thing. So that in comparison with Mary, Martha may be
said to worry over few things.” 1
Vita securior.

There is less danger in this interior life. In a life almost
wholly given to action the soul is excited, grows feverish,
scatters its energies, and as a result becomes weak. It has
three defects : sollicita es (thou art anxious 12), worries of
mind [sollicitudines in cogitatu) ; turbaris (thou art troubled),
troubles that arouse the passions (turbationes in affectui) ;
finally, erga piurina (about many things), occupations
are multiplied, whence arises a divided effort in our actions
(divisiones in actu).—One thing alone on the contrary is
laid down as necessary for the interior life: union with
God : One thing is necessary. The rest is and can only
be secondary, something accomplished solely by virtue
of this union, and in order to strengthen it the more.
Vita opulentior.

With contemplation we possess everything, All good
things came to me together with her.34 This is the most
excellent choice of all : She hath chosen the better partA
All merits abound in the life of contemplation. Why ?
Because it increases at the same time the energy of the will
and the degree of sanctifying grace in the soul, and makes
the soul act from a principle of charity.
1. Martha in uno loco corpore laborabat circa aliqua, Maria in
multis locis caritate circa multa. In Dei enim contemplatione et
amore videt omnia ; dilatatur ad omnia, comprehendit et com­
plectitur omnia, ita ut ejus comparatione, Martha sollicita dici possit
circa pauca (Richard of St. Victor in Cant. 8).
2. Martha, Martha, sollicita es et turbaris erga plurima ; porro
unum est necessarium (Luc., X, 41, 42).
3. Venerunt mihi omnia bona pariter cum illa (Sap., VII, 11).
4. Optimam partem elegit (Luc., X, 42).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Vita suavior.

The soul that is truly interior abandons itself to the good
pleasure of God, accepts with the same patience of heart
agreeable as well as disagreeable things, and will go even so
far as to be joyful in affliction, and happy to carry the cross.
Vita stabilior.

However intense it may be, the active life has its end here
below ; preaching, teaching, good works of all sorts, all
end on the threshold of eternity. The interior life on the
contrary will never cease : Which shall not be taken away
from her. Through this life our stay here below becomes a
gradual ascent to the world of light, an ascent which death
comes to render incomparably more glorious and more
rapid.
To sum up the excellent qualities of the interior life we
may apply to it these words of St. Bernard : “ In this life
man lives more purely, falls more rarely, recovers more
promptly, advances more surely, receives more graces,
reposes more serenely, dies more calmly, is more quickly
cleansed and gains a greater recompense." 1

2. Good works should be the overflow of the interior Life.

Be ye therefore perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
(Matt., V, 48). With all due proportion the nature of
Divine action ought to be the criterion and the rule of both
our interior and exterior life.
Now we already know that it is the nature of God to
give, and it is a matter of experience that here below He
bestows His benefits in profusion on all creatures and morei.
i. Haec vita sancta, pura et immaculata, in qua homo vivit
purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, irrogatur
frequentius, quiescit securius, moritur fiducius, purgatur citius,
praemiatur copiosius (St. Bernard, Hom. Simile est . . . hom. neg).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

39

especially on human beings. Thus for thousands, if not
millions of centuries, the whole universe has been the object
of this never failing prodigality, this unceasing shower of
benefits.
God however is nothing the poorer and this inexhaustible
generosity can never in the slightest degree lessen His
infinite resources.
For man God does more than grant him exterior goods.
He sends him His Word. But here again in this act of
supreme generosity, which is nothing else than the gift of
Himself, God abandons none of the integrity of His nature.
Though He gives us His Son, He keeps Him always in
Himself. ” Take as an example the Sovereign Father of
all things, sending us His Word and at the same time
keeping Him for Himself.” 1
By means of the sacraments and especially by the
Blessed Eucharist Our Lord comes to enrich us with His
graces. He pours them forth on us without stint, for He
too is an ocean without limits, the fullness of which flows
over us, without ever being exhausted :
Of His fullness we all have received,.12
Thus we ought to be to some extent apostolic men who
undertake the noble task of sanctifying others : “ Your
word is your consideration ; if it go forth from you let it
still remain. 3” Our word is the interior spirit which grace
has formed in our souls. Let this spirit enliven all the mani­
festations of our zeal ; and although it is spent without
ceasing for the benefit of our neighbour, let it also be renewed
unremittingly by the means which Our Lord offers us for
this purpose. Our interior life ought to be the branch filled
with vigorous sap, of w’hich our works are but the flowers.
The soul of an apostle ! It ought to be flooded first of all
with light and inflamed with love, so that reflecting this
light and this heat it may in turn enlighten and inflame
1. Sume exemplum de summo omnium Parente Verbum suum
emittente et retinente (St. Bernard, III, de Consid. c. III).
2. De plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimus (Joan., I, ι6).
3. Verbum tuum consideratio tua, quae si procedit, non recedat
(S. Bernard, ib.J.

40

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

other souls. That which we have seen and heard, we declare
unto you.1 “ Their lips will pour forth into the hearts of
men the abundance of heavenly sweetness,” says St.
Gregory.
We can now deduce this principle :
THE LIFE OF ACTION OUGHT TO FLOW FROM THE CONTEM­
PLATIVE LIFE, INTERPRET IT, AND EXTEND IT OUTWARDLY,
WHILE BEING DETACHED FROM IT AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE.

The Fathers and Doctors of the Church vie with one
another in proclaiming this doctrine.
“Before allowing his tongue to speak,” says St. Augustine,
" the apostle ought to raise his thirsting soul to God, and
then give forth what he has drunk in, and pour forth what
he has been filled with.”12
“ We must receive before we can give,” says the Pseudo­
Denys,34“ and the higher angels transmit to the lower ones
only the light of which they have received the fullness. The
Creator has established this order with regard to things
divine ; the one who has the mission to distribute them must
share in them first and fill himself first of all abundantly
with the graces that God wishes to grant to souls through
his agency. Then and only then will he be allowed to share
them with others.”
Everyone knows that saying of St. Bernard to the apostle:
“ If thou art wise, thou wilt be a reservoir and not a
channel.” Si sapis, concham te exhibebis, non canalem.1 The
channel lets the wrater run off without holding a drop. The
reservoir on the contrary is first filled and then without
getting empty pours forth its overflow on the fields it fer­
tilises, and this is constantly renewed. How numerous are
those men devoted to good works w'ho are never anything
but channels, and remain dry themselves wrhen they are
1. Quod vidimus, quod audivimus, annuntiamus vobis (I, Joan,
i- 3)·
2. Priusquam exserat proferentem linguam, ad Deum levet
animam sitientem ut eructet quod biberit, vel quod impleverit
fundat (St. Augustine, Doci. christ, I. IV).
3- Pseudo Dion., Cael hier., c. III.
4. St. Bernard, Serm., i8 in Cant.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

41

striving to produce grace in the hearts of men ! “ We have
many channels in the Church to-day but very few
reservoirs,” sorrowfully adds the Abbot of Clairvaux.1
Every cause is superior to its effect ; we therefore have
need of more perfection to make others perfect than we need
for the mere acquirement of our own perfection.12
As a mother cannot suckle her child unless she feeds
herself, so confessors, spiritual directors, preachers,
catechists, professors, must first of all make their own and
assimilate the substance with which later on they will feed
the children of the Church.3 Divine truth and love are
the elements of this substance. The interior life alone gives
us divine truth and charity in such a way as to render them
really a food capable of producing life in the souls of men.
3. Active works begin and end in the interior Life, and
in it find their means.

Of course we speak only of good works that are worthy of
the name. For some in our days do not merit the title; many
are enterprises organised under the appearance of piety, but
with the real object of getting a reputation of very great
ability for their initiators, along with the applause of the
public ; for the success of these, all means—very often
even the least justifiable—are employed if thought
necessary.
Other works there are which merit more respect. They
aim at good results, the means and the end are above
reproach. Still because the organisers had only a wavering
faith in the power of the supernatural life to act upon souls,
the results in spite of strenuous efforts are futile or nearly so.
1. Canales multos hodie habemus in Ecclesia, conchas vero
perpaucas (St. Bernard, ibid.).
2. Manifestum est autem majorem perfectionem requiri ad hoc
quod aliquis perfectionem aliis tribuat quam ad hoc ut aliquis in
se ipso perfectus sit, sicut majus est posse facere aliquem talem
quam esse talem et omnis causa potior est suo effectu (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Opusc. de perf. vit. spir.).
3. Oportet quod praedicator sit imbutus et dulcoratus in se,
et post aliis proponat (St. Bonaventure, Ilius. Eccl. Serm. 17).

42

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

To specify what a good work ought to be let us listen
to the words of a man famous in his part of the country
for his apostolate, and recall a lesson that I had from
him at the beginning of my priestly ministry. I wanted
to start a young men’s club. After visiting the Catholic
clubs of Paris and other French towns, the work at
Val-des-bois, and so on, I went to Marseilles to study the
young men’s clubs of the saintly Father Allemand and the
venerable Canon Timon-David. I like to recall the emotion
of my heart on hearing as a young priest the words of the
latter :
“ Bands, theatricals, lantern lectures, the cinema, etc., I
do not find fault with all that ; in the beginning I thought
they were indispensable myself ; and yet they are only
crutches to be employed for lack of something better. But
the longer 1 live, the more my aim and the means thereto
become supernaturalised ; for I see more and more clearly
that only that work is blessed by Providence which aims at
drawing together God and men by means of the interior
life.
The band instruments are in the attic long since ; the
theatrical properties have become useless ; still the work
prospers more than ever. Why ? Because my priests and I
have a clearer vision than in the beginning, thank God ! ;
and because our faith in the action of Our Lord and His
grace has increased a hundredfold.
Take my advice and do not hesitate to aim as high as
you can ; you will be astonished at the results. Let me
explain : do not merely have as your ideal to give your
young men a choice of decent amusements, which will draw
them aw’ay from forbidden pleasures and dangerous
occasions, nor merely to give them a veneer of Christianity
by a routine attendance at Mass or by their reception of
the Sacraments in a merely passable way at long intervals.
Launch out into the deep.1
Have the ambition of
getting some of these young men, no matter w’hat trouble
it costs, to take the energetic resolution of living as fervent
I. Due in altum (Luc., V, 4).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

43

Christians, that is to say, to make a practice of morning
meditation, a habit of daily Mass if possible, a little spiritual
reading, and as a matter of course frequent and fervent
communion. Devote all your care to giving this chosen
band a great love of Our Lord, of the spirit of prayer, of self­
denial, of keeping watch over self ; in a word, solid virtues.
Develop no less in their souls a hunger for the Blessed
Eucharist. Then gradually stir up these young men to
influence their companions ; train these young apostles to
be straightforward, devoted, full of tact, kind, keen, manly ;
not narrow-minded in their piety, and never under pretext
of zeal falling into the mistake of spying on their comrades.
Before two years have gone by, come and tell me whether
you still need sounding brass or stage scenery to make a
goodly capture of fish.”
“ I understand,” I replied, “ this minority will be the
leaven. But for the others incapable of being raised to this
level, for the general body, the young men of various ages,
the married men even who will be included in the proposed
Club ? What about them ? ”
“ Strengthen their faith by a carefully prepared set of
lectures, which w’ill take up many of their winter evenings.
Your Christians will come away from these talks well
enough armed not only to give full and satisfactory answers
to their fellow clerks or workmen, but also to resist the more
treacherous action of newspapers or books. If you create in
these men unshaken convictions, which in case of need they
can assert without fear of public opinion, you will already
have gained a very creditable result ; but you must take
them further still, and make them pious with a piety which
is true, ardent, assured, enlightened.”
“ Should I admit everyone from the beginning ? ”
“ In your recruits you do not wrant numbers so much
as quality. Let the growth of your club depend on the
influence exercised by the nucleus of apostles, of which
Jesus and Mary will be the centre with you as their instru­
ment.”
“ The premises will be small ; should I wait till our funds
allow us to do better ? ”

44

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

"Well in the beginning large comfortable rooms may
serve as a big drum to advertise and draw attention to the
works you are commencing. But, I repeat, if you know how
to found your association on the basis of a zealous, honest,
apostolic Christian life, the barest minimum in the way of
premises wall always be big enough for all the accessories
that the ordinary working of the club will require. Then
you will soon find out that noise does not do much good and
that what is good does not make much noise. You will
prove for yourself that the Gospel fully understood lessens
the budget of expenses and far from hindering your success
will promote it ! But above all bestir yourself not so much by
working hard rehearsing plays or preparing games, as
by storing up in your soul the life of prayer ; for be sure
of this : the extent to which you first of all live the life
of Our Lord, will be the exact measure of your ability to
kindle the fire in others."
“ In a word you base everything on the interior life ? ’’
“ Yes, all the time ; for thus instead of alloy you are
getting pure gold. Besides, speaking from long experience,
I know you can apply what I say about clubs for boys to any
kind of work : parish, seminary, cathechism, school, clubs,
etc. . . . Great is the good done in a large town by a
Catholic association living the supernatural life ! It acts
like a powerful leaven, and the angels alone can tell how
enormously it helps towards the salvation of souls.
Ah ! if the majority of priests, religious and lay people
too, who are engaged in good works, if they knew the power
of the lever they have at hand, and took as their fulcrum
the Heart of Our Lord, and life in union with that Heart,
they would transform our country. Yes, they would do
so in spite of the efforts of Satan and his followers.” 1i.

i. The zealous Canon who thus spoke to me and of whose con­
versation I cherish a very precious memory, has developed his ideas
in some of his admirable books. Consult : Méthode de direction des
œuvres de jeunesse, 2nd. Traite de la confession des enfants et des
jeunes gens, 3rd. Souvenirs de l’œuvre ou vie et mort de quelques
Congréganistes (Mignard frères, 26, rue Saint-Sulpice, Paris).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

4.

The

interior

Life

and the active
interdependent.

Life

45
are

entirely

Just as the love of God shows itself by acts of the interior
life, so the love of our neighbour manifests itself by works
of the exterior life. In consequence the love of God and the
love of our neighbour cannot be separated ; it follows that
these two kinds of life cannot exist apart.1
“ Therefore,” says Suarez, “ there cannot exist any
state destined to lead us to perfection in a normal and
correct way, which does not share to some extent both in
action and contemplation.”12
The illustrious Jesuit does but comment on the teaching
of St. Thomas. “ Those who are called to the works of the
active life,” says the Angelic Doctor, ” would be wrong in
thinking that this duty dispenses them from the con­
templative life. This duty is merely added to that of con­
templation without lessening its necessity. Thus these two
lives instead of excluding each other are combined together,
call for each other’s help, imply and complete each other.
If one of them is to get a larger share of importance than
the other it is the contemplative life, which is the more
perfect and the more necessary.” 3
Action to be productive has need of contemplation ; and
contemplation, when it gets to a certain degree of intensity,
pours out some of its excess on our active works ; by
contemplation the soul draws directly from the heart of
God the graces w'hich it is the business of the active life
to distribute.
1. Sicut per contemplationem amandus est Deus, ita per actualem
vitam diligendus est proximus, ac per hoc, sic non possumus sine
utraque esse vita, sicut et sine utraque dilectione esse nequaquam
possumus (St. Isidore, Different., lib. II, XXXIV, n. 135).
2. Concedendum est nullum esse posse vitae studium recte
institutum ad perfectionem obtinendam, quod non aliquid de
actione et de contemplatione participet (Suarez I, De relie, tract., I
I, c. V, n. 5).
3. Cum aliquis a contemplativa vita ad activam vocatur, non
fit per modum substractionis, sed per modum additionis (St. Thomas
2a, 2ae, q. 182, a. 1, ad3).

46

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

This is the reason why in a saint’s soul action and
contemplation moulded together in perfect harmony
give to his life a marvellous unity. Take St. Bernard for
example, the man most given to contemplation and at the
same time the most active man of his age. One of his con­
temporaries has left us this admirable picture of him :
“ In him contemplation and action were united to such a
degree that the saint seemed at the same tune to be wholly
devoted to exterior works and still quite absorbed in the
presence of God.” 1
Commenting upon this text of Holy Scripture, Put me
as a seal upon thine heart and as a seal upon thine arm,12
Father Saint-Jure accurately describes the relations of these
two lives with each other. Let us sum up his reflections :
The heart signifies interior life, contemplation. The arm
exterior life, activity. The scripture text mentions the heart
and the arm to show that the two lives may be joined and
agree perfectly in the same person.
The heart is mentioned first, for as an organ it is far more
noble and more necessary than the arm. So contemplation
is much more excellent and more perfect and merits far
more esteem than action.
Night and day the heart keeps on beating ; a stoppage
even for an instant would at once bring about death. But
the arm, though an integral part of the human body, moves
only at intervals. Thus we ought at times let our outward
works rest, but on the contrary never relax in our application
to spiritual things.
The heart gives life and strength to the arm by means of
the blood which it sends to it ; w’ithout this it would be
withered up. So too the contemplative life, a life of union
with God, thanks to the light from above and the constant
assistance that the soul receives from this intimacy with
Him, spiritualises exterior occupations and is alone capable
1. Interiori quadam quam ubique ipse circumferebat solitudine
fruebatur, totus quodammodo exterius laborabat, et totus interius
Deo vacabat (Geoffrey of Auxerre, Vila S. Bern., II, c. v. et 1. III).
2. Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum, ut signaculum super
brachium tuum (Cant., VIII, 6).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

47

of giving them real usefulness along with a supernatural
character. Without contemplation all is weak, barren, and
full of imperfections.
Man, alas ! only too often separates what God has united ;
so that this perfect union is rarely found. It demands besides
for its realisation a number of precautions very often
neglected : to undertake nothing above one’s strength ; to
see in everything habitually and simply the Will of God ;
not to undertake good works except when it is God’s Will
and in the exact measure in which He allows us to devote
ourselves to them, and with the sole desire of practising
charity ; to offer Him our work from the very beginning ;
during the course of our labours often to renew our deter­
mination by pious thoughts and ardent ejaculations to
act only for Him and by Him. For the rest, whatever
attention we give to our work, we must keep our souls in
peace, and always remain entirely masters of ourselves.
As for success, leave it wholly to God and long only to be
delivered from all care, in order that we may find ourselves
alone with Our Lord. Such is the wise counsel of the masters
of the spiritual life to those who want to reach this union.
This perseverance in the interior life, which in the Abbot
of Clairvaux was joined to an active apostolate, made a
great impression on St. Francis of Sales. “ St. Bernard,”
he remarks, “ lost not a whit of the progress which he washed
to make in holy love ... He changed his dwelling place,
but his heart did not change, nor the love of his heart, nor
the object of his love ... he did not change to suit every7
affair of business or every conversation, like the chameleon
which takes the colour of the place he happens to be in ; but
he remained always united to God, always white in purity,
always ruddy with charity and always full of humility.”1
At times our duties will be multiplied to such an extent
that they will take up all our energies without our being
able to get rid of our burden or even lighten it. The con­
sequence may be that we may lose for a time our delight
in this union with God ; but the union itself will suffer by

I. Spirit of St. Francis of Sales, part. 17, chap. II.

48

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

such loss only if we allow it to do so. If this state is pro­
longed, WE MUST SUFFER IT, BEWAIL IT, AND FEAR ABOVE
all to GET used το it. Man is weak and inconstant ; if he

neglects his spiritual life, he soon loses his taste for it ;
absorbed by material cares, in the end he finds pleasure
in them. On the other hand if the interior spirit gives signs
of its latent vitality by sighs and groanings, these constant
wailings, arising from a wound which refuses to close even
in the midst of intense activity, make up all the merit of our
sacrificed contemplation ; or rather the soul realises the
admirable and productive union of the active and the
interior life. Urged by this thirst for the interior life, which
it is unable to slake at leisure, it returns with ardour, as
soon as it can, to the life of meditation. Our Lord will
always set aside for it a few moments of colloquy ; but
He requires us to be faithful to these opportunities and
allows the soul to make up by fervour for the brevity of these
happy moments.
St. Thomas admirably sums up this doctrine in a passage,
of which every word should be pondered : “ Contemplative
life is in itself more meritorious than active life. Never­
theless a man may happen to gain more merit by performing
some exterior act : if for instance on account of the
abundance of the divine love, and in order to fulfil the Will
of God, and for His glory', a man endures for a time the
deprivation of the sweetness of divine contemplation.”1
Notice the importance of the conditions that the holy
Doctor lays down for action to become more meritorious
than contemplation :
The inner spring which drives the soul to action is the
overflowing of its charity ; on account of the abundance
of the divine love. Therefore, it is not a matter of excite­
ment, or of caprice, or of getting away from oneself.i.
i. Vita contemplativa ex genere suo majoris est meriti quam
vita activa. Potest nihilominus accidere ut aliquis plus mereatur
aliquid externum agendo : puta si propter abundantiam divini
amoris, ut ejus voluntas impleatur, propter ipsius gloriam, interdum
sustinet a dulcedine divinae contemplationis ad tempus separari
(2a, 2ae, q. 182, a. 2).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

49

Indeed the soul suffers, sustinet, on being deprived of the
sweetness of divine contemplation.1 Interdum: thus it
sacrifices a part of the time reserved for prayer, but only
for the present ; for a purpose entirely supernatural,
to fulfil the Will of God, for His glory.
The ways of God are marked with wisdom and good­
ness. How wonderfully He guides the soul by means
of the interior life ! This deep sorrow at having to devote
so much time to the works of God and so little to the God
of works, this sorrow felt in the midst of the action and still
generously offered up, has its consolation. Thanks to this
pain all dangers of dissipation, self-love, natural affection
disappear. Far from injuring our freedom of mind and
activity this disposition of soul gives them a more deliberate
character. It is the practical way to keep in the presence of
God, for the soul finds in the grace of the actual moment
the living Saviour, who presents Himself to her under the
guise of the work to be done. Jesus works with her and
supports her. How many people engaged in an active life,
will owe to this salutary7 suffering accepted in the right
spirit, to the persistent but unsatisfied desire to visit the
Blessed Sacrament, to those almost incessant spiritual
communions—how many will owe to all this the splendid
results of their work, the salvation of their souls, and their
progress in virtue !
5. Excellence of this union.

The union of the twro lives, contemplative and active,
constitutes the true apostolate, “ the chief duty of Christi­
anity,” says St. Thomas : Principalissimum officium. 12
1. Since this sweetness dwells in the higher region of the soul it does
not always do away with aridity ; it transcends all feeling :
exsuperat omnem sensum. The logic of pure faith, cold and dry in
itself, is sufficient to allow the will to inflame the heart with a super­
natural fire, with the help of grace.
St. Jane Chantal, one of those souls most tried in mental prayer,
on her death bed left to her daughters as her last will the principle
of faith on which she had based her life : “ The greatest happiness
here below is to be able to converse with God.”
2. 3, q. 67, a. 2, ad 1.

50

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

This apostolate implies souls capable of being fired with
enthusiasm for an idea, of devoting themselves to the
triumph of a principle. When the realisation of this ideal
is made supernatural by the interior spirit ; when our zeal,
in its object, its centre, and its means, is quickened by the
spirit of Christ, then we shall have the life which is in itself
the most perfect, the life above all lives, since theologians
prefer it even to simple contemplation : Praefertur simplici
contemplationi. 1
The apostolate of the man of prayer is the word of the
Gospel conquering with the mandate of God ; it is the
zeal for souls, the spreading of conversions : Missio a Deo,
zelus animarum, fructificatio auditorum.2 It is the vapour
rising from faith, with health-giving exhalations : Zelus
id est vapor fidei.3
The apostolate of the saint is seed sown in the world.
The apostle casts into souls the wheat of God. It is a blazing
fire of love that consumes the earth, the conflagration of
Pentecost spread without hindrance throughout the nations:
I am come to cast fire on the earth. 45
The sublimity of this ministry consists in this, that it
provides for the salvation of others without danger to the
apostle himself : sublimatur ad hoc ut aliis provideat. To
transmit divine truth to human minds ! Is not this a
ministry worthy of angels ?
To contemplate the truth is good ; but to hand it on
to others is better. To reflect the light is something more
than simply to receive it. To give light is better than to
shine under the bushel. By contemplation the soul feeds
itself ; by the apostolate it gives of itself to others : Sicut
majus est illuminare quam lucere solum, its majus est con­
templata aliis tradere quam solum contemplare3
Contemplata aliis tradere : the life of prayer remains the
source of this ideal of the apostolate ; such obviously is the
meaning of St. Thomas.
i.
3.
4.
5.

2. St. Bonaventure.
St. Thomas.
St. Ambrose.
Ignem veni mittere in terram (Luc., XII, 49).
St. Thomas, 2a, 2ae, q. 188, a. 6.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

51

This passage, as well as the words quoted at the end of the
previous chapter, utterly condemns " Americanism,” the
partisans of which dream of a mixed life, in which action
would strangle contemplation.
The text of St. Thomas implies two things : i° that
the soul is already habitually living the life of prayer, and
doing so with sufficient intensity not to have to draw on
anything but its surplus for others ; 2° that action must
not supersede the life of prayer ; and that the soul while
spending itself must be so well trained in keeping wratch over
its heart, that it may run no serious risk of withdrawing
its activity from the influence of Our Lord.
The beautiful words of the Rev. Father Matthew Crawley,
the apostle of the enthroning of the Sacred Heart in the
family, express accurately the thought of St. Thomas :
” The apostle is a chalice full to the brim with the life of
Jesus Christ, the overflow of which is poured out upon souls.”
It is this mingling of action with all its outpouring
of zeal, and of contemplation with its sublime flights
that has produced the great saints : St. Denis, St. Martin,
St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis
Xavier, St. Philip Neri, St. Alphonsus, all of them just as
ardent contemplatives as they wTere mighty apostles.
Interior life and active life ! Holiness in good works !
Powerful union, productive union !
What miracles of
conversion you bring about !
O God, grant to Thy Church numerous apostles ; but
kindle in their hearts, already consumed with the desire of
giving themselves, a burning thirst for the life of prayer.
Grant to Thy workers this contemplative activity, this
active contemplation ; then will Thy w'ork be accomplished;
Thy workers of the Gospel will win those victories which
Thou didst foretell to them before Thy glorious Ascension.

PART THREE
THE

ACTIVE LIFE IS FULL OF DANGER, UNLESS

UNITED

WITH

THE

INTERIOR LIFE AND WITH

PROGRESS IN VIRTUE
1. Active works, a means of sanctification for interior souls, become
for others a danger to their salvation.

A means of sanctification.
Our Lord demands
explicitly from all those whom He associates with His apos­
tolate, not only that they persevere in their virtue, but that
they make progress in it. The proof will be found in every
page of the Epistles of St. Paul to Titus and Timothy, and
in the appeals made in the Apocalypse to the Bishops of
Asia.
At the same time we have proved in the beginning of this
book that good works are willed by God. Therefore to see
in good works taken by themselves an obstacle to salvation,
and to affirm that, although they flow from the divine will,
they necessarily slow down our advance to perfection,
would be an insult, a blasphemy against the wisdom and
goodness of divine Providence.
Hence arises an unavoidable dilemna : either the apos­
tolate, whatever shape it may take, if it be the will of God,
not only does not possess in itself the power of weakening
the atmosphere of solid virtue in which a soul anxious for
salvation and spiritual progress must live, but it actually
always provides the apostle with a means o] salvation, if
his apostolic work keeps within the necessary conditions.
Or else the person chosen by God to work with Him
and who in consequence is bound to answer the divine
call, will have the right to plead his activity, the labour
52

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

53

and the worries spent on behalf of the work commanded,
as lawful excuses for his neglect to sanctify himself.
Now as a consequence of the economy of the divine plan
God owes it to Himself to grant His chosen apostle the
graces necessary to realise the union of absorbing occupa­
tions, not only with the assurance of salvation, but also with
the acquisition of virtues leading on to sanctity itself.
The help which He granted to St. Bernard and to St.
Francis Xavier, He owes in due measure to the most
unpretending preacher of the Gospel, to the humblest
teaching brother, to the most obscure hospital sister. Such
aid is a veritable debt of the Heart of God owed by
Him to His chosen instrument. Let us not fear to repeat it.
Every apostle, if he fulfils the necessary conditions, should
have absolute confidence in his strict right to the graces he
requires. His work gives him a mortgage on the infinite
treasure of divine assistance.
“ He who devotes himself to works of charity,” says
Alvarez de Paz, “ must not imagine that they will close the
door of contemplation in his face, or make him less capable
of devoting himself to meditation. He must on the contrary
hold it. as certain that they help him towards it in a wonder­
ful way. Not only do reason and the authority of the
Fathers teach us this truth, but also daily experience ; for
we may see certain souls who devote themselves to works
of charity towards their neighbour, like hearing confessions,
preaching, teaching catechism, visiting the sick, etc., raised
by God to such a high degree of contemplation, that we may
justly compare them to the anchorites of old.” 1
By this expression, “ degree of contemplation,” the
eminent Jesuit, like the other masters of the spiritual life,
means the gift of the spirit of prayer, which is the mark
of the overflow of charity in the soul.
The sacrifices exacted from us by active works of charity
draw so much supernatural treasure from the glory they
give to God by the sanctification of souls and acquire from
this such abundant merit that, if he wishes, the man
devoted to active life may raise himself every day a degree
I. Vol. Ill, livTV.

54

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

higher in charity and union with God, that is to say in
sanctity.
No doubt in certain cases, where there is a grave and
proximate danger of sin, especially against faith or chastity,
God absolutely wills a man to give up works of charity.
But with this exception He supplies His workers, through
the interior life, with the means of becoming immune to
danger and of making progress in virtue. Let us however
define in what this progress consists. A paradox uttered
by the wise and ready-witted St. Teresa will enable me to
fix my meaning : “ Since I have been Prioress, burdened
with much work and obliged to travel frequently, I commit
many more faults. And yet, since I struggle generously
and work only for God, I feel that I am drawing nearer
and nearer to Him.” Her weakness shows itself more than
it did in the peace and silence of the cloister. The saint
is aware of this, but without worrying over it. The com­
pletely supernatural generoisity of her devotion to duty,
and her greatly increased efforts in the spiritual combat,
enable her to return to win many victories ; these fully
compensate for the faults of a weakness which always
existed but formerly only in a latent state. “ Our union
with God,” says St. John of the Cross, “ consists in the
union of our will with His and is measured entirely by His
Will.” Instead of taking the mistaken view of the spiritual
life which sees no possibility of progress in union with God
except in calm and solitude, St. Teresa judged that it rather
dwells in an activity really imposed by God ; and carried
out under the conditions prescribed by Him, which by
increasing her spirit of sacrifice, her humility, her self­
denial, her ardour, and her devotedness to the kingdom of
God, helped to increase the intimate union of her soul with
Our Lord living in her, giving life to her work and leading
her thus to sanctity.
Sanctity in fact consists above all in charity ; and an
apostolic work worthy of the name is simply charity in
action. Probatio amoris, says St. Gregory, exhibitio est
operis.
Love is proved by works of self-denial, and God
requires from His workers this proof of devotion.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

55

“ Feed my lambs, feed my sheep,” is the kind of charity
that Our Lord demands from His apostle as a proof of the
sincerity of his repeated protestations of love.
St. Francis of Assisi believed that he could not be the
friend of Our Lord, if his charity was not devoted to the
salvation of souls.
Non se amicum Christi reputabat, nisi
animas foveret quas ille redemit1
If Our Lord considers all works of mercy, even corporal,
as done unto Himself, it is because He sees in each one
of them a reflexion of this same charity,12 w'hich inspires
the missionary or sustains the anchorite in the hardships,
the struggles and the prayers of the desert.
The active life is employed in works of devotion to the
service of others. It treads the paths of sacrifice following
Jesus, who is worker and pastor, missionary, miracle-worker,
healer and curer of all, the tender and tireless helper of all
the needy here below.
The active life remembers and is sustained by these words
of the Master : I am in the midst of you as he that serveth.
The son of man is not come to be ministered unto but to
minister 3 ; it goes out into the byways of human misery
speaking the word that enlightens, sow’ing all around a
harvest of graces which growrs up in benefits of all kinds.
Thanks to the clear vision of its faith, thanks to the
intuitions of its love, it discovers in the lowest of the
wretched, in the most pitiful of sufferers, God naked
on the cross, sorrowful, despised by all, the great leper,
the mysterious condemned one, whom eternal justice
proceeds against, pursues and crushes with its blows,
the man of sorrows, whom Isaias saw standing in the
dreadful wealth of His wrounds, in the tragic purple of His
blood, so wan, so lacerated by the nails and by the whips of
the scourging, that He wTithed like a worm that is crushed.
1. St. Bonaventure, Vit. S. Franc., c. IX.
2. As long as you did it to one of these, my least brethren, you
did it to me (Matth., XXV, 40).
3. Ego autem in medio vestrum sum sicut qui ministrat (Luc.,
XXII, 27). Filius hominis non venit ministrari, sed ministrare
(Matth., XX, 28).

56

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Thus we have seen Him and have not recognised Him,
says the prophet. 1
But thou, O active life, dost recognise Him ; and on
bended knees with tears in thine eyes thou dost serve Him
in the poor.
The active life improves mankind ; by enriching the
world with its generosity, its work, its toils, its tears, it
sows merits for heaven.
It is a holy life rewarded by God, for He grants it the
paradise promised for a cup of water given to the poor, just
as well as for the learned tomes of the doctor, or the labours
of the apostle. On the last day he will canonise all the works
of charity before the face of heaven and earth together.
A menace to salvation. How many times alas ! in
private retreats that I have directed have I not noticed
that works of charity which ought to have been for their
organisers a means of progress had become forces that
undermined the whole structure of their spiritual life.
A man very active in good works, invited by me at the
beginning of a retreat to search into his conscience and find
the predominant cause of his wretched state, passed
accurate judgment on himself by making this reply, which
may seem at first sight incomprehensible : “ It is my selfsacrifice which has ruined me ! My natural disposition made
it a joy for me to spend myself in the service of others.
Aided by the apparent success of my enterprises Satan has
contrived for many years to make use of everything to
delude me, to stir me up to furious activity, to make me
loathe all interior prayer and finally to drag me over the
edge of the abyss.”
This abnormal, not to say monstrous state of mind, can
be easily explained. The worker for God, carried away by
the pleasure of giving free rein to his natural activity, had
allowed the divine life in himself to fade out, and thus lost
the divine heat which had been stored up within him andi.

i. Et vidimus eum et non erat aspectus, et desideravimus eum,
despectum et novissimum virorum, virum dolorum et scientem
infirmitatem ; et quasi abconditus vultus ejus et despectus, unde
nec reputavimus eum (Is., LIII, 2, 3).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

57

had made his apostolate fruitful and had protected his soul
against the numbing cold of mere human motives. He had
worked indeed, but far from the rays of the life-giving sun.
“Great strength, most rapid speed, but off the track.” 1
At the same time labours holy in themselves had turned
against the apostle, like a weapon dangerous to wield, a
two-edged sword which wounds the man who does not know
how to use it.
It was against such a danger that St. Bernard warned
Pope Eugenius III, when he wrote to him : “ I am afraid
that in the midst of your countless occupations, you may
lose hope of ever getting to the end of them and allow
your heart to harden. It would be far more prudent
for you to withdraw from these occupations if only for a time,
rather than to allow them to become your master, and
little by little drag you where you do not want to go.
Where is that you will perhaps ask. To indifference of heart.
“ Behold the depths to which you may be dragged by
these accursed tasks, ‘ hae occupationes maledictae,’ if
you keep on as you have begun giving yourself up to them
entirely, reserving nothing for yourself of yourself.” 12
Is there anything more noble, more sacred than the
government of the Church ? Is there anything more useful
for the glory of God and the good of souls ? And yet,
“ accursed tasks,” St. Bernard calls them, if they are going
to hinder the interior life of the one who undertakes them,
What a strong expression, accursed tasks ! It calls for
a whole book, so much does it alarm and force one to think ;
and it might call forth a protest, did it not flow from the
pen of a Doctor of the Church, St. Bernard.
2. The active worker without the interior Life.

We may sum such a one up in a wTord : perhaps he is not
yet tepid, but he is doomed to become so. Now to be tepid,

1. Magnae vires et cursus celerrimus, sed praeter viam (S. Aug­
ustine, in Psalm. XXXI).
2. En quo trahere te possunt hae occupationes maledictae, si
tamen pergis ut coepisti, ita te dare totum illis, nil tui tibi relinquens
St. Bernard, De Consid., 1. II).

58

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

not from spiritual dryness or weakness but willingly, is to
yield consent to habitual levity and carelessness, or at least
not to resist them ; it is to come to terms with deliberate venial
sin, and by that very fact to rob the soul of its assurance
of eternal salvation, disposing it and even leading it to mortal
sin.1 Such is the doctrine of St. Alphonsus on tepidity,
described so vividly by his disciple, Father Desurmont. 12
Now how is it that without interior life the active worker
inevitably slides into tepidity ? Inevitably, I say, and in
proof I have only to quote these words of a missionary
bishop to his priests, words the more terrifying for their
truth because they flow from a heart consumed with zeal
for works of charity and from a mind directly opposed
to anything that smacks of quietism. “ You must be
fully convinced of this,” said Cardinal Lavigerie, ” that for
an apostle there is no half way between complete holiness,
at least faithfully and courageously desired and sought
after, and absolute perversion.”
First let us recall the seed of corruption that concupiscence
keeps alive in our nature, and the war without truce
that our enemies wage against us, within as well as without,
and the dangers which threaten us on all sides.
Next let us try to imagine what becomes of a soul
1. From the teaching of St. Thomas on habits we gather that when
a soul performs an act good in itself, but without the degree of fervour
that God has a right to expect from the state of grace in which
it is, this act tends in a sense to lessen the degree of charity it
possesses. The texts : “ Cursed be he who does the work of God
with negligence,” and " Because thou art lukewarm ... I begin
to vomit thee from my mouth,” are thus explained.
In addition each venial sin although it does not lessen the state of
grace still lessens the soul’s fervour and thus disposes it to mortal sin.
Now without a serious interior life venial sin will abound and there
will be many venial sins that are not even recognised as such,
although they will be recorded against the lax and careless soul
which has ceased to live the life of Vigilate et orate. We thus find
in St. Thomas the explanation of the “ occupationes maledictae ”
noted before, and of all the present chapter (Cf. St. Thomas, ra, 2ae.
q. LII, a. 3).
2. See the note on tepidity, Part 1, no. 3, sixth truth. Cf. Le retour
continuel à Dieu.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

59

which applies itself to apostolic work without being
sufficiently forewarned and forearmed against its dangers.
Fr. or Mr. So and So feels within himself the growing
desire to consecrate himself to works of charity. He has
no experience whatever. But his liking for the apostolate
gives us the right to suppose that he has ardour and some
impetuosity of character, to imagine him delighting in
action and in being in the thick of a fight. We suppose him
to be exemplary in conduct, full of piety and devotion, but a
piety rather of the feelings than of the will, and a devotion
which is not the glow from a soul determined to seek
only the Will of God, but a routine piety, the result of
praiseworthy habits. Meditation, if indeed he makes his
meditation at all, is a sort of day-dreaming and his spiritual
reading an exercise of curiosity without any real influence
on his conduct. Perhaps Satan even spurs him on through
a delusion of artistic taste, which his deceived soul mistakes
for interior life, to enjoy reading treatises wrhich deal with
the higher and extraordinary paths of union with God, a
type of reading which fills him with enthusiasm. Upon
the whole there is little if any true interior life in this soul,
which possesses, I grant, many good habits, many natural
good qualities and a certain desire, loyal but much too
vague, to remain faithful to God.
Here then we have our apostle, filled with the desire of
devoting himself to good works and about to apply himself
to this ministry which is completely new to him. Soon by
reason of circumstances produced by these new occupations
(as anyone accustomed to this kind of work will understand),
soon, I say, countless occasions wrill arise to bring him to lead
a life quite exterior, countless allurements for his silly
curiosity, countless occasions of sin, from which up to then
he had in all probability been protected in some measure
by the peaceful atmosphere of the family circle, the semin­
ary, the community, the novitiate, or at least by the
guidance of a wise director.
Not only is there an increasing dissipation or a dangerous
curiosity to find out about everything ; not only are there
displays of impatience or touchiness, vanity or jealousy,

6θ

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

presumption or dejection, partiality or detraction, but there
is also a gradual development of weakness of soul and all
the more or less subtle forms of sensuality ; all these will
force an unceasing struggle upon this soul so ill-prepared
for such fierce and unceasing attacks. Frequent therefore
are the wounds it sustains.
Besides, this soul with its superficial piety, never even
dreams of making any resistance, since it is already cap­
tivated by the too natural satisfaction of devoting its activity
and its talent to the advancement of such a worthy cause.
Satan too is on the watch, for lie already scents a victim.
Far from disturbing this satisfaction, he does all in his
power to excite it.
A day comes however when this soul catches a glimpse of
its danger ; its angel guardian has spoken, its conscience
protests. Now would be the time for such a one to regain
possession of himself, to examine his state in the calm of a
retreat, to take the resolution of energetically following a
rule that he will adhere to, even if he has to neglect the work
that has become so dear to him. Alas, it is almost too late !
The soul has now enjoyed the pleasure of seeing its efforts
crowned with the most encouraging success : “ To-morrow,
to-morrow ! ” it cries, “ to-day it is impossible ; I have no
time, for I must continue this course of sermons, write that
article, organise that committee, rehearse that play, go on
that journey, catch up with my correspondence, etc.” How
happy he is to reassure himself by means of these excuses. For
the mere thought of facing his conscience has become
unbearable for him. The time has come when the father of
evil can freely encompass the ruin of a soul that has become
such a wiling ally. The ground is prepared. Since activity
has become a passion in his victim, the demon fans it into a
fever ; to forget the tumult of affairs, to recollect himself
seems impossible ; the demon inspires him with a horror of
doing so ; and in addition takes care to intoxicate his soul
with fresh plans which he cleverly colours with the attractive
motives of the glory of God, the greater good of souls.
And now this man, a short time ago so full of virtuous
habits, goes from weakness to weakness and is reaching a

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

61

place where he will put his foot on an incline too steep for
him to be able to keep himself from falling. In the depths of
his heart he is miserable and has a vague feeling that all this
agitation is not according to the Heart of God, so he plunges
more wildly than ever into the whirlpool of work to drown his
remorse. Faults are piled up to a fatal degree. What
formerly troubled his upright conscience is now despised
as an empty scruple. lie is fond of proclaiming that a
man must move with the times, light the enemy on equal
terms; and so he is loud in praise of active virtues, having
nothing but contempt for what he disdainfully calls the
piety of a bygone day. His undertakings, besides, prosper
more than ever, people praise them loudly. Each day sees
new successes. “ God Blesses our Work," says the deluded
soul, over whom to-morrow the angels of heaven will be
weeping on account of a mortal sin.
How did this soul fall into such a lamentable state ?
Through INEXPERIENCE, PRESUMPTION, VANITY, CARELESS­
NESS, cowardice. Without reflecting on its inadequate
spiritual equipment it plunged at random into the midst
of dangers. Its store of interior life exhausted, it found
itself in the position of the incautious swimmer who,
having no longer the strength to struggle against the current,
is swept away to the abyss.
Let us pause a moment to measure the length of the road
traversed and to estimate the depth of the fall. Let us
proceed methodically and count the stages.
First stage. The soul has first of all gradually lost (if
she ever had them) the clearness and strength of her convic­
tions about the supernatural life, the supernatural world and
the economy of the plan and of the action of Our Lord with
regard to the relation between the interior life of the apostle
and his work. She no longer sees these works except through
a delusive mirage. In a subtle way vanity serves as a
pedestal for his sham good intentions ; “ 1 can’t help it.
God has endowed me with the gift of oratory, thanks be to
His goodness,” was the reply made to those who were
flattering him by a certain preacher swollen with vanity and
self-conceit, and completely given to exterior things. The

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

glory, and personal interests occupy the foreground. The
text, If I pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ,1
becomes for her a phrase without sense.
Besides ignorance of first principles, the want of
a supernatural basis, which is the mark of this stage,
has for direct results : dissipation, forgetfulness of the
presence of God, giving up ejaculatory prayers and custody
of the heart, want of delicacy of conscience and regularity
of life. Tepidity is not far off, if it has not already begun.
Second stage. If the apostolic worker is a supernatural
man, being a slave of duty and greedy of his time, he will
regulate its use and live by rule. He will realise that other­
wise he would be living a mere natural life of capricious
ease from morning to night.
But if his work has no supernatural basis he will soon
know this from sad experience. Since there is no spirit of
faith in the use he makes of his time, he gives up his spiritual
reading. Or else if he still reads, he no longer studies. It
was all very well for the Fathers of the Church to prepare
their homily for Sundays. He prefers, unless his vanity
is at stake, to speak extempore, and always, as he at least
believes, with rare success. He prefers magazines to books ;
he has no method ; he flutters about from one thing to
another. He escapes from the law of work, the great law
of preservation, of morality and of penance, by wasting
his free time and by the extreme pains he takes to provide
himself with amusements.
Anything that would interfere with his liberty of
behaviour, he considers tiresome and purely theoretical.
He has not time enough for all his works and social obliga­
tions, or even for what he thinks necessary7 for his health
and his recreation. The devil prompts him : there is really
too much time given to exercises of piety, meditation,
office, Mass, the work of the ministry ; he must cut out
something. And invariably he begins by cutting short his
meditation, by not making it regularly ; and perhaps, alas !
he comes little by little to the point of dropping iti.

i. Si hominibus placerem, servus Christi non essem (Gal., i, io).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

63

altogether. Getting up at a fixed hour, the indispensable
requisite for remaining faithful to meditation, is all the more
logically given up, because he goes to bed rather late for
various reasons.
Now for a man in the active life giving up meditation is
the same as throwing one’s weapons away in the presence of
the enemy. “ Except by a miracle,” says St. Alphonsus,
“ without meditation we will end up in mortal sin.” And
St. Vincent de Paul : “ A man without meditation is no
good for anything, he cannot even deny himself in anything ;
his life is merely the life of an animal.” Some authors quote
these words of St. Teresa : “ Without mental prayer one
becomes either a brute or a devil. If you do not make your
meditation, you have no need of the devil to cast you into
hell ; you throw yourself in. On the contrary, give me the
greatest sinner, if he makes only a quarter of an hour’s
meditation every day, he will be converted ; if he perseveres
he is sure of eternal salvation.” The experience of priests or
religious devoted to a life of activity is enough to prove
that an apostolic worker will inevitably fall into tepidity
of the will, when under pretext of work or fatigue or
through distaste, idleness, or some delusion, he cuts down,
without necessity, his meditation to ten or fifteen minutes,
instead of binding himself to half an hour’s serious medita­
tion, so as to draw from it the impulse and the strength
necessary for the day’s w’ork.
In this stage it is no longer a matter of avoiding imper­
fections ; there is a swarm of venial sins. The ever growing
impossibility of watching over his heart hides the greater
number of these faults from his conscience ; he has put
himself in the position of no longer being able to see. How will
he strive against what he no longer regards as defects ? His
lingering disease is already far advanced. The consequence
of this second stage is marked by the giving up of medita­
tion and of all regularity of life.
Third stage, of which the symptom is negligence in the
recitation of the breviary. The prayer of the Church which
ought to give the soldier of Christ the joy and strength
to raise himself up from time to time, to take with God

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

a flight high above the visible world, has become a weari­
some task. The liturgical life, source of light, of joy, of
strength, of merits and graces for himself and for the faithful,
is now only a disagreeable duty, grudgingly discharged.
The interior virtue of religion is more than affected by the
disease. The fever for active work has caused it to dry' up.
The soul sees the worship of God only in so far as it can be
bound up with striking exterior display. The obscure and
personal but heartfelt sacrifice of praise, supplication,
thanksgiving, reparation, no longer means anything to such
a man. Formerly during the recitation of his vocal prayers
he used to say with legitimate pride, as if he too wished to
rival a choir of monks, I too shall sing to Thee in the sight
of the angels. 1 The sanctuary of this soul once filled with
the sweet odour of the liturgical life, has become a public
square where noise and disorder reign. Exaggerated care
for his work and habitual dissipation is the cause of mul­
tiplying his distractions tenfold ; to these besides he offers
less and less resistance. The Lord is not in noise.2
Genuine prayer is not to be found in this soul. He prays
in haste, with unjustifiable interruptions, carelessness,
sleepiness, delays, putting it off till the last moment at the
risk of falling asleep, and perhaps skipping parts of the office
here and there ; all this transforms what should be medicine
for the soul into poison, and the offering of praise into a
litany of sms, and sins which perhaps may end up by being
more than venial.
Fourth stage. Everything links up. Deep calls to deep.
Now it is the sacraments I They are received or admin­
istered as something worthy of respect no doubt, but there
is no longer any sense of the life-giving power contained in
them. The presence of Jesus in the tabernacle or in the holy
tribunal of penance is no longer capable of making the
strings of faith vibrate to the innermost parts of his soul.
The Mass itself, the sacrifice of Calvary, has become a
closed garden. Of course, the soul is still far from sacrilege,
we are willing to believe. But it no longer feels the warmth
1. In conspectu angelorum psallam tibi (Ps. XIII, 6).
2. Non in commotione Dominus (i Reg., XIX, 2).

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65

of the Precious Blood. Its consecrations remain cold and
its communions tepid, careless, superficial. Familiarity
without respect ; routine and perhaps repugnance are lying
in wait for him already.
Thus deformed the apostle lives outside Our Lord, and
no longer enjoys those confidential words which Jesus speaks
only to His true friends.
Ànd yet at long intervals the Heavenly Friend sends to
him a feeling of remorse, a light, an appeal. He waits, He
knocks, He asks to be let in : “ Come to me, poor wounded
soul, come, 1 will heal thee : Venite ad me omnes ... et
ego reficiam vos 1 ; for 1 am thy salvation : Salus tua ego
sum.2 I am come to save that which was lost : Venit Filius
hominis quaerere et salvum facere quod perierat.” 34 This
voice so gentle, so tender, so discreet, so urgent, brings
moments of emotion, of fleeting desires to do better. But the
door of the heart is only slightly opened and Jesus cannot
enter ; these good movements of the tepid soul come to
nothing. Grace comes in vain and will turn against the
soul ; perhaps even in His mercy, to avoid piling up stores
of wrath, Jesus will cease to speak : Fear Jesus passing
by and never returning*
Now let us go further and penetrate even into the
interior of this soul whose features w’e are sketching.
Thoughts play an important part in the supernatural
life as wrell as in the moral and intellectual life. Now what
are the thoughts that fill the mind of this apostle and
what direction do they take ? Human, earthly, vain,
superficial, selfish, they turn more and more to self or
to creatures, even though they have the appearance of
devotion to duty and sacrifice.
This disorder in the mind is accompanied by a correspond­
ing unruliness in the imagination. No power of the mind has
more need of being kept under control. But he has not the
least notion of reining it in ; so, throwing the bridle on its
neck, he gives it free rein ; it runs wild and commits all

I. Matt., XI, 28.
2. Ps. XXV, 3.
3. Luc., XIX, 10.
4. Time Jesum transeuntem et non revertentem.
4

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

sorts of folly. The gradual dropping of mortification of the
eyes permits this crazy faculty of his soul to find a pasturage
almost everywhere.
This disorder pursues its course. From the intelligence
and the imagination it gets down into the affections. The
heart is fed with idle fancies. What will become of this
dissipated heart which hardly troubles itself about the
Kingdom of God within itself and has become unmindful
of the joy of converse with Our Lord, of the sublime
poetry of the mysteries of religion, of the severe beauty
of the liturgy, and of the attractions of the Blessed
Eucharist ; unmindful in a wTord of the influence of the
supernatural world. Will lie become wrapped up in himself ?
This would be suicide. No ! he must have affection ;
no longer finding happiness in God he wall love creatures.
He is at the mercy of the first occasion for such love. He
flings himself into it passionately without troubling himself
perhaps about the most sacred vows, or about the highest
interests of the Church, or even his own reputation. Let
us suppose that the prospect of apostasy would still upset
him very deeply, the scandal to souls alarms him less.
No doubt for anyone to go to such extremes is, thank
God, a rare exception. But anyone can see that weariness
in the service of God, and indulging in forbidden pleasures,
may drag the heart down to the worst misfortunes. Starting
from the fact that “ the sensual man perceiveth not the
things that are of the Spirit of God,” 1II,
*IV,
of necessity we must
end up with “ He who was reared in the purple has em­
braced dung.” 2 Self-willed delusion, blindness of the mind,
hardening of the heart go by regular stages. We must be
ready for anything.
To crown his misfortunes, the will though not destroyed
is reduced to a state of weakness, of effeminacy that
makes it almost powerless. Do not ask him to fight ener­
getically ; that wOuld be a waste of time. But ask him

1. Animalis homo non intelligit quae sunt spiritus Dei (i Cor.,
II, 14).
2. Qui nutriebatur in croceis, amplexatus est stercora (Jerem.,
IV, 5).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

67

to try and make even a small effort and you will get only
this despairing reply : I cannot. Now in this case to
be unable to make an effort means that a man is hastening
to dreadful calamity.
A famous agnostic dared to say that he was unable to
believe that certain people could be faithful to their vows
and obligations, as they were forced by their works to mix
freely with the life of the world. “ They are walking,’
he added, “ on a tight rope. Their fall is inevitable.” To
this insult to God and the Church we must answer un­
hesitatingly that these falls can most certainly be avoided if
we know how to make use of the precious balancing pole of
the interior life : it is only the abandonment of this infallible
instrument that brings dizziness and the fatal false step into
space.
The famous Jesuit, Father Lallemant, goes back to the
primary cause of these disasters when he says : “ There
are many apostolic men who do nothing purely for God
alone. In everything they seek themselves and always
secretly join their own interest to the glory of God in their
best enterprises.
They thus pass their lives in this
mingling of nature and grace. At last comes death and
only then do they open their eyes, see their delusion and
tremble at the approach of the formidable judgment of
God.” 1
Assuredly it is far from my mind to count among those
apostles who preach for their own glory'·, that zealous and
energetic missionary, the celebrated Abbé Combalot. But it
may not be out of place to quote the words he uttered at the
approach of death. The priest said to him after having
administered the last sacraments : “ Have confidence ; you
have led an upright priestly life, and your thousands of
sermons will plead before God as an exucse for that want of
interior life of which you speak.” “ My sermons ! ” cried
the dying priest, “ Oh ! I see them now in their proper
light I My sermons ! Ah I if Our Lord does not mention
them first, it is not I that will begin.” In the light of

I. Docl. spirit.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

eternity this venerable priest saw in his best works of zeal,
imperfections which alarmed his conscience, and which he
attributed to a lack of interior life.
Cardinal Perron at the hour of his death expressed his
sorrow at having been more devoted during his life to
to improving his mind by science than his will by the
exercises of the interior life.1
O Jesus, Thou Apostle above all others, has anyone ever
spent himself as much as Thou when Thou didst dwell
amongst us ? To-day Thou dost give Thyself more gener­
ously still by Thy Eucharistic life without leaving Thy
Father’s bosom. May we never forget that Thou wilt not
recognise our labours unless they are inspired by a really
supernatural principle deeply rooted in Thine adorable
Heart !
3. The interior Life is the basis oî the holiness of the apostolic worker.

Since holiness is nothing else than the interior life carried
to the closest union of the human will with the will of
God, the soul as a rule, unless by a miracle of grace, does
not reach this point until it has gone through all the stages
of the purgative and illuminative life by means of continuous
and laborious efforts. Notice as a law of the spiritual life
that in the process of sanctification the action of God and
that of the soul are in inverse proportion to one another,
the operations of God playing from day to day a more
important part, while the activity of the soul grows less
and less.
The activity of God is different in the souls of the perfect
from his activity in the souls of beginners. In the latter,
being less apparent at first, it chiefly consists in arousing
and sustaining vigilance and prayer, thus offering beginners
the means of obtaining grace for new efforts. With the
perfect, God acts in a fuller way and sometimes only asks
a simple consent which will imite the soul to His supreme
action.i.
i. P. Lallemant, Doct. spir.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

69

The beginner, and even the tepid soul and the sinner,
whom God wishes to draw nearer to Himself, feel themselves
first of all moved to seek God, then to prove to Him more
and more their desire of pleasing Him, and finally to rejoice
in all the providential opportunities which permit them to
lay aside their self-love and to establish, in its place the
reign of Jesus alone. In this case the divine action is limited
to promptings and to help.
In the saint this action is much more powerful, and much
more complete. In the midst of weariness and suffering,
steeped in humiliations or crushed by illness, the saint has
in fact only to yield to the divine action ; without it
he would be unable to endure the sufferings which
according to the designs of Providence are to bring him
to perfection. In him is fully realised the text : God
puts all things under him, that God may be all in all.1 He
lives so completely in Jesus that he no longer seems to live
by himself. Such was the testimony of the apostle con­
cerning himself : I live now not I, but Christ liveth in me.12
It is the spirit of Jesus alone that thinks, decides, acts.
No doubt this union is far from reaching the intensity that
it will possess in heaven, but this state already reflects
the marks of the beatific union.
Is there any need to say that this is far from being the case
with the beginner or the tepid or even with the fervent ?
There is a whole series of means adapted to their state,
means which will serve equally one state as well as the other.
But the beginner like an apprentice will have hard work,
will get on slowly, and after all produce indifferent wrork.
The fervent man already a skilled workman, will carry out
his work quickly and well, and with less difficulty will gain
more profit.
But whatever class of apostles we have in mind, the
intentions of Providence with regard to them remain always
the same. God wishes always and for all these souls that
their ministry be for them a means of sanctification. But,
1. Deus subjicit sibi omnia, ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus (I Cor.,
XV, 28).
2. Vivo ego jam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus (Gal., II, 20).

JQ

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

while for the soul that has reached sanctity the apostolate
holds no serious danger, does not exhaust her strength and
gives her countless means of growing in grace and merit, we
have seen with what ease it produces spiritual anemia and
as a result a set-back on the road to perfection in souls not
closely united with God ; in such souls the liking for medita­
tion, the spirit of sacrifice and especially the habit of the
custody of the heart, are but poorly developed.
This habit of vigilance God never refuses to earnest prayer
and repeated proofs of fidelity. He bestows it without
measure on the generous soul, who by beginning again
continually has gradually moulded her faculties and made
them supple in responding to inspirations from on high
and capable of joyfully accepting contradiction and failure,
loss and disappointment.
We shall now consider six principal features of the way
in which this interior life, slowly filtering into the soul,
establishes it in genuine virtue.

(a) It protects the soul against the dangers of the
exterior ministry.

“It is more difficult to live correctly when one has
charge of souls, on account of dangers from without.”1 We
have spoken of this danger in the foregoing chapter.
The apostle who has no interior spirit is unaware of the
dangers arising from the ministry ; he thus resembles an
unarmed traveller, passing through a forest infested
with brigands. The true apostle dreads these dangers and
takes precautions against them every day by a serious
examination of conscience, which reveals to him his weak
points.
If the interior life did nothing more than enable a mani.

i. Difficilius est bene conversari cum cura animarum propter
exteriora pericula (St. Thomas, 2a, 2ae, q. 184, a. 8).
Quo amplior atque diffusior actio sacerdotis curati, eo periculosior
et exitiosior nisi spiritu contemplationis fulciatur (Card. Fischer,
Opusc. de Vita conietnp.).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

71

to be fully aware of his incessant danger, it. would greatly
contribute to save him from the dangers of the road ;
for a danger foreseen is a danger avoided. But the interior
life is much more useful than this. It becomes for the man
engaged in the ministry a complete set of armour : Put
you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand
against the deceits of the devil,1 divine armour which
enables him not only to resist temptations and avoid the
snares of the devil : that you may be able to resist in the
evil day, but also to sanctify all his actions : and to stand
in all things perfect.
It girds him with purity of intention which fixes on God
all his thoughts, desires and affections and prevents him
from wandering in search of his own comfort, pleasure and
distractions : having your loins girt about with truth.
It puts on him the breastplate of charity, which gives
him a manly heart and protects him against the seductions
of creatures and of the spirit of the world as well as against
the assaults of the demon : having on the breastplate of
justice.
He is shod with discretion and reserve, so that in all his
goings and comings he may know how to combine the
simplicity of the dove with the cunning of the serpent :
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Satan and the world will try to deceive his intellect
with the sophisms of false doctrines, to sap his energy
with the bait of lax principles. To these lies the interior life
opposes the shield of faith, which keeps ever before our eyes
the splendour of the divine ideal : in all things taking the
shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all
the fiery darts of the most wicked one.

1. Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand
against the deceits of the devil. . that you may be able to resist in
the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast­
plate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace ; in all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith
you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked
one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword
of the spirit, which is the word of God (Ephes., VI, 11-17).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

The knowledge of his own nothingness, care for his own
salvation, the conviction that he can do nothing without
the help of grace, and the consequent need of prayer, earnest,
humble and frequent, the more powerful in proportion to
its confidence,—all these are to the soul a helmet of bronze
against which the blows of pride are dulled : take unto
you the helmet of salvation.
Thus armed from head to foot, the apostle can fearlessly
devote himself to the ministry ; and his zeal, enkindled by
meditation on the Gospel, strengthened by the bread of the
Holy Eucharist, will become a sword that will serve him to
fight his enemies and to conquer a host of souls for Christ :
and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.
(b) It renews the strength of the apostle.

Only a saint, as we have said, is able to keep intact
the interior spirit and to direct his thoughts and intentions
always to God alone in the midst of the worries of business
and in spite of constant contact with the wrorld. In him
all outlay of exterior activity is so supernaturaliscd and
inflamed with charity that far from lessening his spiritual
strength, it necessarily brings about an increase of grace.
In other people, even the fervent, the supernatural life
seems to suffer loss at the end of a longer or shorter time
devoted to exterior occupations. Too preoccupied with
the good to be done to their neighbour, too much absorbed
by mere natural pity for woes to be alleviated, their less
perfect hearts seem to send up to God a flame less bright,
dimmed by the smoke of many imperfections.
God docs not punish this weakness by any lessening of His
grace, nor is He severe on these failings, provided that there
is a serious attempt at vigilance and prayer while at
work, and that when the work is done the soul is ready
to return to Him to rest and renew its energy. This habit
of beginning again continually, which is necessitated by
the combination of the active and the interior lives, gives
joy to His paternal heart.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

73

Besides, in those who really put up a fight these imper­
fections become less serious and less frequent, according as
the soul learns to have ceaseless recourse to Jesus whom we
shall always find ready to say to us : “ Return to me,
poor panting heart, thirsting with the length of the chase.
Come and find in these living waters the secret of fresh
energy for new journeys. Withdraw awhile from the crowd
which is unable give you the food which your exhausted
strength requires : Come apart and rest a little.1 In the
peace and quiet that you will enjoy with Me, not only
will you renew your early vigour, but you will learn to do
more with less expense of toil. Elias, disheartened and
discouraged, found his strength renewed in an instant by
the mysterious bread. And so, my Apostle, in this enviable
task of co-redeemer, which it has pleased Me to entrust to
you, I offer you both by My word which is all life, and by My
grace, that is by My Precious Blood, the chance to direct
your mind once again towards the horizon of eternity, and to
renew the covenant of friendship between your heart and
Mine. Come, I will console you for the sorrow's and dis­
appointments of the journey. And in the furnace of My
love you shall temper once again the steel of your resolve :
Come to me all you that labour and are burdened and I will
refresh you.123

(c) It multiples his energy and his merits.

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace which is
in Christ Jesiis? Grace is a participation in the life of the
God-Man. The creature possesses a certain measure of
strength and in a sense can be qualified and defined as
a force ; but Jesus is power in its very essence. In Him

1. Venite seorsum et requiescite pusillum (Marc., VI, 31).
2. Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis et ego reficiam
vos (Matt., XI, 28). Concerning these appeals of Our Ixjrd to souls
of good, will see what is said on page 211, about custody of the heart.
3. Tu ergo fili, confortare in gratia, quae est in Christo Jesu
(II Tim., II, I).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

dwells the fullness of the Father’s power, the omnipotence of
divine action, and His spirit is called the spirit of power.
“ O Jesus,” cries St. Gregory of Nazianzen, '* in Thee
alone dwells all my strength.” “ Outside of Christ,” says
St. Jerome in his turn, “ I am powerless.”
The Seraphic Doctor in the fourth book of his Com­
pendium Theologiae names the five chief characteristics
which the power of Jesus assumes in us.
The first is that it undertakes difficult tasks and faces
obstacles with courage ; Work manfully and let your heart
be strong.1
The second is contempt for the things of this earth. I
have suffered the loss of all things and count them but as dung,
that I may gain Christ.123
4
The third is patience in trials and tribulations : Love
strong as death2
The fourth is resistance to temptations : As a roaring
lion he goeth about . . . whom resist ye strong in faith*
The fifth is martyrdom of the soul, that is, the testimony,
not of blood, but of one’s very life itself, crying out to Our
Lord : “I wish to be wholly Thine.” It consists in fighting
concupiscence, overcoming vice and working energetically
to acquire virtue. I have fought the good fight. 56
While the man bent on exterior things counts on his
natural powers, the interior man sees in them only helps,
useful no doubt, but inadequate. The sense of his weakness,
and his faith in the power of God give him, as they did to
St. Paul, the exact limit of his strength. At the sight of
the obstacles which present themselves to him one after
the other he exclaims with humble pride : For when I am
weak, then am 1 powerful2
” Without interior life,” says Saint Pius X, “ strength

1. Viriliter agite et confortetur cor vestrum (Ps. XXXI, 24).
2. Omnia detrimentum feci et arbitror ut stercora, ut lucrifaciam
Christum (Philipp., Ill, 8).
3. Fortis ut mors dilectio (Cant., VIII, 6).
4. Tanquam leo rugiens circuit . . . cui resistite fortes in fide
(I Petr., V, 8).
5. Bonum certamen certavi (II Tim., IV, 7).
6. Cum enim infirmor, tunc potens sum (II Cor., XII, 10).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

75

will be lacking to endure with perseverance the difficulties
inseparable from any apostolate, the lack of interest and
of support even from good men, the slanders of opponents,
sometimes even the jealousy of friends and of one’s fellow
workers . . . Only patient virtue, strong for good and at
the same time gentle and tactful, is capable of removing
or lessening these difficulties.”1
By the life of prayer divine strength, like unto the sap
flowing from the trunk into the branches, descends upon the
apostle to confirm his understanding by basing it more
firmly on faith. He makes progress, because this virtue
illumines his path with clear light. He advances boldly
because he knows whither he is going and how to reach
his goal.
This enlightenment is accompanied by such great super­
natural energy in the will that even a man of weak and
inconstant character becomes capable of heroic deeds.
Thus it is that the principle, "Abide in Me,”3 the union
with the Immutable, with Him who is the Lion of Juda and
the Bread of the strong, explains the marvel of the invincible
constancy and perfect firmness which in the admirable
apostle, St. Francis of Sales, were combined with unparal­
leled gentleness and humility. The mind and the will are
strengthened by the interior life, because love is strength­
ened. Our Lord purifies this love, directs it and increases
it as we progress in the spiritual life. He allows it to share
in the compassion, the devotion, the self-denial, and the
generosity of His adorable Heart. If this love increases
until it becomes a passion, then Jesus takes all the natural
and supernatural powers of man and exalts them to a
maximum, using them for Himself.
Thus it is easy to see how great is the increase of merit
resulting from the multiplication of our energies which
the interior life gives, if we remember that merit depends
less on the difficulty entailed in performing an action,
than on the intensity of love with which it is carried out.12
1. Encycl. of St. Pius X, June n, 1905, to the Bishops of Italy.
2. Manete in me (Joan., XV, 4).

/6

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

(d) It gives him joy and consolation.

Only an ardent and constant love is capable of brightening
one’s whole life, for love possesses the secret of gladdening
the heart even in the midst of great sorrows and crushing
fatigue.
The life of an apostle is a tissue of suffering and of toil.
If he has not the conviction of being loved by Our Lord,
what hours of sadness, anxiety and gloom he must pass,
however buoyant his disposition may be ; unless, in order
to attract this simple bird into his inextricable net, the
demon fowler makes the mirror of human consolation and
apparent success glitter before his eyes. The Man-God alone
can draw from the soul this superhuman cry : I exceedingly
abound with joy in all our tribulation.1 “ In the midst
of my innermost trials,” says the apostle, “ the higher part
of my soul, like that of Jesus in Gethsemani, enjoys a
happiness which certainly does not exist in the senses ;
but yet it is so real that in spite of the suffering endured
by my inferior self, I would not exchange it for all the joys
of the world.”
When trials come, such as contradiction, humiliation,
suffering, the loss of goods, even the loss of loved ones, the
soul will accept all these crosses in quite a different manner
from the way in which she would have accepted them at
the beginning of her conversion.
From day to day the soul grows in charity. Her love may
be quite unspectacular ; the Master may treat her as a
strong soul, guiding her deeper and deeper in the paths of
humiliation, or in the arduous path of expiation for herself
andfor the world. It matters not ! Protected by recollection,
nourished by the Holy Eucharist, her love grows ever
greater ; the proof of this growth is seen in the generosity
with which this soul sacrifices and abandons herself ; in the
devotedness which urges her to press forward without
counting the cost to seek those souls upon whom her*VII,

i. Superabundo gaudio in omni tribulatione nostra (II Cor.,
VII, 4)·

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77

apostolate is to be exercised with such patience, prudence,
tact, pity and ardour that only the penetration of the life
of Our Lord in her can explain it : Vivit vero in me Christus.
The Sacrament of Love ought to be the Sacrament of
joy. The soul cannot be interior without being at the same
time eucharistie and, therefore, one who enjoys inwardly
the gift of God, rejoices in His abiding presence, and tastes
the sweetness of the Beloved, whom she possesses and
adores.
The life of the apostolic man is a life of prayer. “ The
life of prayer ! ” says St. John Vianney of Ars, “ this is
real happiness here below. O wonderful life ! wonderful
union of the soul with Our Lord ! Eternity will not be long
enough to understand this happiness . . . The interior life is
a bath of love into which the soul plunges ... It is, as
it were, drowned in love . . . God holds the interior soul
as a mother holds her baby’s head in her hand to cover
it with kisses and caresses.”
Again our joy will be nourished whenever we are the
means of causing the object of our love to be served and
honoured. The apostolic man knows all this happiness.
Making use of his active ministry to increase his love, he
feels his joy and his consolation growing at the same time.
“ A hunter of souls, venator animarum,” he has the joy of
helping to save beings who would have been damned,
and thus he has the joy of consoling God by giving him souls,
which would have been eternally separated from Him ;
and finally he has the joy of knowing that in this way he
gains for himself one of the most solid assurances of progress
in virtue and of eternal glory.
(e) It refines his purity oî intention.

The man of faith judges active works from a totally
different point of view from that of the man who lives
in outward things. What he perceives is not so much the
outward appearance of things as the part they play in the
divine plan and their supernatural results.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Therefore, looking on himself as a mere instrument, he
cherishes in his soul a detestation of all self-satisfaction in
his own abilities ; the more so as he bases his expectation of
success solely on the conviction of his own helplessness
and on his confidence in God alone.
Thus he is strengthened in his state of resignation to
God’s will. When difficulties arise, what a great difference
there is between his attitude and that of the apostle who
knows not the intimacy of Our Lord I
This resignation lessens in no way his zeal for his active
ministry. He acts as if success depended solely on his
activity, but in point of fact he expects it from God alone. 1
He has no difficulty in subordinating all his plans and his
hopes to the unfathomable designs of God, who often
makes more use of failure than of success for the good
of souls.
Hence this soul will remain in a state of holy indifference
to success or failure. “ O my God,” he is always ready to say,
“ Thou dost not will that the work I have begun should
be completed. It pleases Thee that I should confine myself
to working generously, but with calmness of soul, in my
efforts to achieve a good result, leaving to Thee alone the
task of deciding whether more glory will be given Thee by
the success of the undertaking than by the act of virtue
which failure gives me the chance of performing. May Thy
holy and adorable Will be a thousand times blessed ; may
1 with the aid of Thy grace be able also to trample under
foot the least signs of vain complacency, if Thou shouldst
bless my work ; and may I humble myself and adore Thee,
if Thy Providence sees fit to destroy the fruit of my toil.”
In truth, the heart of the apostle bleeds at the sight of
the tribulations ol the Church ; but his manner of suffering
has nothing in common with that of the man who is not
animated by a supernatural spirit. This is easily seen when
we consider the latter’s behaviour and his feverish activity
when troubles come, his impatience, his low spirits, some­
times his complete collapse, his despair in the presence

I. St. Ignatius Loyola.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

79

of irretrievable ruin. The genuine apostle makes use of
everything, failure as well as success, to increase his hope
and to expand his soul in confident resignation to Provi­
dence. There is not a detail of his apotsolate which does
not serve as the occasion for an act of faith ; there is not
a moment of his steadfast toil which does not give him
a chance to show his love ; for by practising custody
of the heart, he contrives to carry out everything with
greater purity of intention, and to make his ministry daily
more selfless.
Thus each of his actions every day take on more and more
the character of holiness ; and his love of souls, at first
alloyed with many imperfections, grows constantly purer
and finally he sees these souls only in Jesus, loves them only
in Jesus and thus by Jesus he brings them forth to God :
My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ
be formed in you. 1
(f) It is a defence against discouragement.

The following sentence from Bossuet is incomprehensible
to an apostle who has not grasped what ought to be the soul
of his apostolate : “ When God wishes a work to be wholly
from His owTn hand, He reduces everything to impotence
and nothingness and then He acts.”
Nothing wounds God more than pride. Now, in seeking
success we may through want of purity of intention reach
the point of setting ourselves up as a kind of divinity, the
principle and end of all our own works. Such idolatry is
an abomination in the sight of God. Therefore when He
sees the activity of the apostle wanting in that disinterested­
ness which His glory demands from creatures, He sometimes
leaves the field clear for secondary causes to go to work
and soon the building comes crashing down.
Active, intelligent, devoted, the workman has begun his
task with all the ardour of his nature. He has perhaps
met with brilliant success, he has even enjoyed it, viewred
----- ——
-------------- —Z.----- -p
------i. Filioli mei quos iterum parturio, donec formetur Christus in
vobis (Gal., IV, 19).

Λ

8o

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

it with pride. It is his work ! Veni, vidi, vici. He has
almost made the famous phrase his own. But wait awhile.
Some event allowed by God or a direct attack by Satan
or the world strikes at the work or even the person of the
apostle ; result, total ruin ! But far more lamentable is
the interior ravage resulting from the sorrow and dejection
of the valiant warrior of yesterday. The greater was his
joy, the more profound is his despondency.
Our Lord alone can raise this wreck. “ Arise,” He
says to the despondent apostle, “ and instead of acting alone,
begin your work again, but with Me, by Me and in Me.”
But the wretched man no longer hears this voice. He is so
given to external things, that it would require a real
miracle of grace for him to hear it and on this miracle
he has no right to count, owing to his repeated infidelities.
Only a vague conviction of the power of God and of His
Providence hovers above the desolation of his wretchedness,
but is not enough to drive away the clouds of sadness
which continue to envelop him.
What a different spectacle we have in the true priest,
whose ideal it is to reproduce Our Lord ! For him prayer and
holiness of life are ever the two great means of acting both
on the Heart of God and on the hearts of men. Yes, he has
spent himself, and that generously. But the misleading
light of success has always seemed to him a prospect
unworthy of a true apostle. Should storms arise, little
does it matter what secondary cause has produced them.
In the midst of a heap of ruins, since he has worked only
with Our Lord, he hears clearly in the depths of his soul
the same “ Fear not, Nolite timere," which during the tem­
pest restored peace and confidence to the trembling disciples.
He hastens to renew his love of the Blessed Sacrament,
and his deep, personal devotion towards Our Lady of
Sorrows ; this is the first result of the trial.
His soul instead of being crushed by failure comes forth
from the winepress grown young again. His youth will
be renewed like the eagle. 1 Where does he get this attitudei.
i. Sicut aquilae juventus renovabitur (Ps., CIII, 5).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

8l

of humble triumph in the midst of defeat ? The secret
must be sought nowhere else but in that union with Our
Lord and that unshaken confidence in His omnipotence
which made St. Ignatius say : “If the Company were to be
suppressed without any fault of mine, a quarter of an
hour’s colloquy alone with God would be enough to give
me back my calm and peace.” “ The heart of interior souls,”
says the Curé of Ars, “ stands in the midst of humiliations
and suffering like a rock in the midst of the sea.”
How many of those engaged in good works can apply to
their own lives the sentiments which General de Sonis
expresses in that wonderful daily prayer of his, quoted
by the author of his life ?
" O my God, behold me before Thee, poor, humble, wanting in
everything. I am here at Thy feet, sunk in the depths of my nothing­
ness. Would that I had something to offer Thee, but I am nothing
but wretchedness 1 Thou, Thou art my all, Thou are my wealth.
O my God, I thank Thee for having willed that I should be as
nothing before Thee. I love my humiliation and my nothingness.
I thank Thee for having taken away from me any gratifications of
self-love, any consolations of affection. I thank Thee for disappoint­
ment, ingratitude, humiliation. I know that I have need of them
and that the gift of success might have kept me far from Thee.
O my God, 1 bless Thee when Thou dost try me. I love to be used
up, broken, destroyed by Thee. Crush me more and more. May I
be in the building, not like the stone worked and polished by the
hand of the mason, but like the hidden grain of sand, gathered
from the dust of the road.
My God, I thank Thee for having shown me a glimpse of the
sweetness of Thy consolations. I thank Thee for having deprived
me of them ; all Thou dost is just and good. I bless Thee in my
want of all tilings, I regret nothing except not having loved Thee
enough. I desire nothing but that Thy holy Will be done.
Thou art my Master and I am Thy property ; turn me this way
or that ; destroy me and work upon me however Thou wilt. I
wish to be reduced to nothing for the love of Thee.
O Jesus how gentle is Thy hand even in the depth of trials.
Let me be crucified, but crucified by Thee. Amen.”

Assuredly the apostle suffers. The loss of several members
of his flock may perhaps be the result of something that has
just frustrated his efforts and ruined his work. For this
true shepherd it is a bitter grief, but it is far from slackening
his ardour, and this ardour will enable him to begin again.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

He knows that redemption, even though applied but to a
single soul, is a great work accomplished above all by
suffering. The certainty that trials, generously undergone,
increase his progress in virtue and give greater glory to
God is enough to sustain him.
Besides, he knows that often God wants from him
nothing more than the seeds of success.
Others will
come who will reap plentiful harvests and perhaps think
that the result is due to themselves. But Heaven will
know that the cause of it was in the thankless and apparently
barren toil which went before : I have sent you to reap
that in which you did not labour ; others have laboured
and you have entered into their labours.1
Our Lord, author of the success of His apostles after
Pentecost, did but sow the seed during the course of His
public life by teaching and example ; and He foretold to
His apostles that it would be given to them to do works
greater than His : The works that I do, he also shall do,
and greater than these shall he do. 12
3
What ! the true apostle lose courage ! He allow himself
to be shaken by the talk of the fainthearted ! He give
himself to idleness because of failure ! To say so is not to
understand his hidden life and his faith in Christ. Tireless
as the working bees, joyously will he build up again new
honeycombs in his plundered hive.

1. Misi vos metere quod vos non laborastis ; alii laboraverunt
et vos in labores eorum introistis, (Joan., IV, 38).
2. Opera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet, et majora horum faciet
(Joan., XIV, 12).

PART FOUR
RICH RESULTS OF THE MINISTRY THROUGH THE
INTERIOR LIFE
The interior Life is a condition of the fruitfulness of the Ministry.

We leave aside the cause of fruitfulness which theologians
call ex opere operato. Considering only the results which
come ex opere operantis we recall that if the apostle realises
the truth of the words, He who abideth in me and I in him,
the rich results of his ministry willed by God are assured :
the same beareth much fruit.1 This is the plain logic of the
text. After such an authority it is needless to prove this
thesis. We shall limit ourselves to strengthening it by facts.
We have been able to follow from afar during more than
thirty years the progress of two girls’ orphanages managed
by two different congregations. Each one has had to go
through a period of evident decline. There is no harm in
stating facts. Out of sixteen orphans who entered under the
same conditions and left at twenty-one, three from the
first house and two from the second had passed in eight
months from the practice of frequent communion to the
most degraded level in the social scale. Only one of
the other eleven remained a thorough Catholic ; and yet
all of them on leaving had been placed in good situations.
In one of these orphanages the Reverend Mother was
changed after eleven years. Six months afterwards a radical
change was apparent in the spirit of the house.
The same change was noticed three years after in the
other orphanage, because, while the same superior and the
same nuns remained, the chaplain had been changed.
Now, since that time not one of these poor children on
leaving at twenty-one has been dragged down by Satan
into the gutter. All, all of them without exception have
remained good Catholics.

i. Qui manet in me et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum (Joan.,
XV, 5)·
83

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

The reason for these results is very simple. At the head
of the house, or in the confessional, there was no really
supernatural spiritual direction ; this was enough to
paralyse or at least to lessen the action of grace. The former
superior in one case and the chaplain in the other, although
sincerely pious people were without any deep interior life,
and had in consequence no profound or lasting influence.
Theirs was a piety based on feelings, produced by upbringing
and environment, made up exclusively of pious practices
and habits, producing only a vague belief, love without
strength, virtue without root, a flabby piety, all for show,
full of affectation, mechanical ; it was a sentimental piety,
only capable of producing good little girls with no strength
of character and dragged along by their feelings and their
imagination ; it was a piety powerless to give them a broad
conception of the Christian life and to produce valiant
women prepared for the struggle of life ; at the most, all
it was good for was to keep those unhappy girls languishing
in their cages and longing for the day that would set
them free. This was all that those gospel workers to
whom the interior life was almost unknown were able
to do to develop the seeds of Christian life. In these two
communities a superior, a chaplain are replaced. At once
the face of things is altered. Prayer is understood in quite
a new way and the Sacraments produce fruit ; there is
a different attitude in the chapel, even in class and at
recreation ; inquiry shows radical changes, manifested
by the quiet joy, the good spirit, the attainment of virtue,
and in some souls an intense desire for a religious vocation.
To what are we to attribute such a transformation ? The
new Reverend Mother, the new chaplain were interior souls.
No doubt in a number of boarding or day schools,
hospitals, clubs and even parishes, communities and
seminaries, an attentive observer may have noted similar
effects from the same causes.
Listen to St. John of the Cross. “ Let the men eaten up
with activity, and who think that they are shaking the world
by their preaching or other exterior works, reflect here a
moment. They will understand without any difficulty

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85

that they would be much more useful to the Church and
more pleasing to the Lord, not to mention the good
example that they would spread around them, if they gave
more time to prayer and the exercises of the interior life.
Under these conditions by a single good work of theirs they
would do far more good with far less trouble, than they
accomplish by a thousand others on which they waste their
lives. Mental prayer would merit for them this grace, and
win for them the spiritual strength which they need to
produce such results. Without prayer all they do merely
amounts to a great uproar ; it is like the hammer falling on
the anvil and making the neighbouring echoes resound.
They accomplish a little more than nothing, often absolutely
nothing, and sometimes they even cause harm. May God
preserve a soul like that if it happens to get puffed up with
pride ! In vain will appearances be in its favour ; the truth
is that it will achieve nothing, for it is absolutely certain that
no good work can be carried on without the grace of God.
Oh ! how much could be written on this subject for the
information of those who abandon the practice of the
interior life, while they aspire to conspicuous good works in
order to put themselves on a pedestal and make them the
admired of all ! Such people have no understanding of the
source of living water and of the mysterious fountain which
makes all fruit to grow.” 1
Some of the words used by this Saint are as strong as the
expression, acctirsed occupations, of St. Bernard, quoted on
an earlier page. It is not possible to charge him with
exaggeration, when we remember that the qualities which
Bossuet most admired in St. John of the Cross, were his
perfect common sense, his zeal for putting souls on guard
against the desire of extraordinary ways of reaching
holiness and his strict accuracy in expressing thoughts of
remarkable depth.
Let us now attempt a study of some of the causes of the
fruitfulness of the interior Life.
I. Cant. Spirit., str. XXIX.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

(a) The interior Lite draws down the blessings of God.

I will inebriate the soul of the priests with richness and
my people will be filled with my blessings. 1 Notice the
connection between the two parts of this text. God does
not say : “ I will give to my priests more zeal, more talent,"
but, “ I shall intoxicate their soul." What does this mean
but : " I shall fill them with my spirit, I shall impart to
them my choicest graces and thus my people shall receive
the plenitude of my gifts.”
God might have distributed His graces according to His
good pleasure without taking into account either the piety
of the minister or the dispositions of the faithful. That is the
way He acts in the baptism of infants. But according to
the ordinary law of His Providence these tw’O elements
become the measure of His heavenly gifts.
Without Me, you can do nothing 12 ; such is the principle ;
the blood that redeemed us was shed on Calvary ; how was
God going to assure its fruitfulness at the very start ? By
a miraculous infusion of interior Life. Nothing was more
paltry than the ideals and the zeal of the Apostles before
Pentecost. The Holy Ghost converts them into interior
men and at once their preaching works wonders. God will
no longer renew, in the ordinary course of things, the
prodigy of the Upper Room. Henceforth He will leave
the graces of sanctification to struggle with the free and
arduous correspondence of His creature. But by making
Pentecost the official date of the birth of the Church does
He not sufficiently give us to understand that His ministers
must make their own personal sanctification the first step
in their work of co-redeemers ?
Therefore all true apostolic workers expect much more
from their sacrifices and their prayers than from thier active
work. Father Lacordaire spent a long time in mental prayer
before ascending the pulpit steps and when he returned to
his cell he scourged himself. Father Monsabré before
1. Inebriabo animam sacerdotum pinguedine et populus meus
bonis meis adimplebitur (Jerem,, XXXI, 14).
2. Sine me nihil potestis facere (Joan., XV, 5).

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87

preaching at Notre Dame recited the full rosary on his knees.
" I am taking my last dose of tonic,” he jokingly replied to a
friend who questioned him on this practice. These two
religious both lived on the principle set forth by St. Bona­
venture : “ The secrets of a fruitful apostolate are derived
more from the foot of the crucifix, than from the display
of brilliant qualities.”
“ These three remain : word,
example, prayer ; but the greatest of these is prayer,” 1
cries St. Bernard ; a strong expression, which is but the
commentary on the resolution taken by the Apostles to
abandon certain work in order to apply themselves first to
prayer, orationi, and only in the second place to preaching,
ministerio verbi?
We have often pointed out the primary importance
that Our Saviour gives to this spirit of prayer. Looking
out over the world and the ages to come and seeing the
multitude of souls to be saved by the Gospel, He cried
out in sorrow : The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers
are few? What means will He propose as the quickest
way to spread His teaching ? Will He ask His disciples
to attend the schools of Athens or to go and study under
the Caesars at Rome how empires are won and administered?
You men of zeal, listen to the Master ; it is a clear pro­
gramme, a clear principle that He reveals : Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers
into the harvest? Clever organisation, the raising of funds,
building of churches and schools—of all that, no mention.
Pray ye therefore, prayer, the spirit of mental prayer, the
Master constantly repeated this fundamental truth. The
rest, all the rest follow from this.
Pray ye therefore ! If the faint murmur of supplication
from a holy soul has more power to raise up legions of12
4
3
1. Manent tria haec : verbum, exemplum et oratio ; maxima
autem horum est oratio.
2. Acts, VI, 4.
3. Matth., IX, 37.
4. Messis quidem multa, operarii autem pauci. Rogate ergo
Dominum messis ut mittat operarios in messem suam (Matth.,
IX. 37. 38)·

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apostles, than the eloquent voice of a recruiter of vocations
who is less filled with the spirit of God, what are we to
conclude ? Simply that the spirit of prayer which, in the
true apostle, goes hand in hand with zeal, is the chief
reason for the fruitfulness of his work.
Pray ye therefore ! Pray then first of all : only after that
does Our Lord add : Going, teach . . . preach.1 Of course
God will make use of this other means ; but the blessing
which gives rich results to the ministry is reserved to the
man of mental prayer, prayer powerful enough to draw
down from the bosom of God an apostolic force that souls
cannot resist.
The authoritative voice of Saint Pius X points out
clearly the argument of this little book : “ To restore all
things in Christ by the apostolate of good works we need
divine grace, and the apostle wall receive it only if he is
one with Christ. When wre have formed Jesus Christ in
ourselves, then only shall we be able to give Him easily
to families and to societies. Therefore all those who share
in the apostolate must have solid piety.” 123
What has been said about prayer must be said also about
that other clement of the interior Life, suffering ; that is,
everything which goes against our natural feelings, either
from outside or from within.
A man may suffer like a pagan, like the damned, or
like a saint. To suffer truly with Christ we must strive to
suffer like the saints. Suffering always is of benefit to our
own souls, and applies the merits of the Passion to those
of others : I fill ufi those things that are wanting of the
sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for His body which is the
Church.2 “ The sufferings of Christ,” says St. Augustine
commenting on this text, “ were all filled up, but in the
head only ; there were wanting still the sufferings of Christ
in His members. Christ wrent before as the head, and follows
1. Euntes docete . . ., praedicate (Matt., X, 7).
2. Encycl. of Saint Pius X to the Bishops of Italy, 11 June,i9os.
3. Adimpleo ea quae desunt passionum Christi, in carne mea,
pro corpore ejus quod est Ecclesia (Coloss., I, 24).

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89

after in His Mystical Body.” 1 Each priest may say :
“ I am that Body. I am a member of Christ, and what
is wanting of the sufferings of Christ, I must fill up for His
body which is the Church.”
" Suffering,” says Father Faber, “ is the greatest of the
Sacraments.” This profound theologian shows the necessity
of suffering and states its glories. All the arguments of
the celebrated Oratorian may be applied to the rich results
of the ministry by the union of the sacrifices of the apostolic
worker with the sacrifice of Golgotha, and thus by their
sharing in the efficacy of the Precious Blood.

(b) It helps the apostle to sanctify others by good example.

In His Sermon on the Mount the Master calls His apostles
the salt of the earth, the light of the world.12
We are the salt of the earth in the same proportion that
we are holy ; but what use is salt which has lost its savour ?
What shall be cleansed by the unclean ? 3 It is good for
nothing but to be cast out and trampled under foot.
The true salt of the earth on the contrary, the pious
apostle, wall be a real agent of preservation in the midst of
that sea of corruption which is human society. As a beacon
shining in the night, “ the light of the WOrld,” the brightness
of his example, even more than his wTords, will dispel the
darkness piled up by the spirit of the world and will radiate
the ideal of true happiness which Jesus has set forth in
the eight Beatitudes.
The one thing most likely to bring the faithful to lead a
Christian life is the virtue of him who has the mission to
teach it. On the other hand, his imperfections keep people
away from God almost infallibly. The name of God through
you is blasphemed among the gentiles. 4 That is why the apostle
1. Impletae erant omnes, sed in capite, restabant adhuc passiones
Christi in membris. Christus praecessit in capite, sequitur in corpore.
2. Matt., V, 13.
3. Ab immundo quid mundabitur ? (Eccl. XXXIV, 4).
4. Nomen Dei per vos blasphematur inter gentes (Rom., II, 24).

go

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

must have more frequently the torch of good example in
his hand than fine words on his lips ; he must be the first
to practise in a high degree the virtues which he preaches.
“ He who has a mission to preach great things is bound
by that very fact to practise great things,” says St. Gregory.1
It has been said with justice that the physician of the
body can heal his patients without being in good health
himself ; but to be a healer of souls a man must himself
have a healthy soul, for in this case he gives something of
himself. Men have every right to be exacting and expect
much of those who claim to teach them self-reform. They
are quick to discover whether there is agreement between
their words and deeds, or whether the morality with which
the preacher is decked be only a delusive wrapping. It
is on the basis of their observations that they give or with­
hold their confidence.
What great power the priest will have in speaking about
prayer if the people see him frequently conversing with
the Host of the Tabernacle so often forsaken.
How
attentively will his word be listened to when he preaches
penance and hard work, if he is himself mortified and
hardworking ! When he exhorts them to love one another,
he will find his listeners attentive if he is careful to spread
among his flock the good odour of Jesus Christ, and if the
gentleness and humility of the divine Model is mirrored in
his own conduct. A pattern of the flock from the heart.'12
The professor who is careless of the interior life imagines
that he has done his full duty if he limits himself to the
programme of the examinations. If he were a man of prayer,
a phrase escaping not only from his lips but from his heart,
an expression on his face, a significant gesture, nay, his
manner alone of making the sign of the cross, of saying
the prayers before or after class, would have more influence
over his pupils than a whole sermon.
A sister in a hospital or an orphanage has at hand the
1. Qui enim sui loci necessitate exigitur summa dicere, hac eadem
necessitate compellitur summa monstrare (S. Greg., Pastor, 2 p,
c. III).
2. Forma gregis ex animo (I Petr., V, 3).

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91

power and the effective means to sow in souls a deep love of
Our Lord and His teachings, while prudently keeping to her
duty. But if she has no interior Life, she will not even
suspect the presence of this power, or it will not occur to her
to do anything more than encourage acts of exterior piety.
Christianity was spread less by long and frequent
discussions than by the sight of Christian conduct, so
opposed to the selfishness, the injustice, and the corniption
of the pagans.
In his masterpiece, Fabiola, Cardinal Wiseman brings
out what a great influence the example of the early Chris­
tians had even on those pagan souls who were most
prejudiced against the new religion, We observe in this
story the progressive and almost irresistible advance of a
soul towards the light. The noble sentiments, the virtues,
whether modest or heroic, which the daughter of Fabius
meets in various people of all classes compel her admiration.
But then she discovers one by one that all those whose
charity, devotedness, modesty, gentleness, moderation,
devotion to justice and chastity she admires, belong to that
sect which has always been represented to her as accursed !
A great change takes place in her ; it is a revelation to her
soul. From that moment she is a Christian.
After having finished the book, who can help exclaiming :
“ Ah ! if only present-day Catholics, or their ministers at
least, had something of that splendid Christian life depicted
by the illustrious Cardinal, and which nevertheless is
only the Gospel put into practice ” How irresistible
then would be their apostolate among those modem pagans
who are too often prejudiced against Catholicism by the
calumnies of heretics, the bitter style of our controversy,
or by our manner of insisting on our rights in a tone which
seems to come from wounded pride rather than from the
desire to maintain the interests of Jesus !
Oh ! how powerful is the influence radiated by a soul
united to God !
It was from seeing Father Passerai
celebrate Holy Mass that the young Desurmont decided to
enter the Redemptorist Congregation, of which he became
so illustrious a member.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

The faithful have intuitions which do not lead them
astray. When a real man of God preaches they gather in
crowds to hear him. But should the conduct of one in the
ministry no longer correspond to what is expected of him,
then his work, no matter how ably it may be carried on,
is harmed and is perhaps doomed to ruin beyond recovery.
Let them see your good works and glorify your Father who
is in heaven,1 said Our Lord. St. Paul recommends good
example time and again to his disciples, Titus and Timothy :
In all things show thyself an example of good works.12 Be
thou an example to the faithful, in word, in conversation, in
charity, in faith, in chastity.3 St. Paul himself says : The
things which you have seen in me, these do you.45 Be ye fol­
lowers of me, as I also am of Christ.3 And his words, full of
truth, spring from that confidence and zeal which are quite
in conformity with humility, and which made Our Saviour
say : Which of you shall convince me of sin ? 678
On this condition, following the footsteps of Him, of
whom it is written : Jesus began to do and to teach,"3 the
apostle will become a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.3
" Above all, my dear sons ” said Leo XIII, “ remember
that the indispensable condition for true zeal and the best
pledge of success is purity and holiness of life.” 9
“ A saintly man,” says St. Teresa, " does more real good
to souls than a great number of others who are merely
more learned or better gifted.”
“ If the mind is not guided by a rule of life that is truly
holy and Christian,” declares Saint Pius X, "it will be

1. Videant opera vestra bona et glorificent Patrem vestrum qui
in caelis est (Matt., V, ιό).
2. In omnibus teipsum praebe exemplum bonorum operum
(Tit., II, 7).
3. Exemplum esto fidelium in verbo, in conversatione, in caritate,
in fide, in castitate (I Tim., IV, 12).
4. Quae vidistis in me haec agite (Philipp., IV, 9).
5. Imitatores mei estote sicut et ego Christi (I Cor., XI, 1).
6. Quis ex vobis arguet me de peccato ? (Joan., VIII, 46).
7. Coepit facere et docere Jesus (Act., I, i).
8. Operarium inconfusibilem (II Tim., II, 15).
9. Encycl. of Η. H. Leo XIII, 8 Sept. 1899.

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93

difficult to induce others to lead a godly life.” And he adds,
“ All those who are called to a life of Catholic works ought
to be men of a life so free from blame, that they may serve
as a powerful example to every one.” 1

(c) It produces in the apostle supernatural radiation.
How powerful this radiation is.

One of the most serious obstacles to the conversion of
a soul is the fact that God is a hidden God: Deus absconditus.i.
2
But by an effect of His goodness God reveals Himself to
a certain extent through His saints and even through
fervent souls. The supernatural thus gels through to the eyes
of the faithful, who perceive something of the mystery of God.
What then is this diffusion of the supernatural ? May
it not be the bright light of holiness, the splendour of the
divine entry into the soul, which theologians usually call
sanctifying grace ? Better still perhaps, it is the result of
the unutterable presence of the Three Divine Persons in
the souls of those whom They sanctify.
St. Basil gave it precisely this explanation : " When the
Holy Ghost enters souls that His grace has purified, it is
to purify them further. Just as the sun makes the crystal
more dazzling when it shines on it and penetrates it with
its rays, so too the sanctifying Spirit renders the souls in
which He dwells more luminous and, as a result of His
presence, they become so many fiery centres, which spread
around them grace and charity.3
This manifestation of the Divine w’hich showed itself in
all the actions and even in the repose of the God-Man is
to be seen in certain souls gifted with a more intense
interior life.
The marvellous conversions which some
saints effected merely by the renown of their virtues, the
crowds of aspirants to the spiritual life who came asking
to follow them, proclaim loudly enough the secret of their

i. Encycl. of Saint Fins X to the Bishops of Italy, n June 1905.
8 Isai., XLV, 15.
3. De Spiritu Sancto, c. IX, 23.

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silent apostolate. St. Anthony caused the deserts of the
Orient to be filled with people. Through St. Benedict arose
that countless phalanx of holy religious who civilised
Europe. An exceptional influence was exercised by St.
Bernard throughout Christendom over kings and nations.
St. Vincent Ferrer wherever he went roused the indescrib­
able enthusiasm of numberless crowds and, what was better,
brought about their conversion. Led by St. Ignatius
Loyola came that valiant army of whom one alone, St.
Francis Xavier, was enough to baptise an incredible
number of pagans. The radiation of the power of God
Himself through human instruments is the only thing that
can explain these wonders.
What a misfortune it is, when among the persons placed
at the head of important projects there is not one really
interior soul. Supernatural life seems to be eclipsed and
the power of God is as it were in fetters. Then it is, the
saints teach us, that a country decays and that Providence
seems to allow evil men to do all the harm they wish.
Be sure of this, souls perceive by instinct, so to speak,
this radiation of the supernatural, without being able to
define clearly what they feel. Thus we see how the sinner
who recognises God Himself in His representative, comes
and prostrates Himself at the feet of the priest to beg
forgiveness. And on the other hand is it not from the day
on which the full conception of holiness ceased to be the
necessary ideal of the ministry in any Christian sect, that
this sect was infallibly led to abolish confession ?
John indeed did no sign.1 Without performing a single
miracle John the Baptist attracted great crowds. The
voice of the holy Curé of Ars was too weak to reach all
those who gathered around him. But if they scarcely
heard him, they saw him ; they saw one who brought God
to them, and the mere sight of him subdued those present
and converted them. A lawyer coming back from Ars
was asked what had struck him most ; “ I have seen God
in a man,” he replied.
I. Joannes quidem signum fecit nullum (Joan., X, 41).

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May we be allowed to sum up all this by a rather common­
place comparison ? You know this experiment in electricity.
A person placed on an insulating stool is put in contact
with an electric machine. His body becomes charged with
electricity and the moment any one touches him, a spark
flies out, giving a shock to the person brought into contact.
Thus it is with the interior man. Once he is detached from
creatures, there is established between Our Lord and him
an unceasing movement like a continuous current. The
apostle becomes a storage accumulator of supernatural life,
and condenses in himself a divine current which alters and
adapts itself to the circumstances and all the needs of the
sphere in which he works. Virtue went out from Him and
healed all.1 His words and acts are but the emanations
of this latent power, which is effective in overcoming
all obstacles, obtaining conversions and increasing fervour.
The more the theological virtues fill a man’s soul, the
more do these emanations help to produce these virtues
in other souls.
By THE INTERIOR LIFE THE APOSTLE RADIATES FAITH.
—'The presence of God within him is manifest to the people
who hear him. Following the example of St. Bernard, of
whom it was said, Solitudinem cordis circumferens ubique
solus erat, (“ Taking with him the solitude of his own heart
he was everywhere alone ”) the apostle keeps apart from
others and makes for himself an interior solitude ; but people
realise that he is not alone, that there is in his heart
a mysterious and intimate guest to converse with whom
he returns within himself at every moment ; and he speaks
only by His direction, His advice, His orders. People feel
that he is sustained and guided by Him, and that the words,
which issue from his lips are but the faithful echo of those
of this interior Word : as the words of God.12 It is then
not so much the logic and the force of his arguments which
appeal* in his speech as the interior Word, the teaching Word,
Verbum docens, speaking by His creature : The words
1. Virtus de illo exibat et sanabat omnes (Luc., VI, 19
2. Quasi sermones Dei (I Petr., IV, 11).

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that I speak to you, I speak not of myself. But the Father
who abideth in me, he doth the works.1 The influence of
such words is deep and lasting, much deeper by far than
the superficial admiration, or the passing devotion that
may be produced in others by the man who has no interior
spirit. Such a one may induce his hearer to say, " This
seems interesting and true.” But that is merely a feeling
quite powerless in itself to lead a man to supernatural faith
and make that faith live in his soul.
Brother Gabriel, the Trappist lay brother,12 by merely
carrying out his duties as assistant guestmaster, did more to
revivify the faith of countless visitors than could a learned
priest, whose words might appeal less to the heart than
to the mind. General de Miribel came frequently to talk to
the humble brother and loved to say, “ I have just been
strengthening my faith.”
Never perhaps has there been so much preaching,
discussion, and writing of learned treatises of apologetics as
in our day ; and never perhaps, judging by the great bulk
of the faithful, has the faith been less alive. Too often
those whose mission is to teach seem to see in an act of
faith only an act of the intellect, whereas it depends also on
the will. They forget that belief is a supernatural gift
and that there is a deep gulf betw’een merely perceiving the
motives of credibility and making a definite act of faith.
God alone and the good will of the one who is being taught
can bridge this gulf ; but the divine light reflected by
the holiness of the teacher helps much in doing so.
He radiates hope.—It would be impossible for a man
given to mental prayer not to radiate hope ; his faith has
firmly established him in the conviction that happiness
is to be found in God and in God alone. With what firm
assurance then can he speak of heaven ! What abundant
1. Verba quae ego loquor vobis, a meipso non loquor. Pater
autem in me manens, ipse facit opera (Joan., XIV, io).
2. The life of this French captain of dragoons who in 1870 at the
battle of Gravelotte made a vow to enter the Trappists, and who
refused to be anything but a lay brother, is related in that fine book,
Du champ de bataille à la Trappe (Perrin et Co., edit. Paris).

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97

resources he has to console the afflicted ! The best of all
means to win the ear of men is to offer them the secret of
carrying joyfully the Cross, the lot of every mortal.
This secret lies in the Blessed Eucharist and in the hope
of heaven.
How sincere are the words of consolation uttered by a
man who can with truth apply to himself the words, Our
conversation is in heaven.1 Someone else may speak with
fine phrases and colourful rhetoric about the joys of our
heavenly home ; his discourse will have no effect. A few
convincing words from the interior soul, revealing the state
of mind of him who utters them, will be able to calm the
grief, soothe the sorrow, and cause even the keenest suffering
to be accepted with resignation.
From the man of interior spirit the virtue of hope is
irresistibly communicated to a soul in which perhaps it had
never been enkindled before, and which was on the point
of being engulfed in despair.
He radiates charity.—To possess charity is the great
ambition of a soul that aspires to become holy. The inter­
penetration of Jesus and the soul, expressed in the words,
“ he that abideth in Me and I in him,” is the aim and object
of the man of interior life.
Experienced preachers are unanimous in declaring that
though the sermons on death, judgment, and hell are indis­
pensable, or always useful at the beginning of a retreat
or a mission, the instruction on the love of Our Lord
produces as a rule a more beneficial impression. When
it is preached by a true missionary capable of conveying
to his audience the feelings with which he is filled, it
guarantees the success of the retreat and leads to many
conversions.
When there is question of detaching a soul from sin
or of leading one from fervour to perfection, the love of
Our Lord remains the best means of all. The Christian
who has sunk deep in the mire, but who is still capable
of sensing in another a burning love enkindled by invisiblei.
i. Nostra conversatio in caelis est (Phil., Ill, 20).
5

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realities, and who on the other hand reflects on the dis­
appointments and emptiness of earthly love, begins to feel
an aversion from sin. He has understood something of God,
something of the immense love of Our Lord for His creature.
He has felt within him a stirring of the hidden grace of his
baptism and his first communion. Jesus has been shown
to him living and real, for the tenderness of His Heart
has appeared through the face and the voice of His minister.
The sinner has caught sight of another love that is noble,
pure, glowing, and he has said to himself : “ It is possible
after all even here on this earth to love with a love which
transcends the love of creatures.”
After closer manifestations of the God of Love through
His herald, the soul will rise from the quicksands into which
it was being sucked down and it will no longer dread
the sacrifices necessary to acquire the treasure of divine
love which hitherto had been almost unknown in its life.
Although this is not the place to develop this point
further, we can see how the love of God may increase and
hence what progress the true pastor can ensure in souls
already freed from sin or already fervent. Even those who
are not priests can by their ardent charity produce in the
hearts of those around them this most excellent of the
theological virtues.
He radiates kindness.—“ A zeal that is not charitable,”
says St. Francis de Sales, “ comes from a charity that is
not genuine.” By tasting in mental prayer the sweetness
of Him whom the Church calls an ocean of kindness,
bonitatis oceanus, a soul soon undergoes a great trans­
formation. Even if it is by nature disposed to selfishness
or harshness, all these defects will disappear little by little.
By nourishing his soul on Him in whom appeared the good­
ness of God to the world, When the goodness and kindness of
God our Saviour appeared,1 on Him who is the image and
adequate expression of the divine Goodness, the image of
His goodness,12· the apostle shares in the bounty of God
1. Benignitas et humanitas apparuit Salvatoris nostri Dei (Tit.,
III, 4).
2. Imago bonitatis illius (Sap., VII, 26).

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99

and feels the need of being like Him, diffusivus, spreading
kindness.
The more a soul is united to Our Lord, the more it
shares in the dominant quality of the divine and human
Heart of the Redeemer ; His kindness, forbearance,
benevolence, pity, are all multiplied a hundredfold in such
a soul and its generosity and devotedness will be earned to
the limits of joyous and magnanimous self-sacrifice.
Transfigured by divine love the apostle will have no
trouble in winning the sympathy of souls. In the goodness
and readiness of his soul he appeased God for Israel.1 His
words and his acts will be marked with kindness, a kindness
quite disinterested, quite unlike that inspired by the desire
of popularity or by subtle selfishness.
" God has wished,” wrote Lacordaire, " that no good can
be done to man except by loving him, and that want of
feeling must ever be incapable either of giving him light
for his path, or of inspiring him to virtue.” And the fact
is that when force is imposed on him, man takes glory in
resisting ; we make it a point of honour to raise objections
against the wisdom that seeks to browbeat everyone into
submitting to its own point of view ; but because we do
not feel any humiliation in being disarmed by kindness,
we willingly yield to the charm of its influence.
The Little Sister of the Poor, the Little Sister of the
x^ssumption, the Sister of Charity would be able to mention
a vast number of conversions brought about without any
discussion, solely by the power of unwearied and oftentimes
heroic kindness.
" God is there,” cries the unbeliever or the sinner, in
the presence of such self-sacrifice ; “ I see Him, and see
that He is what He is called, the good God.” And He
must indeed be good, since intercourse with Him renders
so frail a being as man capable of crushing his love of self
and of silencing the most natural dislikes.
These angels on earth fulfil the definition of Father

I. In bonitate et alacritate animi placuit Deo pro Israël (Eccli.,
XLV, 29).

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Faber : “ Kindness is the overflow of self on others. To be
kind is to put others in one’s place. Kindness has converted
more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning, and these
three things have never converted anybody without
kindness having something to do with it. In a word kind­
ness makes us as gods towards one another. It is the
manifestation of this feeling in apostolic men which draw’s
sinners to them and brings them thus to their conversion.”
And he adds : “ Everywhere kindness shows itself the
best pioneer of the Precious Blood . . . Without doubt,
the fear of the Lord is frequently the beginning of that
wisdom, which we call conversion ; but wre must frighten
men kindly, for otherwise fear will only make infidels
. . . ” 1 “ Have a mother’s heart,” says St. Vincent Ferrer ;
“ whether you have to encourage or terrify, show to all men
a heart of tender charity, and let the sinner feel that
it inspires your w’ords. If you wish to be useful to souls,
begin by appealing to God with all your heart, that He
may lavish on you that charity which is the summing up
of all the virtues, so that by it you may reach effectually
the end that you have in view.” 12
There is all the difference in the world between natural
kindness, which is the simple result of our temperament,
and the supernatural kindness of the soul of an apostle.
The former may evoke respect, even sympathy for the
evangelic worker and at times cause an affection which
should belong only to God to be turned aside to a creature.
It will never succeed in inducing souls really to make for
God the sacrifices that are necessary if they are to return
to their Creator. The kindness which flow’s from intimacy
with Jesus can alone bring about this result.
Ardent love of Our Lord and a desire for the true direction
of souls give to the apostle all the daring compatible wdth
tact and prudence. An eminent layman told me that
w’hile conversing with Saint Pius X, he had let slip some
biting w’ords against an enemy of the Church. “ My son,”
1. Spiritual Conferences.
2. Traité de la Vie Spirituelle, II, p., c. X.

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101

said the Pope, “ I do not approve of your language. For
your penance listen to this story. A priest well known to
me arrived at his first parish. He thought it his duty to
visit every family including Jews, Protestants, and even
Freemasons. Then he announced from the pulpit that each
year he would repeat his visits. Great excitement broke out
among his confrères, and they complained to the Bishop.
The latter immediately sent for the culprit and gave him a
sharp reprimand. ‘ My Lord,’ answered the parish priest
modestly, ‘ Our Lord in the Gospel orders the shepherd to
bring into the fold all his sheep, them also I must bring,1
How can I succeed in this without going to look for them ?
Besides I never compromise on principles ; I limit myself to
showing my interest and my charity to all the souls that
God has entrusted to me even to those who have gone astray.
I have announced these visits from the pulpit ; if it is your
formal desire that I give them up, kindly put it in writing
for me so that people may know that I am only obeying
your orders/ Moved by the justice of this appeal, the
Bishop did not insist. And in any case the future proved
that the priest was right, for he had the joy of converting
some of those lost sheep and inspired the others with a
great respect for our holy religion. This humble parish
priest has become by the will of God the Pope who is
now giving you, my son, this lesson in charity. Be then
steadfast as to principle, but let your charity extend to
all men, even to the worst enemies of the Church/’
He radiates humility.—It is easy to understand how
the kindness and the gentleness of Our Lord attracted
people to Him in crowds. Can we attribute the same power
to His humility ? We need have no doubt about it.
Without me you can do nothing.12 Raised by the Creator
to the dignity of co-operator, the apostle will become
a doer of supernatural works, but only on condition that
Jesus alone appear as the One who really does them. The
more the apostle can efface himself and become impersonal,

1. Oportet illas adducere (Joan., X, 16).
2. Sine me nihil potestis facere (Joan., XV, 5).

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the more surely will Our Lord take care to show Himself.
Without this impersonal quality which is a result of the
interior life, the apostle will plant and will water in vain ;
nothing will grow.
True humility has a special charm of which Our Lord
is the source ; it breathes forth the Divine. In proportion
to the zeal that His minister shows in effacing himself, in
order that Jesus alone may seem to act, Our Lord will give
him ever greater power to win the hearts of men. He must
increase but I must decrease.1
Thus humility becomes one of the greatest means of
converting souls.
“ Believe me,” said St. Vincent de
Paul to his priests, “ we shall never be fit to do the work
of God, if we are not convinced that of ourselves we are
better fitted to ruin everything than to succeed.”
You may be astonished that we come back so often to
the same ideas. The reason is that their mere repetition
will impress them on the minds of our readers and show
their importance.
Arrogant behaviour, self-satisfied airs, often play a great
part in the failure of our ministry.
The " modern ” Catholic means to keep his independence.
He will be ready to obey God, but God alone. From the
minister of God he will accept advice, directions, orders
even, but only on condition that he sees on them the
stamp of God.
To have that the apostle must learn to efface himself
and by the practice of humility disappear from view to
such an extent that those who look at him see right through
him to God, so to speak. And thus he will manifest the truth
of the Master’s words, He that is the greatest among you
shall be your servant. But be you not called Rabbi . . .
neither be you called masters. 12
The mere outward appearance of the man of interior life
can teach men a lesson in the science of life, which is the

1. Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui (Joan., Ill, 30).
2. Qui major est vestrum erit minister vester. Vos autem nolite
vocari Rabbi, nec vocemini magistri (Matt., XXIII, 11 & 8).

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IO3

science of prayer.1 Why ? Because by this humility he
reveals his dependence on God. And this dependence to
which his soul holds fast, shows itself continually by his
habit of having recourse to God on every occasion ; either
in order to come to a decision, or to seek consolation in
difficulties, or else to get sufficient strength to overcome
them.
In the Common of Confessors not Pontiffs in the Divine
Office the priest reads the words in which St. Bede com­
ments so remarkably on the text, “ Little flock,” Pusillus
grex. “ The Saviour,” he says, “ calls the flock of the
elect little, either because He contrasts it with the
multitude of the lost, or better still, because of His great
zeal for humility ; for however numerous or extended
His Church may already have become, He still wishes it
to increase in humility till the end of the world and thus
attain to the kingdom promised to the humble.” 12
This opinion is drawn from the cogent lessons given by
Our Lord to His Apostles when for instance they wished
to make use, for their personal advantages, of their vocation
to the apostolate and showed themselves on that occasion
so full of ambition and jealousy. You know, He said,
that the princes of the gentiles lord it over them ; and they
that are the greater exercise power upon them. It shall not
be so among you, but whosoever will be the greater among
you let him be your minister ; and he that will be the first
among you shall be your servant.3
“ But,” asks Bourdaloue, “ would not authority be weak­
ened by such action ? There will always be enough authority
among you, if there is enough humility ; and if humility
is lost, authority becomes an intolerable burden.”
Without true humility the apostle will fall into one of
two extremes : it will be a matter either of excessive,
easy-going familiarity, or more likely of domineering over
everyone else.
1. St. Augustine.
2. Hom. of St. Bede the Ven., book IV, chap. LIV on St. Luke,
XII.
3. Matt., XX, 25-27.

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Leaving questions of doctrine to one side, let us suppose
that the apostle is sufficiently well informed to avoid both
unlimited tolerance on the one hand and harshness of zeal
on the other, the excesses of which would be displeasing
to God. His principles may be perfectly sound and his
knowledge exact. This granted, we still affirm that without
humility the apostle cannot hold a middle course between
the two extremes, and that weakness, or more often pride,
will be shown in his conduct.
On the one hand, giving way to a false humility, he will
be timid and allow’ his spirit of charity to degenerate
into weakness ; he will be ready to make exaggerated
concessions, to seek reconciliations at any price, and his
zeal for maintaining his principles wall disappear on count­
less pretexts ; he wall sacrifice them for reasons of prudence
dictated by short-sighted views.
Or else on the other hand, natural feeling and misdirection
of the will may bring into play his pride, his touchiness,
his Ego. There will follow' personal dislikes, assertion of
authority, malice, spite, rivalry, antipathy, partiality,
cupidity, retaliation, ambition, jealousy, the natural
desire of being first, calumny, backbiting, worldly partisan­
ship, harshness in defending principles, and so on.
Instead of remaining the true end in pursuit of which
our passions become noble, the glory of God will be reduced
by such an apostle to the level of a means and a pretext
to support, encourage and excuse these same passions on
their too human side. The slightest attack upon the glory
of God or upon the Church will bring about outbursts of
anger in which the psychologist will be able to discern the
w'ounded pride of the apostolic worker, jealous of the
privileges of his caste as a merely human society, instead
of that devotion to the casue of God, which is the sole
reason for the existence of the Church in as much as it
is a perfect Society established by Our Lord.
Correct doctrine and good judgment wrill not be enough
to preserve him from these errors, because the apostle with
no interior life and therefore with no true humility will
be at the mercy of his passions. Humility alone, by keeping

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IO5

his judgment sound and preventing him from acting on
impulse, will bring more balance and steadiness into his
life. By uniting him to God it will make him share, so to
speak, in the changelessness of God. Thus the frail ivy
becomes strong and stable with the unshaken strength of
the oak when, with all its fibres, it clings to the sturdy
trunk of this king of the forests.
Do not hesitate then to recognise that without humility,
if we do not fall into the first excess, our nature will carry
us away to the second ; or else we shall drift with the tide,
sometimes towards one, sometimes towards the other,
according to circumstances or to our passions. Thus will
be realised the truth of what St. Thomas says : “ Man is
a fickle creature, constant only in his inconstancy.’1
The logical result of an apostolate so imperfect is either
that men will despise a weak authority, or else mistrust
and even detest an authority which does not bear the stamp
of God.
He radiates firmness and gentleness.—The saints
have often been very outspoken against error, the contagion
of bad example, and hypocrisy. St. Bernard, the oracle
of his age, may be quoted, it would seem, as one of the
saints whose zeal has shown the most firmness. But on
reading his life attentively the reader can distinguish to
what an extent his interior fife had rendered this man of
God impersonal and unselfish. He never had recourse to
severity till he had made sure by evidence that all other
means had failed. Often too he alternates between gentle­
ness and severity ; after having, to maintain principles,
shown a holy indignation and insisted on atonement,
reparation, guarantees, and promises, we see him through
his great love for souls devote himself at once with a
mother’s gentleness to the conversion of those whom his
conscience had obliged him to oppose. Pitiless towards the
errors of /Xbélard, he soon managed to make a friend of the
man he had conquered and reduced to silence.
When it was a question of choosing means and there was
no principle involved, he became a champion to prevent
Churchmen from having recourse to violent precedure.

I Ob

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Learning that the Jews of Germany were going to be ruined
and massacred, without hesitation he abandoned his cloister
to hasten to their defence and preached a crusade of peace.
And so in a noteworthy document, which Father Ratisbon
quotes in his Life of St. Bernard, the chief Rabbi of
that country declares his admiration for the monk of Clairvaux. “ Were it not for him,” he says " not one of us would
be left alive in Germany.” And he implores future genera­
tions of Jews never to forget the debt of gratitude they
owe to the holy Abbot. St. Bernard said on this occasion,
“ We are the soldiers of peace, we are the army of the
peacemakers, fighting for God and peace : Deo et paci
militantibus. Persuasion, good example, loyalty to God are
the only weapons worthy of the children of the Gospel.”
There is no substitute for the interior life as a means of
producing that unselfish spirit which characterises the zeal
of the saints.
In the Chablais district of the Alps all efforts to restore
Catholicism failed until the arrival of St. Francis de Sales.
The Protestant leaders were prepared for a desperate
struggle ; they aimed at nothing less than the murder of
the Bishop of Geneva ; but he presented himself among
them radiating gentleness and humility. They saw in him
a man whose self-effacement showed forth his love of God
and of his neighbour. History tells of the rapid and almost
incredible results produced by his apostolate.
But even the gentle St. Francis de Sales knew when
he had to display inexorable severity. He did not hesitate
to invoke the force of human law to confirm the results
gained by the gentleness of his words and the example of
bis virtues. Therefore it was that the holy Bishop advised
the Duke of Savoy to take severe measures against those
heretics who went back on their agreements.
The saints only copied their Master. In the Gospel the
Saviour appears to us receiving sinners with mercy, as the
friend of Zaccheus and the publicans, full of kindness for
the sick, for the suffering and for children. And yet He
who was gentleness and kindliness incarnate, did not
hesitate to take a whip to drive the sellers from the Temple ;

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IO7

and what severe and powerful words he uses when He
speaks of Herod or castigates the vices of the scribes and
the hypocritical pharisees !
But it is only in certain very' rare cases, after having
employed in vain all other means or when there is con­
vincing evidence that they would be useless, that one may
reluctantly have recourse to drastic procedure, out of
charity and to prevent the spread of evil.
With these exceptions and when principles are not at
stake, meekness should direct the conduct of the Gospel
worker. “ You catch more flies," says St. Francis de
Sales, “ with a little honey than with a barrel of vinegar.”
We may remember here how Our Saviour rebuked His
apostles, when they were hurt and humiliated in their
personal dignity, and allowed themselves to be led by a
zeal that was neither pure nor disinterested to seek violent
means, demanding that fire from heaven might come down
on the village of Samaria which had refused to receive
them. You know not, He said, of what spirit you are.1
A French Bishop, w’hose firmness in defence of principle
is often quoted as an example, went through his diocese
visiting those families w’hich had lost one or more members
in World War I. Making himself all things to all men, he
went to offer his sympathy to a Calvinist who was mourning
his son killed on the field of honour, and spoke to him a
few heartfelt and touching words. Moved by this small
act of charity, the Protestant afterwards declared, “ Is it
possible that a Bishop so noble by his birth and dis­
tinguished by his learning has deigned in spite of our
difference in religion to cross the threshold of my poor
little house ? What he has done and said has touched my
heart.” The manufacturer, in whose employment the man
was, added when telling the story : “To my mind this
Protestant is halfway to conversion, and in any case the
Bishop by bis kindness has advanced his conversion much
more than by the use of endless and animated discussion.”
This pastor of souls gave evidence of the gentleness of Ouri.

i. Luc., IX, 55.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Lord. The Protestant saw, so to speak, Our Saviour before
him and has been forced to admit to himself : “ A Church
which has Bishops who so truly reflect Him whom I admire
in the Gospel, must be the true Church.”
The interior life keeps both the mind and the will, at
the same time, in the service of the Gospel. Neither laziness,
nor violence can hinder the advance of a soul which sees
and acts according to the Heart of Jesus. It shows prudence
and ardour only when urged by this adorable Heart ; that
is the secret of its success.
On the other hand, where the interior life is lacking, there
follow displays of human passions which explain why we
are so often defeated.

He radiates mortification.—The spirit of mortifica­
tion is another principle which makes for the success of
good works. Everything is summed up in the Cross. As
long as we have not made the mystery of the Cross sink deeply
into the souls of men, we have only touched them superficially.
But who can get people to accept a mystery, which is
repugnant to that dread of suffering so natural to the
human heart ? Only those who can say with the great
Apostle, With Christ I am nailed to the Cross,1 only those,
who carry in themselves Jesus mortified : Always bearing
about in our body, the mortification of Jesus, that the life of
Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.123 To mortify
oneself is to reproduce the Christ who did not please HimselfJ
to renounce one’s self under all circumstances, to contrive
to love what does not please, to tend to the ideal of being
a victim immolated at every moment of the day.
Nowr it is impossible without the interior life to uproot
our most deeply planted instincts in this way.
While the Poor Man of Assisi, walking in silence through
the streets of the city, could preach the mystery of the
Cross by his mere appearance, the unmortified apostle

1. Christo confixus sum cruci (Gal., II, 19).
2. Semper mortificationem Jesu in corpore nostro circumferentes
ut vita Jesu manifestetur in corporibus nostris (II Cor., IV, ίο).
3. Christus sibi non placuit (Rom., XV, 3).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

IOÇ

wastes his time preaching Calvary, even if he borrows from
Bossuet to do so. The world is so firmly entrenched in
the spirit of pleasure that, to demolish its citadel, ordinary
arguments, nay even grand and imposing concepts are not
sufficient. What is wanted is the Passion brought home to
people by the mortification and detachment of the minister
of God.
Enemies of the Cross of Christ,1 St. Paul would say
of these numerous Christians who see in religion only a
kind of fashionable conformity, a habit of exterior practices,
handed down by tradition and periodically performed,
with respect, it is time, but without any relation to the
amendment of one’s life, the fight against one’s passions or
the introduction of the Gospel spirit into one’s way of life.
These people seem to honour me, Our Lord might say;
they honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.123
4
Enemies of the cross of Christ·, those week-kneed Christians
who consider it necessary to surround themselves with
every comfort, to give in to every demand made by the
world, to seek inordinate pleasures, to follow with passion­
ate interest all the latest fashions. Such people are shocked
by Christ’s words which they do not understand any longer;
and yet Our Lord has said for the benefit of all men:
Except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish2 The
cross according to the expression of St. Paul has become
to them a stumbling block*
And yet how is the apostle going to produce other
Christians, if he himself has no interior life ?
Crowded congregations flocking to his various services
will gratify, no doubt, the heart of the true priest ; but it will
give no real satisfaction, if he must attribute their presence
merely to custom, to a respectable fidelity to family tradi­
tion, to certain habits which do not upset the daily routine ;

1. Inimicos crucis Christi (Philipp., Ill, 18).
2. Populus hic labiis me honorat, cor autem eorum longe est a
me (Matt., XV, 8).
3. Si paenitentiam non egeritis, omnes similiter peribitis (Luc.,
ΧΙΠ, 5).
4. Scandalum (I Cor., I, 23).

no

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

or if he finds that it is caused by the pleasure people take
in hearing good music, in seeing fine Church decoration,
or in assisting at a brilliant display of oratory, of which
they admire only the form and style.
Far be it from me to think of undervaluing the least
trace of Christian life, however small it may be. On the
contrary the object of these pages is to deplore our lament­
able incapacity, through want of interior life, to produce
anything except rather poor results, even if these are not
altogether negligible.
Our Lord wants only our heart. To conquer our heart,
to possess our will, and to inspire us to follow Him in the
path of self-denial, that is the reason w’hy He came to
reveal to man the sublime mysteries of the faith.
The apostle, accustomed to the interior life, which is
based on the words of Our Lord, Let him deny himself,1
will be successful in producing this self-denial in others.
But he who only follows from afar Our Saviour carrying His
cross will be quite incapable of producing such a result.
Nobody gives what he does not possess : Nemo dat quod non
habet. Slothful himself in imitating Jesus crucified, how can
he preach to his people that holy war against their passions
to which Our Lord invites us ?
Only the apostle wrho is disinterested, humble, and chaste,
can lead souls into the battle against the ever increasing
forces of greed, ambition and impurity. Only he who knows
the science of the crucifix will be powerful enough to check
this continual seeking after comfort, this worship of
pleasure which threatens to undermine and swreep away
families and whole nations.
To teach Christ crucified ! Thus does St. Paul sum up his
apostolate. And because he lived in Christ and in Christ
crucified, he was able to persuade people to accept the mys­
tery of the Cross and to teach them to live by it. Too many
apostles of to-day have not enough interior life to fathom
this life-giving mystery, to fill themselves with it, to radiate
it. They look at religion too much from its philosophical,i.

i. Abneget semetipsum (Matt., XVI, 24).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

III

social, or even aesthetic point of view, aspects which appeal
only to the mind and excite only the emotions and imagina­
tion. They develop a tendency to see in religion above all a
school of sublime poetry, and of incomparable art. No
doubt religion possesses these qualities, but to look at it
only from these secondary points of view would be to distort
the economy of the Gospel, to put as the end w’hat is only the
means. It is a sort of sacrilege to make a kind of fashionable
Christ of the Christ of Gethsemani, of the Pretorium, of
Calvary. Ever since Adam sinned, penance, reparation,
spiritual combat have become indispensable conditions of
human life ; the cross of Jesus Christ reminds us of this at
every turn. To get admirers does not satisfy the zeal of
the Incarnate Word for His Father’s glory ; He must have
imitators.
In his encyclical of November ist, 1914, Benedict XV
invited true apostles to put their hands to the plough more
earnestly than ever in order to snatch souls from love of
ease, from a selfish life, from flippant tastes, and from their
forgetfulness of things eternal. This was an appeal to all
the ministers of the divine Victim to lead an interior life.
God, who has given us so much, asks that from the
age of reason the Christian should unite to the Precious
Blood and Passion of Our Lord something of his own, what
we might call the blood of one’s soul, that is the sacrifices
necessary for the observance of the law of God. How can
the faithful be inspired to make these generous sacrifices
of goods, pleasures, and honours, unless by the example
of a director of souls who has made himself familiar with
the spirit of sacrifice ?
Where are we to look for the salvation of our society,
we anxiously ask when we see the repeated victories of
the infernal enemy ? When will it be the turn of the Church
to win a battle or two ? With the Master it is easy to answer;
This kind is not cast· out but by prayer and fasting.1
It will be the turn of the Church when from the ranks of
I. Hoc autem genus non ejicitur nisi per orationem et jejunium
(Matt., XVII, 20).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

the clergy and the religious orders there will come forth
a body of mortified men showing forth among the people
the splendour of the Cross; and the nations of the earth,
beholding in the priest or the religious given to mortification
how reparation is made for the sins of the world, will
understand the Redemption by the Blood of Our Saviour.
Then and not till then will the army of Satan draw back
and the anguished cry of our outraged Lord, finding at
length souls willing to make reparation for sin, will no
longer echo through the ages : And I sought among them
for a man that might set up a hedge, and stand in the gap
before me in favour of the land, that I might not destroy it :
and I found none.1
Some one has tried to find out why a single sign of the
Cross from Father de Ravignan produced so apparently
magical an effect on indifferent Catholics and even on
unbelievers, who came to hear him from mere curiosity.
The conclusion he drew from the answers of many of
the hearers was that the preacher’s austerity of life was
shown in a striking manner by this sign of the cross, which
united him to the mystery of Calvary.
(d) It makes the gospel worker truly eloquent.

What we mean of course is that eloquence which is
capable of bringing with it enough grace to convert souls
and lead them to virtue. We have already spoken of it
incidentally. We shall add just a few words here.
In the Office of St. John, we read this response : “ Re­
clining on the breast of the Lord, he drank in from the sacred
fountain itself of the heart of the Lord the fluency of his
Gospel and he spread the grace of the word of God over
the whole world." 12 What a profound lesson there is in these
1. Et quaesivi de eis -varum, qui interponeret sepem et staret
oppositus contra me pro terra, ne dissiparem eam, et non inveni
(Ezech., XXII, 30).
2. Supra pectus Domini recumbens, Evangelii fluenta de ipso
sacro Dominici pectoris fonte potavit et verbi Dei gratiam in toto
terrarum orbe diffudit.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

II3

words for all those preachers, writers, and catechists, whose
duty it is to spread abroad the word of God ! Does not
the Church in these remarkable words reveal to her priests
the source of true eloquence.
All the Evangelists are equally inspired ; all have their
purpose assigned by Providence. Nevertheless each has
his own special eloquence. More than the others St. John
has the power to reach the will by filling our hearts with
the· grace of the word of God. His Gospel along with the
Epistles of St. Paul is the book preferred by those souls
for whom life here below is meaningless unless it is united
to Jesus Christ.
Whence does St. John derive the charm of his captivating
eloquence ? In what mountain is the source of that river,
whose waters spread their bounty over the whole earth,
Fluenta in toto terrarum orbe diffudit ? He is one of the
rivers of Paradise, says the liturgical text : Quasi unus
ex Paradisi fluminibus Evangelista Joannes.
What is the use of so many huge mountains and glaciers
on the face of the earth ? Would not these immense surfaces,
an ignorant man might say, be much more useful, if they
were spread out in fertile plains ? He has not the slightest
notion that without these lofty summits plains and valleys
would be as barren as the Sahara. For it is the mountains
that give the plains their fertility by means of the rivers
whose sources they are.
This lofty peak of Paradise, whence flowed the springs
which feed the Gospel of St. John, is nothing but the
Heart of Our Lord ; Evangelii fluenta de ipso sacro Dominici
pectoris fonte potavit. It is because the Evangelist by the
interior Life has felt the throbbing of the Heart of the ManGod and the immensity of His love for men, that his word
is the channel of the grace of the word of God : Verbi Dei
gratiam diffudit.
In the same way we may say that men of interior spirit
are also in a sense rivers of paradise. Not only do they
by their prayers and their sacrifices draw down upon earth
the living waters of grace or mitigate the punishments
which the world deserves ; but also by ascending to the

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

height of heaven they draw the fountains of life from the
Heart of Him in whom dwells the inward life of God,
and distribute them more abundantly on the souls of men :
You shall draw waters out of the Saviour’s fountains.1
Called to give forth the word of God they do so with an
eloquence of which they alone possess the secret. They
speak of Heaven to the earth. They bring light, warmth,
consolation, and strength. Without all these qualities
together, there is no complete eloquence ; and the preacher
will not combine all of them unless he lives in Jesus.
Am I really one of those who depend on their mental
prayer, their visits to the Blessed Sacrament, their Mass
or communion above all, to lend real moving power to
their preaching ? If not, I may be a loud “ tinkling cym­
bal,” I may give forth the pompous resonance of brass ; 12
but I am not the channel of divine love, and mine is not
the irresistible eloquence of the friends of God.
The picture of Christian life as painted by a preacher
endowed with learning but of indifferent piety may move
souls, bring them nearer to God, even increase their faith ;
but to fill them with the life-giving savour of virtue, one
must have tasted the true spirit of the Gospel and by
mental prayer have made it the substance of one’s life.3
Let me repeat that only the Holy Ghost, the principle
of all spiritual fruitfulness, can make converts and bestow'
the graces which cause men to avoid vice and practise
virtue. The words of the apostle when filled with the
unction of the Sanctifying Spirit, become a living channel,
1. Haurietis aquas de fontibus Salvatoris (Is., XII, 3).
2. Aes sonans, cymbalum tinniens (I Cor., XIII, 1).
3. Nec enim assueti cum Deo colloqui, quum de eo ad homines
dicunt vel consilia Christianae vitae impertiunt, prorsus carent
divino afflatu ; ut evangelicum verbum videatur in ipsis fere inter­
mortuum. Vox eorum quantavis prudentiae vel facundiae laude
clarescat, vocem minime reddit Pastoris boni, quam oves salutariter
audiant ; strepit enim diffluitque inanis (St. Pius X, Exort. ad clerum
cath., 4 Aug. 1908).
This exhortation, which the paternal heart of St. Pius X addressed
to the ministers of God is a touching appeal for priestly holiness.
It shows its necessity and its nature, and in a series of practical
suggestions points out the means of acquiring and preserving it.

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Il5

which holds back nothing of the divine action. Before
Pentecost the Apostles had preached almost without any
result. After their ten days' retreat given entirely to the
interior Life, the Spirit of God poured in on them and
transformed them. Their first attempts at preaching were
miraculous draughts of fishes. It will be the same with
the sowers of the Gospel ; by the interior Life they will
become true Christ-bearers ; they will plant and sow with
success ; the Holy Ghost will give the increase. Their words
will be at the same time both the seed which falls and
the rain which fertilizes ; the sun which ripens and never
fails.
“ To give light alone is useless,” said St. Bernard, “ and
heat alone is not much either, but light and heat together
are perfection.” And further on : “ It is especially to
apostles and to apostolic men that it is said, Let your light
shine before men : for such as these ought indeed to be
ardent, very ardent.” 1
The apostle derives his eloquence in preaching not only
from his life of union with Our Lord by mental prayer and
custody of the heart, but also from the Sacred Scriptures,
which he will study with great zeal. Every word of God to
man, every word fallen from the lips of Jesus is for him
a diamond, whose facets he admires by the light of the gift
of wisdom so specially developed in him. But as it is only
after f rayer that he opens the inspired book, he not only
admires but relishes its teachings, just as if the Holy Ghost
had dictated them for him personally. With what unction
then will he from the pulpit quote the word of God, and what
a difference there will be between the light of truth that
he draws from it and the ingenious or learned applications
worked out by a preacher who has no other resources than
reason and an abstract half-dead faith ! The former will
show' the living truth, surrounding the soul with a reality
which will not only enlighten but give life. The latter isi.
i. Est tantum lucere vanum, tantum ardere parum, ardere et
lucere perfectum . . . Singulariter apostolis et apostolicis viris
dicitur : Luceat lux vestra coram hominibus nimirum tanquam
accensis et vehementer accensis (Sevm. on St. John the Baptist).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

only able to talk of truth as if it were an algebraical equation,
certain of course, but cold and unrelated to the inmost
realities of our life. He leaves truth in the abstract state
and, so to speak, makes it a simple record, or at most
something that may touch our hearts by virtue of what
is called the æsthetic side of Christianity. “ The majesty
of the Scriptures astonishes me ; the simplicity of the
Gospel speaks to my heart,” admitted the sentimentalist,
J. J. Rousseau. But how did these vague and fruitless
feelings concern the glory of God ? The true apostle, on
the contrary, knows how to bring out not only the truth
of the Gospel, but the reality of that truth which is always
active and continually renewed in the soul which is in
contact with it. Without stopping to move the feelings
he goes by the word of divine life until he reaches the will
where resides true conformity with the life of Christ. The
convictions which he produces beget love and determination.
He alone has the true secret of preaching the Gospel.
No interior life is complete without tender devotion
to Mary Immaculate, pre-eminently the channel of all
graces. The true apostle always has recourse to Mary,
a devotion which St. Bernard could never conceive as
being lacking in a true son of that peerless Mother ; and
when such an apostle treats of the dogmas of the Mother
of God and of men, he will speak with a warmth that not
only interests his hearers and deeply moves them, but
also excites in them a desire to fly in all their troubles
to this Mediatrix of the graces won for us by the Precious
Blood. He has only to let his experience and his heart
speak and he will gain souls for the Queen of Heaven
and through her place them in the Heart of Jesus.
(e) Because the interior Life begets interior life, its results on souls
are deep and lasting.

This chapter ought to take the place of a special appeal
to each of our confrères.
I have considered good works as depending above all on
the interior Life of the apostle ; prayer and reflection have

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

II7

led me to analyse from another point of view the failure
or indifferent success of certain good works, and I think
I am perfectly justified in making this statement :
No work takes deep root, or is really solid and lasting,
unless the apostle has created the interior Life in other souls.
Now he cannot do this, unless he himself is well nourished
by his own interior life.
In chapter HI of Part 2 I quoted the words of Canon
Timon-David on the necessity of training, in each work
of Catholic Action, a group of fervent Christians who in
turn would carry on a true apostolate among their comrades.
It is easy to see how valuable is this leaven, and to what
extent these co-workers can multiply the power of an
apostle’s action. He no longer works alone ; his means of
doing good are multiplied a hundredfold.
Let me repeat it is only the really interior man who has
enough life to produce other centres of fruitful life. Any
purely worldly enterprise can succeed in getting zealous
workers who will spread propaganda and influence by
comradeship, whether prompted by brotherly spirit or
rivalry. In such a case fanaticism or competition, sectarian­
ism or vain-glory, interest or ambition are all that is needed
to stir them to action. But by what other means than that
of intensive interior life can we create apostles for Our
Lord, apostles who share His gentleness and humility,
His disinterested kindness and His exclusive zeal for the
glory of His Father ?
As long as an enterprise has not been able to produce such
results its existence is shortlived. It is almost certain that
it will not survive its founder. But the reason of the endur­
ance of certain other works, on the contrary7, is without
doubt to be found in the single fact that interior life has
been able to beget more interior life. Let me give an
example.
Father Allemand, who died in the odour of sanctity,
founded at Marseilles before the Revolution a club for
students and workers. This club still bears the name of
its founder and continues after more than a century to
enjoy remarkable success. Nevertheless this priest was

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

little gifted by nature ; he was very shortsighted, shy,
a poor speaker ; humanly speaking he was incapable of the
enormous activity which his enterprise called for.
The ugliness of his features would naturally have pro­
voked ricicule from his young men but for the beauty of
his soul which was reflected in his look and in his demeanour.
Thanks to this, the man of God gained a great ascendancy
over these high-spirited youths by which he dominated them
and won their respect, esteem and affection. Fr. Allemand
wished to build only on the interior life and succeeded
in forming as the nucleus of his work, a group of young
men, from whom he did not hesitate to demand in the fullest
measure that their condition allowed, a complete interior
life, perfect custody of the heart, morning mental prayer,
etc. In a word, he asked for the whole Christian life as
understood and practised by the early Christians.
And these young apostles, succeeding one another, have
continued at Marseilles to be the soul of this movement,
which has given to the Church several bishops and continues
to give her many secular priests, missionaries, religious and
thousands of fathers of families, who are the chief support
of the most important parish works in Marseilles, and form
in it a group which not only does honour to commerce,
industry and the liberal professions, but constitutes a real
centre of the apostolate.
Fathers of families, we have just said. That brings to
mind the burden of the refrain that is heard nearly every­
where : “ The apostolate is relatively easy in the case of
young men and married women, but it is often impossible
when we want to apply it to grown men. And yet as long as
we have not succeeded in getting the heads of families to
become not only Christians, but apostles in their turn,
the valuable influence of Christian mothers will be paralysed
or short-lived, and we shall never manage to lay the
foundation of the social kingdom of Christ on a firm basis.
Now in such and such a parish, suburb, hospital or factory,
nothing can be done to induce the men to become thoroughly
Christian.”
When we thus admit our helplessness, do we not as a

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

II9

rule display our lack of true interior life, which alone would
enable us to discover the means of preventing so many
men from escaping from the influence of the Church ?
Do we not prefer the easy preaching that is so successful
with young men and women to the hard work of carefully
preparing sermons capable of producing conviction, love
and lasting resolutions in the hearts and minds of men ?
The interior life alone can sustain our courage in the
back-breaking and obscure labour of sowing the seed that
seems to remain so long without fruit. Only the interior
life can make us understand how much active power is
to be derived from the labour of prayer and penance, and
how our progress in the imitation of all the virtues of
Our Lord will multiply the power of our apostolate over
men.
So surprised was I at the account 1 was given about the
success of a soldiers’ club in one of our big towns that I
hesitated to believe it. For instance, how was it possible
that the soldiers would come in far greater numbers for
a long evening of adoration in order to atone for the blas­
phemy and debauchery of the barracks, than for a concert or
a play ? I had to give in before the evidence. My surprise
vanished when 1 was informed to what a degree the chaplain
was devoted to the Real Presence of Our Lord in the
Blessed Sacrament and what fervent apostles he had thus
been able to gather round him.
After such an example what are we to think of those
apostles for whom cinema shows, plays and athletics seem
to form the programme of a fifth gospel for the conversion
of the people !
When other means are lacking, the use of these things
will no doubt have some result in attracting good Catholics
and keeping others away from the occasions of sin, but
for the most part such a result will be very limited or of
short duration. God forbid that I should damp the zeal
of our confrères who cannot imagine the use of any other
method and who conjure up visions (as I did when I was
a young priest without any experience) of their clubs being
deserted, if they give less time to putting on these modern

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amusements, which in their eyes are an essential condition
of success. Let me just put them on their guard against
the danger of attaching too much importance to these
means and wish them the grace of understanding the
reasoning of Canon Timon-David, whose experience we
have already recorded.
One day, when I had been a priest for only two years, this
venerable priest towards the end of a conversation felt
obliged to say to me in a very friendly way, but not without
a certain amount of pity : “ You cannot bear them now ; 1
only later on, when you have made more progress in the
interior life, will you understand better.
At present,
all things considered, you probably cannot do without
these means ; use them without hesitation then for want
of others. For my part I hold on to my young workmen
and clerks, although we have nothing but those old but
ever new amusements which cost us nothing, and yet
give rest to the mind because they are so simple. Here ! ”
he added slyly, “ In the loft I showed you the musical
instruments that I too had considered absolutely necessary
when I began ; but look, the band we have now will soon
be coming in this direction, you can judge for yourself.”
And indeed a few minutes afterwards a group of boys
from 12 to 15 went marching past us. What an uproar !
No one could help laughing at the sight of this fantastic
battalion, which the old Canon watched with delighted eyes.
” Look,” he said, “ at the fellow who is walking backwards,
at the head of the squad, waving his stick like the conductor
of an orchestra, and then suddenly putting it comically to
his lips as if it was a clarinet ; he is a non-commissioned
officer on leave, and one of our most influential workers.
He makes a practice of daily communion, and above all
he never misses his half hour of mental prayer. He is a
wonderful practical joker but devout as an angel ; he
knows how to use his talents to ensure that our amusements
are never dull. Extraordinarily fertile in original ideas for
games, he keeps this band of youngsters always happy.i.
i. Non potestis portare modo (Joan., XVI, 12).

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121

But nothing escapes his adjutant's eye and his apostle’s
heart.” It was impossible not to laugh at this group of
musicians, who were executing all the best-known old airs.
The tune was changed when the conductor gave the signal.
Each performer imitated an instrument : some had their
hands in front of their mouths like a horn, others were
whistling with a leaf of paper between their lips, there
were a few mouth organs, and so on. 1 forgot ; in the first
row was a trombone player and a big drummer ; the first
had two sticks one of wrhich imitated the in-and-out
movement, the second had an empty petrol can. The beam­
ing faces of all these lads showed that they were really
carried away by their game. “ Let us follow the band,”
said the Canon. At the end of the garden path was a statue
of the Blessed Virgin. " Kneel down, boys,” shouted the
band-master, “ let us sing an Ave Maris Stella to our Holy
Mother, then let us say a decade of the Rosary·.” The lads
were silent for a moment and then answered to the Hail
Marys as piously and slowly as if they were in the chapel.
These young Southerners, most of them with downcast
eyes, real imps a few minutes before, were changed suddenly
into angels out of a painting by Fra Angelico. “ Remember,”
said my guide, “ that this is the thermometer of our work.
Keep hold of your mature youths, even those over twenty,
by simple enjoyable games ; get them to aim at being little
children here again when they come for prayer and
recreation, so that they may amuse themselves with any
little thing, but get them above all to pray, really to pray ;
this is the aim of all our zealous leaders.” The band stood
up and began fresh musical exploits, making the playground
re-echo. A few minutes later they were uproariously busy at
” prisoner’s base.” I noticed that the “ non com.” on getting
up from his knees after the Ave Maris Stella, had whispered
a few words to two or three lads ; these at once gaily and,
as if following a familiar practice, went to change overalls
and shoes, and then were off to the chapel to pass a quarter
of an hour in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
“ Our ambition,” added Canon Timon-David speaking
with deep conviction, “ must be to form zealous workers,

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in whom the love of God will be so strong that after they
have left the club and got married, they will remain
apostles, eager to share the ardour of their charity with
the greatest possible number of souls. If our apostolate,”
continued the holy priest, “ aimed only at making good
Christians, how narrow would be our ideal ! What we have
to do is to raise up legions of apostles, so that the fun­
damental social unit, the family, may become in its turn
a centre of the apostolate. Now nothing but a life of sacrifice
and union with Our Lord will enable us to learn the secret
of realising this programme in full. On this condition
alone will our activity make itself felt in society, and the
word of the Master be fulfilled, I am come to cast fire on
the earth and what will I but that it be kindled ? 1
It was not till long afterwards, alas, that I wTas able to
understand the drift of the living lesson of the Canon, which
was so profound in its psychology and its tactics, and to
compare, under the eye of God for whom apparent success
is nothing, the results of the different methods employed.
According as the methods are simple like the Gospel, or
complicated as is all that is too human, we can judge a
movement and those who inspire it.
Young David advanced against Goliath, with whom the
best armed of the warriors of Israel had feared to fight ;
a sling, a stick, five stones from the torrent, were all the
youth required. But his cry, I come to thee in the name
of the Lord of hosts,12 was already the mark of a soul
capable of reaching holiness.
We hear much to-day about after-school training by
secular groups. They may boast of having at their disposal
enormous sums of money contributed by the State,
magnificent buildings, and all that ; the Church’s after­
school training groups, for all their poverty need fear
nothing from their competition, provided they are built
on the interior life ; and by the charm of their ideal, which

1. Ignem veni mittere in terram et quid volo nisi ut accendatur ?
(Luc., XII, 49).
2, Venio ad te in nomine Dei exercituum (I Reg., XVII, 45).

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is what attracts youth before everything else, they will
win the pick of the rising generation.
One more example, to conclude. It will help us to analyse
the man engaged in good works, who seems to be drawing
souls to Our Lord and to be making apostles of them,
but who in reality only arouses a certain amount of
enthusiasm, which is the result of his own natural, personal
appeal, and of the magnetic influence he exerts on all who
come in contact with him. His followers, delighted to deal
with a man of such charming piety, and proud at his taking
an interest in them, form a sort of court around him, and
vie with one another in accepting painful tasks and duties
which seem to reflect true devotion ; but they do so chiefly
in order to please him.
An excellent Congregation of teaching Sisters was
under the spiritual direction of a religious whose life has
just been written. “ Reverend Mother,” said this man of
interior spirit to a local Superior one day, “ I think it would
be w’ell if Sister X gave up teaching catechism for at least
a year.”—“ Oh, Father, you don’t really mean it, she is
the best teacher we have ! Children come from every part
of the town, drawn by her wonderful skill in teaching.
To take her away from the catechism class will mean that
all these little boys will desert us.”—“ I followed her class
from the gallery,” replied the Father, ” she dazzles the
children, indeed, but in too worldly a way. After another
year in the novitiate, and better training in the interior life,
she will sanctify both her own soul and the souls of the
children by her zeal and the use of her talents. But at
the present time, without being aware of it, she is standing
in the way of the direct action of Our Lord on these children
whom I am preparing for their First Communion. Come
now, Mother, I see that my insistence gives you pain.
Well, I will make a bargain with you. I know a certain
Sister N, a very interior soul, but of no great talent. Ask
your Superior General to send her here for awhile. The
other nun can take the catechism for a quarter of an
hour, just to calm your fears about desertion ; but little
by little she will drop out of the picture. Then you will

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see with how much more piety the children will say their
prayers and sing the hymns. Their recollection and their
docility will show a more supernatural character."
A fortnight later the Superior was able to verify this
forecast. Sister N was teaching all alone and yet the number
of children increased. It was as if Our Lord taught the
catechism through her.
Her looks, her modesty, her
gentleness, her kindness, the way she made the sign of the
cross, her tone of voice all spoke Our Lord. Sister X had
been able to explain the driest subject with talent and make
it interesting. Sister N did more than that. Of course
she spared no pains to prepare her lessons and give them
clearly ; but her secret, and the thing which swayed the
children in her class, was unction. It is by this unction
that souls really enter into contact with Our Lord.
In the classes of Sister N there was much less noisy
enthusiasm, fewer looks of astonishment, less of that kind of
fascination which a very interesting lecture by an explorer
or the moving account of a battle would produce.
On the other hand, there was an atmosphere of attention
and recollection. These little boys behaved in the class
room as if they were in church. No human methods had
been employed to prevent inattention or boredom. What
then was the mysterious influence that hovered above this
group ? It was without any doubt, Our Lord working
directly. For a soul of interior life explaining the lessons
of the catechism is like a harp which sounds under the
fingers of the Divine Musician. No human skill, however
wonderful it may be, can be compared to the action of
Our Lord on the soul.
(f) Importance of the formation of chosen souls and of
spiritual direction.

I wish to drawr the reader’s attention once more to the
striking conversation already quoted,1 which I had with
Canon Timon-David. A word which fell from the lips of
that experienced founder of good works has surely caught

i. Part II, ch. iii.

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125

the reader’s attention. By using the picturesque figure,
“ crutches,” the venerable Canon summed up his views on
the use of various modem amusements (plays, bands,
films, costly and complicated games, etc.) to attract young
men to their clubs and keep them there. Often the cause
of overwork and low spirits, these attractions tend less to
rest and expand the mind or to keep up physical health,
than to flatter vanity or over-excite the imagination and
the emotions. In fact, this word “ crutches ” in no way
applies to those very refreshing though quite simple games
which relax the mind, strengthen the body and have been
found sufficient by so many generations of Christians.
On comparing the advice of the sensible Canon with
that of other excellent directors of good works, we might
well ask ourselves, if he did not exaggerate the cases in
which the “ crutches ” can be done without.
Putting aside works founded especially for the relief of
bodily ills, we may divide the others into two classes :
those in which we want only carefully selected members,
and those open to all except the “ scabby sheep.”
But we also assume that even in the latter case we try
to form as well a nucleus of chosen members capable by
their fervour of making others appreciate the real object
of the club. We must also get all its members to lead a
life not superficially but deeply Christian. Otherwise w’e
have “ an ordinary social club run by the Parish Priest,”
according to the sarcastic remark of an excellent teacher
in a state of school, who detected in this sort of club as
many disorders, behind the clerical front, as he deplored
in establishments that were beyond the influence of the
Church.
Directors who do not hesitate to reject from their clubs
persons admittedly incapable of being admitted into the
chosen group, find that the word “crutches” exactly
expresses to what extent they consider as secondary those
means which they can well do without or only tolerate with
repugnance.
And they are certainly far from being without arguments
to support their opinion.

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For them the regeneration of Society, in France especially,
can come only as a result of a more intense radiation of
the holiness of the Church. It was by this means, they
say, rather than by lectures on apologetics, that Christianity
spread so rapidly in the first centuries of its history, in
spite of the power of its enemies, of prejudices of all sorts
and of the general corruption.
They put an end to all argument by replies of this kind :
“ Can you quote any fact, just one, to prove that during
this period the Church had to invent amusements to turn
aside from the vileness of pagan shows the souls she was
going to win over ? ”
A director of such good works as these, alluding to the
thirst for money and the infatuation for the films which in
our day makes most people crave for pleasure and enjoy­
ment, said : “ The Bread and Games, Panem et Circenses,
of the Romans of the decline may be translated into
modern terms as the Dole and Films.” Take for instance
St. Ambrose or St. Augustine, those mighty guides of souls.
Can we find in their lives an incident which shows them
organising movements with the object of providing their
flock with amusements that would make them forget the
pleasures offered by paganism ? And w'hen St. Philip Neri
set out to convert Rome so lukew’arm through the spirit
of the Renaissance, do we read that he had need of the
“ crutches " which excited the wit of Canon Timon-David ?
It is certain that the primitive Church was able, as we
have already hinted, to organise amongst the faithful a
numerous and matcldess body of select members whose
virtues struck the pagans with astonishment and excited
the admiration of honest minds, even of those most pre­
judiced against the Christian religion by their principles,
their traditions and their social customs. Conversions
followed even in circles into which the priest could not
enter.
In view of these lessons of the past, it is natural that we
should ask ourselves whether nowadays we have not an
excessive confidence, not only in certain noisy forms of
amusements, but even in various other means (pilgrimages,

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I27

ostentatious festivals, congresses, speeches, publications,
syndicates, political action, etc.) which are lavished upon
us so abundantly nowadays, and which are very useful,
no doubt, but which it would be lamentable to put in the
first place. Preaching by example will always be the chief
instrument of conversions. Only exempla trahunt. Lectures,
good books, the Catholic press and even excellent sermons
ought to revolve around this fundamental principle : We
must organise the apostolate for the people by the example
of fervent Christians who make Christ live again by sending
forth the sweet odour of His virtues.
Can priests who let themselves be absorbed by all the
other functions of their ministry, and do not devote
themselves enough to the chief one, the training of chosen
souls for the great propaganda of good, example,—can they
be really surprised to find that in France three quarters
of the men (and in other nations a great proportion) remain
steeped in indifference, and see in the Church merely an
honorable institution of a certain social utility, and not
the matchless source of all individual strength, the keystone
to the whole structure of families and nations and above
all the great dispenser of truth and eternal life.
What then is this religion which is capable of so enlighten­
ing, strengthening and inflaming the heart of man ? This was
the cry uttered by the pagans in the presence of the mar­
vellous effects produced by the silent league of action by
good example. The strength of this league, which existed
among the early Christians surely did not come from the
sole practice of Decline from evil.
Merely avoiding
deeds condemned by the Decalogue would not have been
enough to arouse both admiration and an overwhelming
desire of imitation. It is especially to the second half of the
Psalmist’s admonition, Do good,1 that the principles of
Exempla trahunt applies. The practical display of the
evangelical virtues was required, as put before the world
by the Sermon on the Mount.
” If the Church,” an eminent statesman, an agnostic,i.
i. Declina a malo et fac bonum (Psalm., XXXVI, 27).

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once said to me, “ was able to impress more deeply on the
hearts of men the testament of her Founder, ‘ Love one
another,' she would become a mighty power that the nations
could not do without.” Could not the same reflection be
made with regard to the other virtues ?
With his deep understanding of the needs of the Church,
Saint Pius X often saw things with a rare clarity. Happen­
ing one day to be with a group of Cardinals, the Holy
Father asked them : “ What is the thing most necessary
at the present time to save society ? ” “ Build Catholic
schools,” said one. “ No.” “ Multiply churches,” replied
another. “ No, again.” " Increase the numbers of the
clergy,” said a third. “ No, no,” replied the Pope. “ What
is most necessary at the present time, is to have in each
parish a group of laymen who will be at the same time virtuous,
enlightened, determined and truly apostolic.” 1 Other details
enable us to assert that this holy Pope at the end of his
life counted for the salvation of the world on the training,
by the zeal of the clergy, of Catholics devoting themselves
to the apostolate by word and action, but above all by
example. In the dioceses in which, before becoming Pope,
he had exercised the ministry, he attached less importance
to the census of parishioners than to the list of Catholics
capable of radiating an apostolate. He considered that in
any environment whatever chosen souls could be formed.
And so he classified his priests according to the results
which their zeal and their abilities had obtained on this
point.i.

i. When we compare certain passages of the first Encyclical of
Saint Pius X with various statements of his at a later period, we
see that in the conversation, just quoted, it was the fervour of priests
that he counted on for the training of the chosen ones that he
mentions ; and on these latter, the select laymen, he counts after­
wards (more than on any other means) for the increase in numbers
of the true faithful. Once this result is obtained, the recruiting
of the clergy is assured, as well as the multiplication of schools
and churches.
When quantity does not spring from quality, we run great
risks of getting nothing but a display of noisy, empty, delusive
pseudo-religion.

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I29

The opinion of this holy Pope gives immense weight to
the views of those directors of good works who belong to
the first category that we mentioned before. Those namely
who believe that, if the only real strategy for action on the
masses consists in the training of picked workers, then it
would be a mistake to keep members in the movement when
there is no serious hope of their becoming fervent, because
through this lack of fervour the standard of the chosen
body is likely to be lowered, even to such an extent that
this picked group will come to be select only in name.
Other directors, who limit their action to getting rid of
the absolutely hopeless members, have much to say against
the expression “ crutches ” as a name for some of their
methods which appear in their eyes most effective.
They urge the dangers to which souls would be exposed,
if they were not protected by these parish societies ; the
necessity of being satisfied with a trivial number of recruits
if select groups alone were aimed at ; the poisoned atmos­
phere of the surroundings of those whom they must
evangelise, etc. It would be unjust and cruel, they say,
to neglect the masses and try to reach them only by the
radiation of the picked body, without attempting to act
directly on the mediocre souls, were it only to prevent
them from sinking lower, and to get candidates from them
for the picked body.
*
* *

We have listened with great respect to the opinions of
these directors of parish works, men and women, all of them
people of perfect good faith and of undeniable zeal. We
shall not try to reconcile their opposing views. But writing
especially for our confrères in the priesthood, we prefer to
ask ourselves what would have been the answer of the holy
Abbé Allemand or of Canon Timon-David, if they were
invited to bring these two doctrines into harmony with one
another in a just mean.
Both had this plan :
i° To find out among the hundreds of young men

6

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belonging to their organisation even a small minority capable
of really desiring and seriously practising the interior life.
2° Then to enkindle their souls to a white heat by
making them love Our Lord passionately, inspiring them
with the ideal of the evangelical virtues, isolating them as
much as possible from contact with other students, clerks,
workmen, etc., until their interior life had reached the
degree which rendered them really immune from all
contagion.
3° Finally at the right moment to inspire these young
men with zeal for souls, in order to use them more effectively
to reach their comrades.
It would take us too long to say exactly what was the
minimum that these two priests required from the less
fervent, in order to allow them to remain in the organisation
for some time. We prefer to draw attention to the con­
siderable importance they gave to spiritual direction in
carrying out their plan.
The Abbé Allemand took in handed individual direction of
each youth and excelled in arousing in him a holy enthusiasm
for perfection and in convincing him that the best proof
of devotion to the Sacred Heart is the imitation of the
virtues of our Divine Model.
As for Canon Timon-David, he was not only an excellent
confessor, skilled in finding out and healing the wounds of
the soul, but he was also a remarkable spiritual director.
No one knew better than he how to enkindle the love
of virtue in souls ; and he stirred up his colleagues in
their guidance of souls to go higher than the purgative life,
and to steer them to the illuminative life. Nothing surpassed
his anxiety to make true directors of the priests who were
helping in his work.
Both of these men considered as insufficient for their
picked members the short exhortation before the weekly
absolution, their sermons at the meetings, the training in
the litrugical life, even their lectures, highly interesting
as they were ; they considered that personal direction once
a month for each individual is indispensable.
They were convinced that next to prayer and self­

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I3I

sacrifice the most powerful means of gaining the grace of
God for these chosen ones, w’ho are destined to regenerate
the world, is the activity of a real priest in all the branches
of his ministry, but especially by spiritual direction.
Let us leave the limited area of organisations for the
young to take a look over the whole field which the Church
has to cultivate : works of all kinds, parishes, seminaries,
communities and missions.
Nobody can be his own guide. Everyone has weaknesses
to overcome, desires to check, duties to fulfil, dangers to
escape, proximate occasions of sin to avoid, difficulties to
conquer and doubts to clear up. If help is needed for all
this, how much more for progress in perfection !
The priest would fail and fail seriously in his duty as
teacher and healer of souls, if he deprived them of this
great additional help to the confessional, this indispensable
source of energy for the interior life which is called spiritual
direction.
Poor is the work of those organisations and institutions
whose confessors, always in a hurry, seldom give their
penitents anything but a pious exhortation before absolu­
tion, the same for all, instead of providing a remedy which
a painstaking and experienced doctor would know how to
prescribe according to the state of each patient. In spite
of his faith in the power of the sacrament, the penitent
runs the risk of seeing in the priest only an “ automatic
dispenser,” not unlike those slot machines at railway
stations which hand out a sweetmeat mechanically.
Privileged on the contrary are those chibs, schools,
orphanages, etc., where the confessor knows the art of
direction, and is convinced that he must above all put
this art into practice, if he wants to make all those souls,
attuned to a high ideal, give themselves wholeheartedly
to the exercises of the interior life.
How many fathers and mothers have noticed that their
influence on their children and their friends has greatly
increased because they have found a true director !
What treasures there are in the soul of a child to work
upon ! It is the age when the tree is about to bend, often

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once and for all, to one side or the other. Because they
have not had from their earliest years direction suited to
their age and disposition, many of them will grow up
into adults, whom it will not be possible to count among
the fairer flowers of the garden of Our Lord. Otherwise
what a number of 'priestly and religious vocations might have
blossomed forth among them !
Sometimes even for several generations a parish or a
mission, will continue to show the influence of a priest
who was something more than a mere giver of absolution.
Besides Ars and Mesnil-Saint-Loup, we could mention
other places which are real centres of the spiritual life in
the midst of general lukewarmness, because they once
had the happiness to possess a zealous, prudent and
experienced director.
When I was travelling in Japan many years ago, I was
astonished and deeply moved when I had the happiness
of meeting the members of the many Christian families
which were discovered about fifty years ago near Nagasaki.
Such an amazing thing ! Surrounded by pagans, obliged
to hide their religion, deprived of priests for three centuries,
these devoted Christians had received from their parents
not only the faith but fervour. Where are we to find
the initial impulse powerful enough to explain the strength
and the duration of this extraordinary heritage ? The
answer is easy : their ancestors had in St. Francis Xavier
a superb director of chosen souls.
How can some of our diocesan seminaries with no spiritual
directors serve as nurseries for future priests ? Through
not having been guided early enough towards perfection
most of their pupils later on will scarcely rise above
mediocrity in the exercise of their ministry. Fortunate
indeed will they be, those souls who are groping to find
their way, if they have not been turned aside from their
desire to become priests by their admiration for the natural
talents of some of their teachers who manifest indifference
for the inner life and contempt for consistent spiritual
direction.
The proof of the fact that in a number of religious com·

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I33

munities, active as well as contemplative, many subjects
merely vegetate, for the lack of spiritual direction, is to be
found in the radical change that I have often observed in
tepid religious, who have recovered the fervour of their
profession as soon as they had found a conscientious director.
Some confessors seem to forget that the souls consecrated
to God, who are in their charge, are bound to strive for
perfection and have a real need of help and encouragement,
in order to achieve this continual progress ; to them may
be applied the words of the psalm : In his heart he hath
disposed to ascend by steps . . . they shall go from virtue to
virhie : 1 they would then become real apostles of the
interior life.
How many priests too would be much more fervent, and
find all their happiness in their eucharistie and liturgical
life and in the progress of souls, if the confessor of their
choice showed them a genuine friendship, and drew them
tactfully by persuasion to monthly direction, and then to
the higher perfection to which they are bound even more
than religious.
Everyone has noticed the important part which writers
of the lives of saints attribute to the spiritual director of
those whose biographies they relate.
Would not the Church have many more saints, if generous
souls, priests and religious especially, received more serious
direction ?
Were it not for the constant direction given by the
priest to the parents of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus
and, later on, the direct action of the representatives of
God on this soul chosen by our Lord, would the earth
now be receiving from heaven such an abundant shower
of roses ?
In his writings Father Desunnont often dwells upon the
thought that for certain souls salvation is completely linked
to sanctity ; all or nothing ; ardent love of Our Lord or
worship of the world and the leadership of Satan ; sanctity
or damnation.i.
i. Ascensiones in corde suo disposuit . . . ibunt de virtute in
virtutem (Ps. LXXXIII).

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Would it be rash then for us to fear that painful surprises
are in store for some priests at the Last Judgment who,
through neglecting the study of the art of direction and not
accepting the hard work demanded by its practice, are
to a certain extent responsible for the mediocrity or even
the loss of souls. They may have been good administrators,
excellent preachers, full of solicitude for the sick and the
poor, but they have nevertheless neglected the great means
that Our Lord employed : the transformation of society by
means of chosen souls. The little band of disciples whom
Jesus chose and formed Himself, and who later on were
filled by the Holy Ghost, were enough to begin the re­
generation of the world.
Let us honour and respect those Bishops, ever becoming
more and more numerous, who follow the counsel of Saint
Pius X, and consider that in their seminaries a course of
ascetic and even of mystical theology is far more useful
than lectures on social science.
To emphasise the importance of direction they insist
above all that their seminarians be faithful to it for the
sake of their own personal progress, and that all the
professors hold it in high esteem and prove it by their
radiation of the interior life.
In addition they want all their candidates for the priest­
hood to learn everything that relates to the direction of
souls, regimen animarum, an art which is based on wellestablished principles and wise counsels which have been
practised by those who give them. It is especially of this
art of arts that one may say that it is not enough to know
merely what to do, but also how to do it.
* *
*
What a number of false notions and prejudices we must
get rid of concerning direction, when we consult those
authors whom the Church considers masters of the spiritual
life.
Some penitents know too well how to lead direction
away from its right path, once the priest allows his zeal

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ISS

to wander off the course without a compass, and holds
the rudder with too weak a grip !
Howr many wTong roads there are in which unlucky
directors or penitents may go astray ! Time is spent in useless
gossiping or in coddling the penitent’s feelings or in flattering
his self-love or in minimising by a quietistic view personal
responsibility for sin ; thus are created schools of false
piety and sentimentalism in which is developed a taste
for emotion or mere external devotions ; we end up with
a kind of solicitor’s office, where the penitent gets accus­
tomed to come for the smallest incidents of life, temporal
affairs, family matters, etc.
Thus the priest must be on his guard that the character
of the direction may not go astray. Everything ought to
converge upon the exact object, which may be defined
thus : Spiritual direction consists in the methodical and
continuous instruction, given by a person having grace of
state, knowledge and experience {especially a priest'), to an
upright and generous soul in order to help to advance it towards
solid piety and even towards perfection.
Direction is above all a training of the will, of that
ruling faculty which St. Thomas calls the vis unitiva, and
the only one after all, by which we will attain union with
Our Saviour and the imitation of His virtues.
The director who is worthy of the name will examine and
find out not only the inner causes of faults but also the
different things which attract the soul. He will analyse
its difficulties and dislikes in the spiritual combat. He
will show it the beauty of an ideal, will try out, select,
and control the ways of living that ideal, will point out the
pitfalls and illusions, will shake off torpidity, will encourage,
reprimand, and console, as required ; but only to strengthen
the will against discouragement or despair.
Direction generally is inseparable from confession, as
long as the soul, while still attached to sin, remains in
the purgative state. When the soul has seriously begun to
advance towards fervour, direction can more easily be
given distinct from confession. To prevent their being
confused some priests do not give direction till after

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absolution and ordinarily allow it only once a month to
those who go to confession every week.
It is not part of the programme of this volume to develop
the method of giving direction. But as I am convinced
that a number of priests should take more seriously this
spiritual art, it gives me great pleasure, I admit, to attempt
to offer to certain colleagues, who balle at the study of
large volumes on the subject, a short and practical synopsis
of the best that has been said on this subject.1 This
compendium will not only render the direction and classi­
fication of souls more easy, but will also specify the
recognised methods for direction adapted to the chief
states of perfection.
Each soul is a world by itself ; it has its own shades
of difference. Still, as an ordinary rule, we may classify

i. Special treatises. La direction spirituelle, par le Vén. P. Libermann (Œuvre de St. Paul, 6, rue Cassette, Paris)—L'esprit d’un
directeur des âmes, par M. Olier (Poussielgue, Paris)—La charité
sacerdotale, par le P. Desunnont (Sainte Famille, rue Servandoni,
Paris)—The various works of Fr. Timon-David.—Les degrés
de la vie spirituelle, par Saudreau (Grassin et Richou, Angers)
—La pratique progressive de la Confession et de la Direction, and
other works of the same author on Formation morale et religieuse
(Lib. St. Paul, Paris)—Direction des enfants, par Simon (Téqui,
Paris)—Pratique de I'education, par Monfat (Téqui)—L’educateur
apôtre, par Guibert (Gigord, Paris).
Among other authors who have spoken of spiritual direction
are : Cassian, St. Gregory the Great, St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure,
St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Teresa, St. Francis de Sales, St. XTncent
de Paul, St. Alphonsus.—St. Jerome, St. Chantal, Bossuet, Fénelon,
Dupanloup, etc., in their letters.—FF. Aquaviva, Lallemand,
Grou, Scaramelli.—Ribet, L’ascétisme chrétien (Poussielgue, Paris).
—Meynard, Ο. P. (Jules, Vic., Paris).—Mgr. Gay.—Saudreau
(L'Déal de l'âme fervente ; La voie qui mène à Dieu ; Manuel de
spiritualité).—Schryvers, C.SS.R., Principes de la vie spirituelle
(Dewit, Brussels).
Works of education and of pedagogic psychology, such as those
of FF. Eymieu (Perrin, Paris) and de la Vaissière, S. J. (Beuachesne, Paris), of FF. Raymond (Beauchesne, Paris) and Noble,
Ο. P. (Lethielleux, Paris) will also prove most useful to directors.
In short, the serious study of La Charité sacerdotale of F. Desurmont or of the Degrés de la Vie spirituelle of Canon Saudreau will
at once supply any priest with matter for giving direction.

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Christians into a few groups. I think it useful to attempt
such a classification, testing souls on the one hand by sin
or imperfection, and on the other by their degree of prayer.
May 1 be able by this list to induce some of my confrères
to reflect on the necessity of studying these things in order
to learn the practical rules for directing each soul according
to its state !
In the first two categories the priest may not be able
to work directly on the souls in question, but if he is a good
director, he will be better able to guide parents or friends
who are longing to win back those dear ones, even though
they may be hardened in sin, before they are entirely
rejected by God.

i. Hardened in Sin
Mortal sin.—Stubborn persistence in sin, either because
of ignorance, or of a maliciously wrong conscience. Stifling
of remorse, or absence of it.
Prayer.—Deliberate refusal to have any recourse to God.
2. Only Outwardly Christian
Mortal sin.—Considered as a trifling evil, easily forgiven ;
the soul easily gives way and commits mortal sin at every
occasion or temptation.
Confession almost without
contrition.
Prayer.—Mechanical, without attention, or always
dictated by temporal interest.—Rare and superficial
examination of the state of one’s soul.

3. Mediocre Piety
Mortal sin.—Weak resistance.—Hardly ever avoids
occasions of sin ; but has serious regrets for having sinned
and makes good confessions.
Venial sin.—Complete acceptance of this sin, as being
insignificant ; hence lukewarmness of the will—nothing
done to prevent venial sin, extirpate it, or find it out
when concealed.
Prayer.—Fairly wrell said, but at long intervals. Occas­
ional fits of fervour.

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4. Intermittent Piety
Mortal sin.—Loyal resistance. Habitual avoidance of
occasions of sin.—Deep regrets.—Does penance in repara­
tion for sin.
Venial sin.—Sometimes deliberate.—Weak resistance.—
Superficial regret.—Makes particular examination of con­
science, but without any method.
Prayer.—Weak resolution of being faithful to meditation,
which is given up in times of dryness or pressure of business.

5. Sustained Piety
Mortal sin.—Never.—At most very rare when taken
suddenly and violently by surprise.
Often even then
mortal sin doubtful, followed by contrition and penance.
Venial sin.—Vigilant in avoiding and resisting it.—
Rarely deliberate.—Keen sorrow, but little penance by
way of reparation.—Methodical particular examen, but
aiming only at avoidance of venial sins.
Imperfections.—The soul either avoids searching for
them so as not to have to resist them, or easily excuses
them.—Approves the idea of renouncing them, and would
like to do so, but makes little effort.
Prayer.—Constant fidelity, in spite of everything, to
affective mental prayer.—Alternation of spiritual consola­
tion and dryness, the latter endured with difficulty.
6. Fervour
Venial sin.—Never deliberate.—Through surprise some­
times or with imperfect advertence.—Keenly regretted and
fully atoned for.
Imperfections.—Completely renounced, guarded against
and resisted heartily, in order to be more pleasing to God.
—Sometimes however consented to but at once regretted.
—Frequent acts of renunciation.—Particular examen
practised with a view to perfection in a given virtue.
Prayer.—Mental prayer willingly prolonged.
Often
affective mental prayer, and even prayer of simplicity.
Alternation of deep consolations and painful trials.

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7.

I39

Relative Perfection

Imperfections.—Energetically avoided with great love.
They happen through half-advertence.
Prayer.—Habitual life of prayer, even while occupied
in external w'orks.
Thirst for self-denial, humiliation,
detachment and divine love.—Hunger for the Holy
Eucharist and heaven.—Infused graces of mental prayer
in different degrees. Often passive purifications.

8.

Heroic Degree

Imperfections.—Nothing but the first involuntary im­
pulse.
Prayer.—-Supernatural gifts of contemplation, accom­
panied sometimes by extraordinary phenomena.—Marked
passive purifications.—Contempt for self to the point of
complete self-forgetfulness.—Suffering preferred to joy.

9.

Complete Sanctity

Imperfections.—Scarcely apparent.
Prayer.—Usually, transforming union.—Spiritual mar­
riage.—-Purifications of love.—Ardent thirst for sufferings
and humiliations.

Few and far between are the souls which reach the last
three categories ; in them venial sin is more and more rare.
We can understand therefore that priests wait till they
come across such penitents, before studying what the best
authors have to say, in order that their direction may be
prudent and safe.
But there is no excuse for a confessor, who is too lacking
in zeal to learn and apply the principles that relate to the
four classes of mediocre piety, intermittent piety, sustained
piety and fervour, and who allows souls to rust in their
sad tepidity or to come to a standstill far below the degree
of interior life to which God destined them.

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As for the points to be touched upon in the direction of
beginners in piety, they can, it seems, be reduced to the
four following :
i° Peace.—Find out if the soul has true peace and not
that which the world gives or which results from the
absence of struggle. If it has none try to ground the soul
in relative peace, in spite of its difficulties. This is the basis
of all direction. Calmness, recollection and confidence come
under this point.
2° A High Ideal.—As soon as you have gathered enough
material to classify the soul and to know its weak points,
its strength of character and temperament, its degree of
striving for perfection, find out the proper means of
enlivening its desire to live more seriously for Our Lord
and to destroy the barriers which close the road to the
development of grace. In a word, at this point, strive to
urge the soul always to aim higher and higher, always
excelsior.
3° Prayer.—Find out how the soul fulfils the duty of
prayer, and analyse specially its degree of fidelity to mental
firayer, the method of mental prayer which it follows, the
obstacles it meets with and the profit which it gets from
it, what value it gets from the Sacraments, the liturgical
life, particular devotions, ejaculatory prayers and the
practice of the presence of God.
4° Self-denial.—Find out on what point and especially
how it makes the particular examen ; how it practises self­
denial, whether through hatred for sin or through love for
virtue ; how it keeps custody of the heart ; that is, what
amount of vigilance in the spiritual combat is kept through­
out the day.
All that is essential for direction can be reduced to these
four points. All four can be examined each month, or each
can be taken in turn, so as not to take too long.
Thus the zealous priest paralyses the germs of death
in a soul and revives the seeds of life ; the practice of this
supreme art becomes a passion with him ; the Holy Ghost,
whose faithful minister he is, will not be sparing of those
ineffable consolations, which constitute here below one

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of the greatest joys of the priesthood ; He will pour them
out upon him in proportion to his devotion in applying
to souls the principles he has studied. Who more than
St. Paul has experienced the joys of the apostolate ?
Yet what a burning fire of zeal must have consumed
him, when he could write : For three years I ceased, not
with tears to admonish every one of you night and day ! 1
Once I heard a bishop address the folio whig words of
admiration and gratitude to the doctor who after strenuous
efforts had succeeded in pulling him through the crisis of
a serious illness and had rapidly restored him to vigorous
health : “ My dear doctor, I know that your son is studying
for the priesthood. If he and his confrères, when they have
the care of souls, follow the example of your devotion and
your professional conscientiousness in diagnosing sickness
and prescribing the remedies and diet which are to restore
the invalid to a flourishing state of health, then neither
Jews nor Freemasons nor Protestants will be able to prevent
the triumph of the faith amongst us.”
The application of knowledge and the practice of
devotion to duty will assuredly be blessed by God.
But what a superhuman power these two factors will
acquire w'hen the priest who uses them is one of those
to whom the priesthood is incomprehensible unless it means
constant progress towards sanctity I
What a revolution of holiness WOuld sweep the world,
if in every parish, in every mission, for every community,
and at the head of every Catholic group there wras a genuine
director of souls ! Then even in the institutions where
mediocre subjects have to be kept (for instance, orphanages,
asylums, homes) the basis of the whole programme would
always be to form a select group and separate them as much
as possible from the middling ones, until such time as they
can be trained to exercise a discreet but earnest apostolate
among the others.
Anyone who wrants to compare good wrorks in terms of the
results which Our Lord expects from them will be obliged
i. Per triennium nocte et die non cessavi cum lacrimis monens
unumquemque vestrum (Act. XX, 31).

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to conclude that wherever there is a centre of true spiritual
direction, there is no need of those wonderful “ crutches ”
for marvellous results to abound ; on the contrary the
use of all the most fashionable “ crutches ” in the same
enterprise and at the same time may cloak the lack of this
direction, but never lessen its necessity.
The more zealous priests become in perfecting themselves
in the art of direction and in devoting themselves to it
the less necessary in their eyes will be the use of certain
exterior means which are useful at the beginning to get
into touch with the faithful, attract them, group them,
interest them, hold them, and keep them under the influence
of the Church. Faithful to its true end the Church will
not be fully satisfied until these souls are intimately incor­
porated with Christ our Lord.

(g) The interior life through the Blessed Eucharist is the true
cause of the success of the apostolate.

The aim of the Incarnation and in consequence of
every apostolate is to raise humanity to the level of the
divine. “ Christ became man that man might become
god.” 1 “ Wishing that we should be sharers in His Divinity,
the only Son of God assumed our nature that having
become man he might make men gods.” 12 Now it is in
the Blessed Eucharist or rather it is in the Eucharistic
life, that is to say in a substantial interior life nourished
at the divine banquet that the apostle assimilates the divine
life. We have the wo rd of the Master, authoritative,
leaving no room for quibbling : Unless you eat the flesh
of the Son of man and drink His blood you shall not have
life in you.3 The Eucharistic life is the life of Our Lord

1. Christus incarnatus est ut homo fieret deus (St. Augustine).
2. Unigenitus Dei Filius suae divinitatis volens nos esse participes
naturam nostram assumpsit, ut homines deos faceret factus homo
(St. Thomas, Off. Corpus Christi).
3. Nisi manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis et biberitis ejus
sanguinem, non habebitis vitam in vobis (Joan., VI, 53).

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M3

in us not only by the indispensable state of grace but by
the superabundance of His action. I am come that they
may have life and may have it more abundantly.1 If the
apostle is to have a superabundance of divine life and to
spread it among the faithful and if its only source is in
the Blessed Eucharist, how then can we suppose that his
works will be efficacious without the action of the Eucharist
on those who, directly or indirectly, must be the dispensers
of this life through these good works ?
It is impossible to meditate on the consequences of the
dogma of the Real Presence, of the Sacrifice of the Altar,
and of Holy Communion, without being led to the con­
clusion that Our Lord has deigned to institute this
Sacrament in order to make it the centre of all activity, of
all loyal devotion, of every apostolate that can be really
useful to the Church. If all the mystery of the Redemption
centres on Calvary, all the graces of this mystery flow
down upon us from the Altar, and the gospel worker
who does not draw all his life from the Altar utters only
a word that is dead, a word that caimot save souls, because
it issues from a heart which is not sufficiently steeped in
the Precious Blood.
It was not without a profound purpose that Our Lord,
immediately after the Last Supper, spoke the parable of
the vine and the branches in order to emphasise precisely
how useless is any active ministry which is not animated
by the interior life. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself . . . , so neither can you, unless you abide in me.12
But He went on at once to point out how powerful will
be the activity of an apostle who lives the interior life,
the Eucharistic life. He that abideth in Me and I in him,
the same beareth much fruit.3 The same, but he alone.
God exercises His power only through such an apostle.
“ The reason is,” says St. Athanasius, “ that we are made as
1. Veni ut vitam habeant et abundantius habeant (Joan., X, 10).
2. Sicut palmes non potest ferre fructum a semetipso ... sic
nec vos nisi in me manseritis (Joan., XV, 4).
3. Qui manet in me et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum (Joan.,
XV, 5).

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gods by the flesh of Christ.” When the preacher and the
catechist keep in their hearts the warm life of the Precious
Blood, when their hearts are inflamed by the fire which
consumes the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, what light and
holy warmth is in their speech ! and how the effects of
the Blessed Eucharist radiate in a class, for instance, or
in a hospital ward, in a parish organisation, etc., when
those whom God has chosen to work there have nourished
zeal in Holy Communion and have become Christ-bcarers !
Whether the fight is against the demon whose wiles
hold souls in ignorance, or against the spirit of pride and
impurity which strives to make them drunk with pride or
drown them in the mire of sin, the Blessed Eucharist wrhich
is the life of the true apostle, will have an influence far
above all other against the enemy of salvation.
By the Blessed Eucharist love is made perfect. This
living memorial of the Passion rekindles in the apostle
the divine fire when it begins to die down. It makes
Gethsemani, the Pretorium and Calvary live again in him ;
it teaches him the science of suffering and humiliation. The
apostolic worker will then be able to speak to the afflicted
in a language capable of making them share in the con­
solations which he has drawn from this sublime source.
He speaks the language of the virtues of w'hich Our Lord
remains the model, because every one of his w’ords is, as
it wrere, a drop of the Eucharistic Blood falling on souls.
Without this reflection of the Eucharistic life the words
of the active apostle will produce only a passing enthusiasm.
Only the secondary faculties will be captivated and the
outworks of the fort occupied ; but the citadel, that is
to say, the heart, the will, will as a rule remain impregnable.
Ί he good results obtai ned by an apostolate correspond
invariably to the degree of Eucharistic life acquired by the
apostle. Indeed the sure sign of an efficacious apostolate
is when it succeeds in making souls thirst for frequent
and fruitful participation in the divine banquet. Such a
result is obtained only in proportion to the measure in
which the apostle himself lives truly with Jesus in the Host.
Like St. Thomas of Aquin wrho always drewr near to the

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

I45

Tabernacle when he wanted to discover the solution of a
problem, the apostle too will confide all his difficulties to the
divine Host and his action upon souls will be simply the
putting into practice of his conversations with the Author
of fife.
Our admirable Pontiff and Father of revered memory,
Saint Pius X, the Pope of frequent Communion, was also
the Pope of the interior life. To re-establish all things in
Christ 1 was the first thing he had to say, above all to
active apostles.
It summarised the programme of an
apostle who lived by the Blessed Eucharist, and saw that
the Church would succeed only in proportion to the
progress that souls make in the Eucharistic life.
The enterprises of our day, so numerous and still so often
sterile, why have they not regenerated society ? Let us
once again admit it ; they can be counted in far greater
numbers than in past centuries and yet they have not been
able to prevent the frightful ravages of impiety in the field of
family life. Why ? Because they are not sufficiently based
on the interior life, on the Eucharistic life, on the liturgical
life. The directors at the head of these enterprises have
been brilliant in logic, in talent and even in a kind of piety ;
they have succeeded in spreading floods of light and
introducing some practices of devotion ; results certainly
worthy of approval. But because they have not drawn from
the source of life to a sufficient degree, they have not been
able to pass on to others the fervour that influences the
will. In vain have they striven to produce that hidden
but powerful devotion to duty, that active ferment working
through groups of people, those centres of supernatural
attraction for which there is no substitute and which
noiselessly but unceasingly spread the fire around them and
penetrate slowly but surely into all classes of persons with
whom they come into contact. Their life in Jesus was too
weak to produce such results.
In former ages mere ordinary piety was enough to
preserve souls from the contagion of evil. To counteracti.

i. Instaurare omnia in Christo (Eph., 1, 10).

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the virulence of the pestilence of our times, a hundred
times more deadly and so easily caught from the fatal
allurements of the world, a much more active and vigorous
serum is required. Through lack of laboratories capable
of producing effective antitoxins our apostles have been
satisfied with producing sentimental fervour, spasms of
enthusiasm no sooner ablaze than extinguished, or else
they have been able to reach only a small minority.
Seminaries and novitiates have not turned out armies of
priests, of religious men and women sufficiently inflamed
by the Eucharistic wine. Therefore the fire that these
chosen souls should have spread among pious lay people
engaged in good works has remained latent. No doubt
some worthy apostles have been given to the Church ;
but only very rarely has she been given workers who
possess through their Eucharistic life that full piety, that
custody of the heart, that ardent, active, generous and
practical zeal, which is called the interior life.
We sometimes hear a parish spoken of as good, or even
excellent·, because in it the people salute the pastor, speak
to him with respect, show some liking for him, even going
so far as to do him a favour, and yet in that parish the
greater number go to work instead of to Mass, the Sacra­
ments are abandoned, ignorance of religion, intemperance
and blasphemy prevail, morals are at a low ebb. What
a pity ! Excellent parish ? Can we call these people
Christians, seeing that they lead such an utterly pagan life ?
Apostles of the Gospel, we who deplore these sad results,
why have we not gone more often to that school in which
the Word of God trains His preachers ? Why have we not
learned the word of life more profoundly in heart-to-heart
conversation with the God of the Eucharist ? God has
not spoken by our lips ; that was our fatal weakness ;
let us no longer be astonished then if our human words
have remained almost sterile.
We have not appeared to the faithful as a reflection of
Our Lord and of His life in the Church. To get the people
to believe in us, something of the sheen of Moses’ halo
when he came down to the Israelites from Mount Sinai

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I47

should have glowed about our brow. In the eyes of the
Hebrews this halo bore witness to the intimacy of God’s
envoy with Him who sent him. The success of our mission
demanded that we should be known not only as men of
honour and conviction, but also as men glowing with a
radiance from the Blessed Eucharist, which would reveal
to the people some idea of the living God, whom nothing
can resist. Orators, leaders, lecturers, catechists, professors,
we have succeeded only imperfectly, because we have not
reflected the divine intimacy.
We apostles who grieve over the failure of our ministry,
we who know, when all is said, that man is as a rule moved
ultimately only by the desire of happiness, let us ask
ourselves if men have seen in us that radiation of the eternal
and infinite happiness of God, which we should have won
from our union with Him who, though hidden in the Taber­
nacle, is nevertheless the joy of the heavenly court.
The Master, for His part, never forgot this food of joy
so necessary to His apostles. These things I have spoken
to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be
filled,1 He said, immediately after the Last Supper to
remind us to what an extent the Blessed Eucharist was to
be the source of all supreme happiness here below.
We ministers of the Lord for whom the Tabernacle has
become mute and silent, the stone of consecration cold, the
Host a venerated but lifeless memento, we have let our sheep
wander in their evil paths. How could we ever have drawn
them out of the mire of their forbidden pleasures ? And
yet we have spoken to them of the joys of religion and
a good conscience. But because we had not slaked our
thirst deeply enough at the living waters of the Lamb
we have only been able to stammer in our attempts to
describe those ineffable joys, the very desire of which
would have broken the chains of the triple concupiscence
much more effectively than our thundering words on hell.
Through us the faithful have seen in God who is all love
I. Haec locutus sum vobis ut gaudium meum sit in vobis et
gaudium vestrum impleatur (Joan., XV, il).

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only a stern lawgiver and a judge as inexorable in His decrees
as He is rigorous in His chastisements. Our lips have not
known how to speak the language of the Heart of Him
who loves men, because our converse with Him has been as
infrequent as it has been wanting in intimacy.
Let us not try' to cast the blame on the profoundly
demoralised state of Society, since we have examples before
our eyes of what can be done in parishes which had ceased
to be Christian, by the presence of sensible, energetic,
devoted, capable priests, but priests who were above all
lovers of the Blessed Eucharist. In spite of all the efforts
of the ministers of Satan these priests, a terror to the demon,
facti diabolo terribiles, drawing their strength from the
centre of all strength, the furnace of the Tabernacle, these
priests, I say, alas, too rare, have wrought invincible
weapons which the conspiring demons have been powerless
to break.
Mental prayer before the Altar has not been for them
fruitless and barren ; they have been able to understand
these words of St. Francis of Assisi : “ Prayer is the source
of grace. Preaching is the channel which distributes the
graces which we have received from Heaven. The ministers
of the word of God have been chosen by the great King
to bring to the nations of the earth what they themselves
have learned and gathered, especially before the Tabernacle."
Our great motive for confidence is to see at work this
present generation of devoted apostles, who are not satisfied
any longer merely with getting people to go to Conununion
for the sake of appearances, but are capable of forming
souls who are real, true communicants.

PART FIVE
SOME PRINCIPLES AND COUNSELS FOR THE
INTERIOR LIFE
1. Hints on the interior Life for Active Apostles.

To succeed in getting the reader to admit the striking
importance of the doctrine, put forward in this book, would
in itself be a good result, but an insufficient one.
The real purpose of the book is to get the reader to resolve:
" I am going to live according to this doctrine.”
So that it is now appropriate to say to the man busied
in good works, to the apostle who has just read these pages,
especially if he has read them on retreat : Your approval
of the subject-matter will remain almost useless, if it is not
■united to a firm resolution of intensifying your interior life.”
The aim of this fifth part then is to help those on retreat
to strengthen those dispositions that are necessary in order
that interior life may render good works more fruitful.
Convictions :

Zeal will get results only in so far as it is united to the
action of Our Lord.
Our Lord does all the work ; we are only His instruments.
Our Lord does not give His blessing to enterprises in
which men place their trust in human means alone.
Our Lord does not bless enterprises that are kept going
solely by natural activity.
Our Lord does not bless enterprises in which self-love
is working in the place of divine love.1
Woe to the man who refuses to do the work to which
God calls him !
Woe to the man who takes upon himself tasks without
being assured that such is the will of God !
I. P. Desurmont, C.SS.R.

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Woe to the man who in his work wants to manage things
without truly depending on God !
Woe to the man who, in carrying out good works, does
not take steps to preserve or regain interior life '
Woe to the man who does not know how to harmonise
interior life and active life, so that the latter does not injure
the former !
Principles :

ist Principle.—Not to plunge into good works through
mere natural energy, but to consult God, so as to make sure
that we act under the inspiration of grace, and with the
morally certain guarantee that it is His will.
2nd Principle.—It is rash and dangerous to remain
for too long a time engaged in excessive work, which would
leave the soul in a state incapable of performing the exercises
essential to the interior life. In such a case all, especially
priests and religious should apply, even to the holiest
works, the text, Pluck it out and cast it from thee.1
3rd Principle.—·Α time-table allotting to each activity a
fixed time ought to be drawn up with the advice of a
wise, holy and experienced priest and this should be strictly
adhered to in order to control the flood of one’s activities.
4th Principle.—For one’s own profit and that of others
the interior life must be cultivated above all. The more
one has to do, the more one has need of this life. The more
therefore should one thirst for it, and take measures that
this thirst may not be one of those futile longings that
Satan uses so cleverly to stupefy souls and keep them
fast in their illusions.
5th Principle.—Supposing the soul finds itself by accident
and really as a result of the Will of God under great stress
of work, so that it is morally impossible to give sufficient
time to prayer, what then ? The soul has an infallible
thermometer which points out if it is really keeping up
its fervour ; so that if one has a real thirst for the inner
i. Erue eum et projice abs te (Matth., V, 29)—See the quotation
from St. Bern., p. 57.

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life and with earnest good wall seizes every opportunity
of carrying out the essential practices, one may be at peace
and count firmly on very special graces. God reserves
them for this soul, and it will find in them sufficient strength
to advance in the spiritual fife.
6th Principle.—As long as the active apostle has not
reached the point where he is habitually recollected and
dependent on grace, he is not in a satisfactory state of
interior life. But in striving for this necessary recollection
there must be no straining of the mind. A simple habitual
glance coming rather from the heart than from the mind
is enough, a sure, accurate, penetrating glance to see if we
remain during the time of our work under the influence
of Our Lord.
Practical hints :

i° Let this be impressed well upon your mind, that with­
out the time-table mentioned above and the firm resolve to
keep to it habitually, especially with regard to a fixed
hour for rising, the soul cannot lead an interior life.
2° Base your interior life on its absolutely necessary
foundation, morning mental prayer.
St. Teresa says :
He who is already fully resolved, cost what it may,
to make a half hour’s morning meditation has already
gone half his journey.” Without mental prayer the day
will necessarily be one of tepidity.
30 Mass, Holy Communion, and recitation of the Breviary,
which are liturgical functions, are inexhaustible mines of
wealth for the interior fife and are to be worked with increas­
ing faith and fervour.
40 The particular and general examinations of conscience
ought to lead, like mental prayer and the liturgical life,
to the habit of custody of the heart, in which we fulfil
the obligation of watching and praying : Vigilate et orate.1
The soul that attends to what is going on within itself and
is sensitive to the presence of the Most Holy Trinity, acquires

I. Marc., XIV, 38,

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

the instinctive habit of turning to Our Lord in all circum­
stances, but especially if it sees a danger of dissipation or
weakness.
5° Hence the need of unceasing prayer by means of
spiritual communions and ejaculatory prayers, which are
so easy for one who really wishes to practise them, even
in the midst of the most absorbing occupations, and which
can be so agreeably varied to meet the requirements of
actual circumstances : dangers, difficulties, weariness,
disappointments, etc.
6° Devout study of Holy Scripture, especially of the New
Testament, must have a place in our priestly life every
day or at least several times a week.—Spiritual reading
in the evening is a daily duty that a generous soul will
take care not to neglect. The mind needs to be brought
face to face with supernatural truths, with the dogmas
which generate piety and with the moral consequences
which proceed from them, and which are so easily forgotten.
7° Thanks to this custody of the heart which will serve
as a kind of remote preparation, weekly confession will
infallibly be imbued with sincere contrition, true sorrow
and a firm purpose of amendment ever more and more
loyal and determined.
8° The annual retreat is very useful, but not sufficient.
The monthly retreat (of a whole daj’’ or at least half a day)
seriously employed in recovering the poise of one's soul is
almost indispensable to the active apostle.

2. Mental prayer, a necessary element of the interior Life, and
consequently of the apostolate.

A vague desire of the interior life, conceived after a
rapid reading of some book wrould produce no results.
This desire must be framed in a precise, fervent and
practical resolution.
A number of persons engaged in good works have asked
me to help them to the means of realising a plan of interior
life by laying dowrn some general resolutions.

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153

To accede to their requests means adding a sort of
appendix to this book.
Nevertheless I willingly undertake to do so, being
convinced that, on the one hand, the active worker, be he
priest or layman, will not profit by what has gone before,
if he is not fully determined to consecrate some time
every morning to mental prayer ; and that, on the other
hand, the priest who intends to make progress in the
interior life cannot neglect to utilise the liturgical life and
to practise custody of the heart.
I think it more practical to present these three points
in the form of personal resolutions.
I do not in any way claim to originate a new method
of mental prayer, but I shall try to extract the pith of the
best methods.

Resolution on Mental Prayer
I resolve io be faithful to morning meditation.
I.

Is this fidelity absolutely necessary ?

As a priest I heard at my ordination these grave words :
Sacerdos alter Christus. I understood then that if I do not
live in a special way with Jesus, I arn not a priest according
to His Heart ; I have not the soul of a priest. As a priest
I must live in intimacy with Jesus. He expects it from
me : " I will not now call you servants . . . but I have
called you friends.” 1
But my life with Jesus, Principle, Means and End, will
develop in the measure in which He is the Light of my
reason and of all my actions, interior and exterior, the Love
ruling all the affections of my heart, my Strength in my
trials, in my struggles, in my work, and the Food of that
supernatural life which makes me share even in the life
of God.

xv,I. Jam
15). non dicam vos servos ;

vos autem dixi amicos (Joan.,

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Now this life wnth Our Lord, guaranteed by my fidelity to
mental prayer, is morally impossible without this mental
prayer.
Shall I dare to insult, by my refusal, the Heart of Him
who offers me this means of living in friendship with Him ?
There is another important aspect, although it is negative,
of the necessity for mental prayer. According to the
economy of the divine plan it is efficacious against the
dangers inherent in my weakness, in my relations with the
world, in certain of my duties.
If I make my mental prayer, I am as it were clad in
armour of steel and invulnerable to the arrows of the
enemy. Without meditation these will certainly strike me.
In consequence a number of faults, that I do not notice or
scarcely notice, will be imputed to me as their cause.
“ Mental prayer or very great risk of damnation is the
choice that faces the priest in constant contact with the
world,” declares without hesitation the pious, learned and
prudent Father Desurmont, one of the most experienced
preachers of ecclesiastical retreats.
“ For the apostle there is no halfway between holiness,
if not acquired at least desired and striven after (especially
by daily mental prayer), and gradual perversion,” says
Cardinal Lavigerie in his turn.
Each priest can apply to his mental prayer the words
with which the Holy Ghost inspired the Psalmist : Unless
Thy law had been my meditation, 1 had then perhaps perished
in my objection.1 Now this law’ goes the length of obliging
the priest to reproduce the spirit of Our Lord.
A priest is worth as much as his mental prayer is worth.
Two classes of Priests

i° Priests whose determination is such that they will
not allow their mental prayer to be delayed by pretexts
of social obligations, business, occupations, etc. Only the
very rare case of absolute impossibility will make them
I. Nisi quod lex tua meditatio mea est, tunc forte periissem in
humilitate mea (Psalm., CXVIÏI, 92).

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155

put off till later their morning meditation. But nothing
else.
These true priests are desirous of gaining definite results
in their mental prayer ; they keep it distinct from their
thanksgiving after Mass, from any kind of spiritual reading,
and naturally from the preparation of a sermon.
They are really holy because they desire to be ; and as
long as they persevere in this course their salvation is
morally certain.
2° Priests who make only a half-hearted resolution and
who put off their mental prayer and therefore easily omit
it, distort its object, or make no real effort to succeed.
What is the result ? Fatal tepidity, subtle illusions,
a deadened or false conscience—and these are so many
steps towards the abyss of hell.
To which of these two classes do I wish to belong ?
If I hesitate to make my choice, then my retreat is a failure.
All these things are finked together. If I give up my
morning meditation, Holy Mass itself—and my com­
munion—will give me no personal profit and may even be
imputed to me as a sin. The laborious and mechanical
recitation of my Office will no longer be the fervent, joyous
expression of my liturgical life. No vigilance, no recollection,
hence no ejaculatory prayers. Alas ! no more spiritual
reading. My apostolate will be less and less successful.
No sincere examination of faults, never any particular
examen. Confessions made as a matter of routine and with
often doubtful contrition. The next step will be sacrilege I
The citadel less and less ably defended is delivered to
the assault of a legion of enemies : breaches in the walls
at first ; soon complete ruin.
Π. What my mental prayer ought to be

The ascending of the mind towards God.x “To ascend
thus,” says St. Thomas, “ since it is an act, not of the
speculative but of the practical reason, implies acts of the
will.” Consequently :
i. Ascensio mentis ad Deum.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Mental prayer is really hard work, especially for beginners;
Work to become detached from all that is not God.—
Work to remain for half an hour fixed on God.—Work
to make repeated fresh starts towards virtue.—This is
work no doubt tiring at the beginning, but which I am
determined to do generously,—work which, besides, will
speedily be rewarded with the greatest consolation here
below, peace in friendship and union with Jesus.
“ Mental prayer,” says St. Teresa, “ is nothing but a
conversation with a Friend, in which the soul speaks
heart to heart with Him by whom the soul knows she is
beloved.”
Loving Conversation. It would be wicked to imagine
that God, who makes me feel the need and often the
attraction of this converse, and, what is more, makes it
an obligation for me, should not want to make it easy for
me. Even if I have given it up for some time, Our Lord
calls me tenderly to mental prayer and offers me special
assistance in speaking this language of Faith, Hope and
Love, for that is, as Bossuet says, what my mental prayer
ought to be.
Shall I resist the appeal of a Father who invites His
prodigal son to come and listen to His word, to talk to
Him as a son, to open his heart to Him and to listen to
the beatings of His own ?
Simple Conversation. I will be myself. I will speak then
to God as a sinner, and a prodigal son, or as one who is
tepid or full of fervour. With the simplicity of a child,
I will unfold the state of my soul before Him and speak
only the language which shows me as I really am.
Practical Conversation. The blacksmith does not plunge
the iron into the fire merely to make it hot and glowing,
but to make it soft for the hammer, malleable. So too mental
prayer enlightens my intelligence and enkindles my heart
only to make my soul pliant, so that it can be moulded
into a new shape, get rid of the defects and the form of the
“ old man ” and acquire the form and virtues of Jesus Christ.
Thus my conversation wall result in elevating my soul

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

IS?

to the level of the holiness of Jesus, 1 so that He may be able
to fashion it according to His own image. “ Thou, 0 Lord
Jesus, Thyself with Thy hand so gentle, so merciful, and
yet so strong, Thou dost form and mould my heart.” 12

ΙΠ. How I should make my meditation

To be practical I will follow this logical order. I will
put my mind and especially my faith and my heart in the
presence of Our Lord, as if He Himself was teaching me
a truth or a virtue. I will try to excite in my heart a great
desire to put my soul in harmony with the ideal under
consideration. I w'ill deplore what is opposed to it in myself.
Foreseeing the various obstacles I will decide to overcome
them. But being fully persuaded that by myself 1 shall
not succeed, I wall obtain by my earnest prayers efficacious
grace to succeed.
Worn out, breathless traveller that I am, I strive to
slake my thirst ... At last Video : 3 I see a spring, but
it gushes out of a steep cliff . . . Sitio : the more I look
at this limpid water which would enable me to continue
my journey, the more my desire to quench my thirst
increases in spite of all the obstacles . . . Volo : at any
cost I wish to reach this spring and will make every
effort to get there. Alas ! I have to admit my helplessness.
Volo Tecum : a guide appears ; He only awaits my appeal
in order to help me ; He even carries me over the difficult
places. Soon I am quenching my thirst writh long, deep
draughts.
And that is the way the living waters of grace come,
flowing from the Heart of Jesus.
My spiritual reading in the evening, so precious an element

1. Alvarez de Paz, on the object of mental prayer.
2. Tu Domine J esu, Tu Ipse, manu mitissima, misericordissima,
sed tamen fortissima, formans ac pertractans cor meum (St. Augus­
tine).
3. Video, I see ; Sitio, I thirst ; Volo, I wish ; Volo Tecum, I
wish with Thee.

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of the interior life, rekindles my desire for mental prayer
next morning. Before going to bed I foresee briefly, but
in a clear, energetic fashion, the subject of my mental
prayer, 1 as well as the special fruit that I want to derive
from it, and in the presence of God I enkindle my desire
to profit by it.
The time for mental frayer has come.12 I wish to draw
myself away from the things of earth, to compel my
imagination to present a living and speaking picture which
1 may put in place of my worries, distractions etc. ; 3
a quick sketch, in a few bold strokes, but it must be striking
enough to impress me and place me in the presence of God,
whose loving activity desires to surround and penetrate me.
In this way I come into contact with a living, adorable,
amiable companion. 4
At once I fall into profound adoration of Him. This is
my first duty. Then come self-humiliation, contrition,
1. A book of meditations is always necessary to prevent the
mind from wandering. There is a number of books old and new,
which offer everything demanded of books of meditation as distinct
from spiritual reading. Each point contains some striking truth
presented with clarity, force and brevity, so that when reflected
upon it leads the soul on to a loving, practical conversation with
God.
A single point is enough for half an hour ; it should be summed
up in a text from the Bible, or from the liturgy, or in some fun­
damental idea suitable to my state. Before all, I must meditate on
sin and the last things, at least once a month ; then on vocation,
duties of my state, capital sins, chief virtues, attributes of God,
mysteries of the Rosary or scenes from the Gospels, especially the
Passion. The great feasts of the Liturgy suggest their own subjects.
2. The words “ having shut the door " of Our Lord (Matt., VI, 6)
urge me to choose for my meditation the place where I shall be
the least disturbed—the church, my room, the garden, etc.
3. For instance Our Lord showing His sacred Heart and saying,
I am the resurrection and the life,—or Behold this Heart which
has so loved men,—or again, a scene of His life, Bethlehem, Thabor,
Calvary, etc. If after a brief sincere effort you do not succeed in
visualising the scene, go on with the meditation. God will make
it up to you.
4. The success of the meditation often depends on the care that
is devoted to considering the One to whom we speak as actually
present and living, and ceasing to consider Him as distant or passive,
that is to say, as a mere Abstraction.

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I59

submission, leading up to humble and trustful prayer
that this conversation with my God may be blessed. 1
Video.

Discerning Thy living presence, O Jesus, and so detached
from the purely natural order of things, I begin my
conversation with You in the language of Faith, more
productive than all the analysis of my reasoning powers.
With this object I read or carefully turn over in my memory
the point of my meditation. I sum it up and fix my
attention on it.
0 Jesus, Thou it is who dost talk to me and teach me
this truth. I wash to renew and to increase my Faith in
this truth which Thou dost present to me as absolutely
certain, since it is founded on Thy truth.
And do you, my soul, keep repeating : I believe, I
believe.
Repeat it with even greater conviction.
Like
a child repeating its lesson, repeat very many times that
you cling to this doctrine and its consequences for eternity.12
3
Ô Jesus, this is true, absolutely true. I believe it. I wish
this ray from the Sun of Revelation to act as the beacon
of my day. Make my faith still more ardent. Fill me
with an earnest desire of living according to this ideal and
with a holy hatred for what is opposed to it. I wish to
devour and assimilate this food of truth.
If however after spending a few minutes in exciting my
faith, I still remain cold before the truth presented to me, I
should not begin to strain. I should simply turn to Thee
as Thy child, my good Master, and tell Thee how sorry I am
for this weakness, and beg Thee to make up for it.
1. We must be thoroughly convinced of the fact that all God asks
of us in this conversation is our good will. The soul which, although
beset by distractions, returns every morning patiently and faithfully
to its divine companion, makes an excellent meditation. God supplies
everything that is lacking.
2. That is the way to make strong convictions take a firm hold on
the soul, and to prepare for the gifts of the spirit of lively faith and
supernatural insight.

ΐ6θ

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Sitio.

The more frequent are my acts of Faith and, above all,
the more powerful they are (for they are a true reflection
of the light of the Divine Intelligence), the more intense
will be the response of my heart ; this is the language of
affective Love.
Springing up in fact of themselves, or called forth by
my will, come the affections, that my loving soul throws
like flowers before Jesus who speaks to it : adoration,
gratitude, love, joy, attachment to the divine Will, and
detachment from everything else, from aversion, hatred,
fear, anger, earthly hope, discouragement.
My heart selects one or more of these feelings, and is
deeply impressed by their meaning ; it tells them to Thee,
O Jesus, and repeats them to Thee many times, tenderly,
loyally, but simply.
If my feelings offer their help, I will accept it ; it may
be useful, but it is not necessary7. Affection calm but deep,
is safer and gives better results than superficial emotions ;
these latter do not depend on me and are never the measure
of true efficacious mental prayer. But what is always in
my power and really matters is the effort I make to shake
off the numbness of my heart and to make it say, “ My
God I wish to unite myself to Thee, I wish to become as
nothing before Thee. I wish to sing my gratitude and my
joy in fulfilling Thy Will. I do not wish to be any longer
untruthful when I say that I love Thee and detest what
wounds Thee, etc.”
Although my effort may have been sincere, still my heart
may remain cold and express its affection with langour. I
will lay before Thee then frankly, 0 Jesus, my disappointment
and my desire. I will gladly prolong the expression of my
regret, convinced that by lamenting this dryness before Thee,
I am acquiring a special right to a most efficacious, though
arid, cold, and dark union with the affections of Thy divine
Heart.
How beautiful is the Ideal, O Jesus, that I behold in
Thee ! But is my life in harmony with this perfect Model ?

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

l6l

That is what I now set out to discover under Thine earnest
gaze, O my divine Companion, who art now all mercy,
but wilt be all justice in the lonely interview of the Particular
Judgment ; then with a single glance, Thou wilt examine
the secret motive of the smallest acts of my life. Am I
living according to this ideal ? If I were to die at this
moment, 0 Jesus, wouldst Thou not find that my conduct
is in contradiction with it ?
What faults, good Master, dost Thou wish me to correct ?
Help me to discover the obstacles which prevent me from
imitating Thee and then the inward or outward causes and
the remote or proximate occasions of my failures.
When I see my failings and my difficulties my heart
cries out to Thee, O my adored Redeemer, in confusion,
sorrow, grief, bitter regret, ardent desire to do better, and
it makes a generous and unreserved offering of my whole
being. “ I wish to please God in all things.” 1
Volo.

I pass on into the school of the will.
Now it is the language of effective Love. My affection
has aroused in my heart the desire to correct myself. I
have seen what stands in the way. Now it is the turn of
my will to say: I will overcome them. O Jesus, my
ardour in saying over and over again I will flows from
my fervour in repeating I believe, I love, I regret, I detest.
If at times this Volo does not rush forth with the energy
that I would like, I will deplore, 0 my beloved Saviour, this
weakness of my will and, far from being discouraged, I
will never grow weary of repeating to Thee how much I
desire to share Thy generous service of Thy Father.
To my general resolution of working to save my soul and
of loving God I will add that of applying my mental prayer
to the difficulties, temptations, and dangers of this day.

i. Volo placere Deo in omnibus. Suarez sums up in these words
the result of all his ascetical treatises. These acts of the Sitio dispose
the sou] to take the resolution of never refusing God anything.
7

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But what I want most of all is to intensify, with stronger
love, the resolution 1 of my particular examen (defect to
overcome or virtue to practise). I will strengthen this
resolution with motives drawn from the Heart of the Master.
Like a true strategist I will be very clear as to the means
that will ensure the success of my plan, anticipate the
occasions and perpare for the battle.
If I anticipate some special occasion of dissipation, self­
indulgence, humiliation, temptation, or some important
decision, etc., I prepare for this moment with vigilance,
and energy, but above all in union with Our Lord, and
having recourse to Mary.
If I fall again in spite of these precautions, I shall
remember the immense difference there is between these
faults of surprise and my other lapses. Away with dis­
couragement, since I know that God receives more glory
from my repeated new beginnings by which I become more
resolute, more distrustful of myself, more dependent on
Him. Success is to be had only at this price.

Volo tecum.

“ To ask a lame man to walk without a limp is less
absurd than to try to succeed without Thee, O my Saviour ”
(St. Augustine). Why have my resolutions borne no fruit ?
Solely because I can do all things only in Him who
strengthened me. 1 This brings me then to that part of
my mental prayer which is in many ways the most im­
portant of all 12 supplication or the language of hope.
Without Thy grace, O Jesus, I can do nothing. To this
grace I am in no way entitled. But I know that my
entreaties, far from wearying Thee, will decide the measure

1. It is better to stick to the same resolution for months at a time
or from one retreat to the next. The particular examen, in the
form of a short conversation with Our Lord, completes the morning
meditation and, by noting our progress or failure, helps our advance
in an extraordinary fashion.
2. Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat (Phil., IV, 13).

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163

of Thine aid to me, provided they reflect my thirst to belong
to Thee, my distrust in myself, my unlimited, dare I say
crazy, confidence in Thy Sacred Heart. Like the woman
of Canaan, I cast myself at Thy feet, O infinite goodness !
With her persistence, full of hope and humility, I beg of
Thee not a few crumbs, but a full share in that banquet
of which Thou hast said, My meat is to do the will of Him
that sent me.1
Having become by grace a member of Thy Mystical Body,
I share in Thy life and in Thy merits and it is through Thee,
O Jesus, that I pray. O Father of Holiness, I pray by the
Precious Blood which cries out for mercy ; canst Thou
refuse to hear my prayer ? It is the cry of a beggar that
I raise to Thee, who art wealth inexhaustible : Hear me
for I am needy and poor.12 Clothe me with Thy strength
and glorify Thy power in my weakness. Thy kindness,
Thy promises and Thy merits, 0 Jesus, and my wretched­
ness and my confidence are the only titles on which 1 base
my hope to obtain by my union with Thee vigilance and
strength throughout this day.
Should difficulties arise, or any temptation, or some
sacrifice to be exacted from one of my faculties, the text
or the thought that I gathered as my spiritual bouquet
will help me to breathe the fragrance of the prayer which
surrounded my good resolutions, and once again at this
moment, I shall utter the cry of powerful supplication.
This habit, the result of my mental prayer, will also be
the true test of its value : By their fruits you shall know
them.3

* ♦*

When I reach the point of living by faith and in the
then only may the work of the
Video stage of mental prayer be omitted ; the Sitio and the Volo

constant thirst for god,

1. Meus cibus est ut faciam voluntatem ejus qui misit me (Joan.,
IV, 34)·
2. Exaudi me, quoniam inops et pauper sum ego (Psalm.,
LXXXV, I).
3. A fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos (Matt., VII, 16).

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will spring from my heart ai the beginning of mental prayer,
which will then be spent in eliciting affections and offering
sacrifices, in strengthening my. resolute will, and then in
begging from Jesus either directly or through Mary Immacu­
late, the Angels or the Saints, a more intimate and moreconstant union with the divine Will.
The Holy Sacrifice now awaits me ; mental prayer has
prepared me for it. My participation in the Sacrifice of
Calvary and my communion will be a kind of continuation
of my meditation.1 In my thanksgiving, I will extend my
i. Mental prayer is the furnace in which is rekindled the custody
of the heart. By our fidelity to our mental prayer all the other
exercises of piety will gain new life. The soul will gradually acquire
vigilance and the spirit of prayer, that is, the habit of having
recourse to God more and more frequently.
Union with God in mental prayer will lead to an intimate union
with Him, even in the midst of our most absorbing occupations.
The soul living thus in union with Our Lord, by its vigilance
will attract more and more the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the
infused virtues, and perhaps God will call it to a higher degree of
mental prayer.
That excellent volume, The IFays of Mental Prayer by Dom
Vital Lehodey (Lecoffre, Paris; Engl. Transi. Μ. H. Gill, Dublin),
gives an exact account of what is required for the ascent of the soul
by the different degrees of mental prayer, and gives rules for dis­
cerning whether a higher type of mental prayer is truly a gift of
God or the result of illusion.
Before discussing affective mental prayer, the first degree of the
advanced prayer to which God as a rule calls only those souls that
have reached the state of vigilance by means of meditation, Fr.
Rigoleuc, S.J., gives in his fine book (Œuvres Spirituelles, Avignon,
1843, Page 17 etc.), ten ways of conversing with God, when after
a serious effort, one finds it a moral impossibility to meditate on
a set subject prepared the night before.
Here I give a summary of the pious author’s suggestions :
1ST Way. Take some spiritual book (New Testament or Imita­
tion),—read a few lines pausing in between,—meditate a little on
what has been read, try to get the full meaning and impress it on
your mind.—Draw from it some holy affection, love, contrition, etc.,
resolve to practise this virtue when opportunity offers.
Avoid reading or meditating too much.—Stop at each pause
as long as the mind finds agreeable and useful converse.
2ND Way.
Take some text of Scripture or some vocal prayer,
Pater, Ave, Credo for instance, repeat it, stopping after each word

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163

demands to all the needs of the Church, to the souls under
my care, to the dead, to my work, parents, friends, relations,
benefactors, enemies, etc.
The recitation of the various hours of my Breviary, in
union with the Church and for her and for myself, as well
as frequent and fervent ejaculatory prayers, spiritual
communions, particular examen, visit to the Blessed
Sacrament, spiritual reading, rosary, general examination
of conscience, etc., will all be as landmarks along my road ;
they will revive my strength, and keep up the fervour

drawing from it various sentiments of piety on which you may
dwell as long as you like.
At the end ask God for some grace or virtue, according to the
subject of your meditation.
You are not to stop on any one word if it wearies or tires you ;
when you find no matter for thought or affection, pass on quietly
to another.—When you are touched by some good thought dwell
on it as long as it lasts without troubling to go any further.—Nor
is it necessary to make fresh acts always, it is sometimes enough
to keep in God’s presence, silently turning over in your mind the
words already meditated or savouring the affections they have
already produced in your heart.
3RD Way. When the subject you have prepared does not supply
enough matter, make acts of faith, adoration, thanksgiving, hope,
love, etc., making each as long as you wish, stopping a little at
each one to delight in it.
4TH Way. When meditation is impossible and you are too
helpless and dried-up to produce affections, tell Our Lord that you
intend to make acts of contrition, for instance, as often as you take
breath, or as you pass each bead of your rosary through your fingers
or as you utter some short prayer. Renew from time to time this
assurance of your intention ; and then if God gives you any other
good sentiment, receive it with humility and dwell upon it.
5TH Way. In time of trial or dryness, if you are completely
barren and powerless to make acts or to think, give yourself up
to suffering generously, without troubling yourself or making any
effort to avoid it, without making any other acts except to abandon
yourself into the hands of God, to suffer this trial and any others
that it may please Him to send. Or else you may unite your prayer
to the Agony of Our Lord in the garden and His desolation on the
Cross.—Persuade yourself that you are attached to the Cross with
the Saviour and inspire yourself by His example to remain there,
and to suffer unflinchingly until death.
6th Way. Examination of conscience.—Acknowledge your
faults, passions, weaknesses, infirmities, helplessness, misery,

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aroused in the morning, so that everything during my day
may be under the influence of Our Lord. Thanks to this
momentum, recourse to Jesus, more and more frequent at
first, then habitual, either directly or by His Mother, will
put an end to the contradiction between my admiration
for His doctrine and my free-and-easy way of life, between
my pious beliefs and my actual conduct.
I should like to add here, with the desire of being really
useful to active workers, a special resolution with regard to
the Particular Examen. I am afraid however of lengthening
nothingness.—Adore the judgments of God with regard to the
state in which you find yourself.—Submit yourself to His holy Will.—
Bless Him alike for the punishments of His justice and the favours
of His mercy.—Humble yourself before His sovereign Majesty.
Make a sincere avowal of your sins and infidelities and ask pardon.
—Withdraw your false judgments and errors.—Detest all the evil
that you have done and resolve to correct yourself in the future.
This kind of mental prayer is very free and untrammelled and
admits of all sorts of affections ; it may be practised at any time,
especially after some unexpected trial, to submit to the punishments
of God's justice or as a means of regaining recollection after the
distraction of attending to active affairs.
7TH Way. Call up a vivid picture of the Last Things. Visualise
yourself in agony, between time and eternity,—between your past
life and God’s judgment. What would you wish to have done ?
How would you wish to have lived ? The pain that you will then
feel.—Remember your sins, your negligence, your abuse of grace.
How would you wish to have behaved on such and such an occasion ?
Resolve to remedy fully those defects which give you cause for
anxiety.
Visualise yourself—dead, buried, rotting ; forgotten by all,—
see yourself before the tribunal of Christ,—in purgatory,—in hell.
The more vivid the picture, the more one profits by the meditation.
This mystic death is necessary to tear the flesh from the soul,
and to raise it from the dead, that is, to free it from the corruption
of sin. You must go through this purgatory in order to arrive at
the enjoyment of God in this life.
8th Way. Apply your mind to Our Lord in the Blessed Sac­
rament. Salute Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament with all the
respect that the Real Presence demands, unite yourself to Him
and to all His divine operations in the Blessed Sacrament, where
He ceases not to adore, praise and love His Father in the name of
all men and in the condition of a victim.
Picture His recollection, hidden life, utter privation of everything,

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this treatise beyond measure. And yet from reading Cassian,
several Fathers of the Church, as well as St. Ignatius,
St. Francis de Sales, St. Vincent de Paul, we see that the
Particular Examen and the General Examination are
necessary adjuncts of mental prayer and are closely linked
with custody of the heart.
Following the guidance of the spiritual director the soul
is now resolved both in meditation and throughout the
day to make a more direct aim at some special defect or some
special virtue, which is the chief source of other defects
or virtues.
Great is the number of the steeds that draw the chariot ;
obedience, humility, etc.,—excite yourself to imitate these virtues
and resolve to do so when an occasion presents itself. Offer Jesus
Christ to the Father as the only victim worthy of Him, and by
whom you can pay homage to Him, acknowledge His benefits, satisfy
His justice and oblige His mercy to help you.
Offer yourself in sacrifice to Him, your being, your life, your
occupations. Offer up to Him some act of virtue which you resolve
to perform, some mortification that you are determined to do, in
order that you may overcome yourself, and offer this for the same end
for which Our Lord immolates Himself in the Blessed Sacrament.
Make this offering with an ardent desire of increasing, as far as
you can, the glory which He renders to His Father in this august
Sacrament, End by making a spiritual communion.
This is an excellent form of mental prayer—especially for your
visit to the Blessed Sacrament. You should familiarise yourself
with it, for your happiness in this life depends on your union with
Our Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament.
9TH Way. This prayer is to be made in the name of Jesus Christ.
—It excites your confidence in God and makes you enter into the
feelings and the spirit of Our Lord.
It is based on the fact that you are united to the Son of God,
and are His brother, a member of His Mystical Body, that He has
made over to you all His merits, left to you the legacy of all the
reward that His Father owes Him for His labours and His death.
This is what makes you capable of honouring God with a worship
worthy of Him, and gives you the right to treat with God and in
some sort exact His graces as though by justice.—You have not this
right as a creature, still less as a sinner, for there is an infinite
disproportion between God and the creature and an infinite opposition
between God and the sinner. But because you are united to the
Incarnate Word, because you are His brother and one of His
members, you can appear before God with confidence, treat familiarly

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the eye of the driver watches them all constantly. But
in the centre of the team there is one that demands the
special attention of the driver ; should this steed veer too
much to the right or too much to the left, all the others are
thrown out of their stride.
The analysis of the soul by the Particular Examen, to
settle whether there has been progress, back-sliding, or
stagnation with regard to a carefully chosen point, is only
one element in the custody of the heart.

with Him, oblige Him to listen to you favourably, to hear your
prayers, grant you His graces, again because of the alliance and
union that you have with His Son.
You must appear then before God, either to adore Him, or to
love Him, or to praise Him by Jesus Christ working with you as
the Head in His members and raising you by His spirit to a divine
state,—or else to ask for some favour in virtue of the merits of His
Son.—You must put before Him the services that this well-beloved
Son has rendered to Him, His life, His death, His sufferings, the sole
recompense of which belongs to you on account of the transfer He
has made of them to you. And this is the spirit in which you should
recite the Divine Office.
loin Way. Simple attention to the presence of God, and
meditation.
Before applying yourself to the meditation of the prepared subject
you must put yourself in the presence of God, without making
any other distinct thought, or exciting any other feeling than that
of respect and love for God, which His presence inspires.—Be
content with keeping yourself thus before God in silence in this simple
repose of the spirit as long as it satisfies you.—Then go on with
your meditation in the ordinary way.
It is good to begin all meditations in this way and to return to
it after each point and to rest in this simple awareness of God’s
presence. You train yourself thus in interior recollection.—You
will grow accustomed to fix your mind on God and thus prepare
yourself gradually for contemplation.—But you must not remain
this way through sheer idleness or in order to avoid the trouble
of meditating.

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3. The liturgical Life is a
Source of the interior Life, hence of the Apostolate.

Resolution

on the

Liturgical Life

By the use I make of my Mass, my Breviary and my
other liturgical functions, I wish both as member and am­
bassador of the Church, to unite myself more and more to
her life and thus more fully to put on Christ and Christ
Crucified, especially if I am His minister.

I. What is the Liturgy?

O Jesus, Thee do I adore as the Centre of the Liturgy.
Thou dost give unity to this Liturgy. I may define it as
the public, social, official worship, which the Church renders
to God ; or again, the sum total of the public means, which
the Church uses chiefly in the Missal, Ritual and Breviary,
to express her religion to the Adorable Trinity, as well as
to instruct and sanctify souls.
It is in the very bosom of the Adorable Trinity that
I should contemplate the Eternal Liturgy, by which the
Three Persons chant one to the other their divine Life and
infinite Holiness in their ineffable hymn of the generation
of the Word and the procession of the Holy Ghost. .4 s
it was in the beginning . . . Sicut erat in principio.
God desired to be praised outside of Himself ; He
created the angels and heaven re-echoed with their
acclamations : Holy, Holy, Holy . . . Sanctus, Sanctus
Sanctus. He created the visible world and it proclaimed
aloud His power : The heavens announce the glory of God.
Adam appears and begins in the name of creation the
hymn of praise, an echo of the Eternal Liturgy. Abel
Noah, Melchisedech, Abraham, Moses, the people of God,
David and all the saints of the Old Law vied with one another
in chanting this hymn. The Jewish Passover, the sacrifices
and holocausts, the solemn worship offered to Jehovah in

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His temple gave it an official form. Yet it was an imperfect
hymn, especially after the Fall. Praise is not seemly in
the mouth of a sinnerP
Thou, O Jesus, Thou alone art the perfect hymn of praise,
since Thou art the true glory of the Father ; no one can
glorify the Father worthily but through Thee. By Him,
with Him, and in Him, all honour and glory are given to
Thee, 0 God the Bather.2 Thou art the link between the
Liturgy of earth and the Liturgy of heaven, in which
Thou dost give to Thine elect a more direct participation.
Thine Incarnation has come to unite in a living, substantial
union mankind and all creation with the Liturgy of God
Himself. It is God who gives praise to God, praise full and
perfect which rises to its highest pitch in the Sacrifice of
Calvary.
Before leaving the earth, divine Saviour, Thou didst
institute the Sacrifice of the New Law in order to renew
Thine immolation. Thou didst also institute the Sacraments
in order to communicate Thy life to souls.
But Thou hast left to Thy Church the care of surrounding
this sacrifice and these Sacraments with symbols, cere­
monies, exhortations, prayers, etc., in order that she might
thus pay greater honour to the mystery of the Redemption,
and make it easier for her children to understand it, and
help them to profit more from it, while exciting in their souls
for this mystery a respect mingled with awe.
To Thy Church Thou hast also given the mission of
continuing till the end of time the prayer and praise which
Thy Heart never ceased to send up to Thy Father during
Thy mortal life, and which it still offers unceasingly to
Him in the Tabernacle and in the splendour of Thy glory
in Heaven.
With the love of a Spouse which she has for Thee,
with a mother’s solicitude for us which comes to her from
Thy Sacred Heart, the Church has performed this twofold
i Non est speciosa laus in ore peccatoris (Eccli., XV, 9).
2. Per Ipsum, et cum Ipso et in Ipso est tibi Deo Patri . . .
omnis honor et gloria (Canon of the Mass).

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171

task. Thus have been formed those wonderful collections
which include all the treasures of the Liturgy.
Ever since, the Church has been uniting her praises
to those which the Angels and the elect, her children,
render to God in heaven. In this way she anticipates her
occupation for all eternity.
By being united to the praises of the God-Man this praise,
the prayer of the Church, becomes divine and the Liturgy
of earth mingles with that of the heavenly choirs in the
Heart of Jesus, echoing that eternal praise which flows
from the centre of infinite love, which is the Most Holy
Trinity.
Π. What is the Liturgical Life ?

Thy Church, O Lord, is not satisfied with the faithful
observance of the rubrics and the correct pronunciation
of the words.
There is no doubt that Thou dost desire that my good
will should give Thee more than this. Thou wishest my
mind and my heart to profit by the riches hidden in the
Liturgy and thus to be more united to Thy Church and
thereby achieve a closer union with Thee.
Led by the example of Thy most faithful servants, 1
eagerly wish, O good Master, to take my place at that rich
banquet to which Thy Church invites me, in the sure
knowledge that I shall find in the Divine Office, in the
forms, ceremonies, collects, epistles, gospels, etc., which
accompany the august Sacrifice of the Mass and the
administration of the Sacraments, a food as healthy as it is
abundant for the development of my interior life.
Some reflection on the leading idea which unites all the
elements of the Liturgy together, and on the results by
which my progress can be judged, will preserve me from
self-delusion.
*
* *

Each of the sacred rites may be compared to a precious
stone. But the value and the brilliancy of those which
belong to the Mass and the Office are increased to the highest

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pitch, when I know how' to enshrine them all in that wonder­
ful setting which forms the Liturgical Cycle.1
Living throughout a long period under the influence of
a mystery, nourished by what is most instructive and most
touching in Scripture and Tradition on this subject, and
constantly directed towards the same order of ideas, my
soul must necessarily feel the influence of so much con­
centration and find in the thoughts that the Church suggests
a food as substantial as it is delightful, and which will
dispose it to receive that special grace which God reserves
for each period, for each feast in this Cycle.
The mystery takes hold of me, not only as an abstract
truth that one assimilates by meditation, but it grips my
whole being by bringing into play even my sensitive faculties
to excite my heart and determine my will. No longer is
it a simple memorial of some past event, or a simple
anniversary ; it is a living fact, which has the stamp of
a present event to which the Church gives an application here
and now, and in which she really takes part.
At Christmas time, for instance, -while rejoicing before
the altar at the coming of the Divine Child, my soul can
repeat, To-day Christ is born, to-day the Saviour has
appeared, to-day the Angels sing on earth.i.
2
At each period in the Liturgical Cycle the Missal and the
Breviary disclose to me new rays of the divine love of Him,
who for us has become at the same time our King, Teacher,
i. The Church inspired by God and taught by the holy apostles
has so arranged the year, that we find in it together with the life,
the mysteries, the preaching and doctrine of Jesus Christ, the true
fruit of all these things in the admirable virtues of His servants and
in the examples of His saints, and finally, a marvellous compendium
of the Old and New Testaments and of all Church History. In
this way all the seasons are full of fruit for Christians ; all are full
of Jesus Christ. In this variety, which all leads up to that unity
so much recommended by Our Lord, the innocent and pious soul
finds, together with heavenly pleasures, a solid nourishment and
a perpetual renewal of her fervour. (Bocssuet, Orais. fun. de
Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche).
1. Hodie Christus natus est, hodie Salvator apparuit, hodie in
erra canunt Angeli (Office of Christmas).

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173

Healer, Consoler, Saviour and Friend. At the altar, just
as at Bethlehem or at Nazareth or on the shores of the Lake
of Tiberias, Jesus reveals Himself as Light, Love, Tender­
ness, Mercy.
He reveals Himself, above all, as Love
personified, because He is Stiffering personified, in agony
at Gethsemani, atoning on Calvary.
And so the Liturgy gives to the Eucharistic Life its full
development. And Thine Incarnation, which has brought
God near to us, O Jesus, by showing Him visible in Thee,
continues to render us the same service at each of the
mysteries that we celebrate.
In this way, O Jesus, I share, thanks to the Liturgy,
in the life of the Church and in Thine own. With her I assist
each year at all the mysteries of Thy Life, the hidden, the
public, the suffering, the glorious ; with her I study its
lessons. Besides, the periodic feasts of Our Lady and the
Saints, who have most closely imitated Thine interior Life
by putting their examples before my eyes, bring me an
ever-increasing light and strength to reproduce in myself
Thy virtues and to impress on the souls of the faithful
the spirit of Thy Gospel.
How can I carry out in my apostolate the desire of Saint
Pius X ? How will the faithful be able, through my co­
operation, to have an active share in the Holy Mysteries
and in the public solemn Prayer of the Church (which, says
this Pope, are the first and indispensable source of the true
Christian spirit}, if I myself pass by the treasures of the
Liturgy without even suspecting the wonders to be found
therein ?
In order to bring more unity into my spiritual life and
to unite myself still more to the life of the Church, I will
aim at uniting my other exercises of piety as far as possible
with the Liturgy. For instance, I will choose by preference
a subject for meditation which has a connection with the
Liturgical period or feast or cycle ; in my visits to the
Blessed Sacrament I will converse more readily according
to the season of the year with the Child Jesus, with Jesus
suffering, with Jesus glorified, with Jesus living in His
Church, etc. Private Reading on the Mystery or the life

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of the Saint whose memory is being honoured will also
bring help to this plan of liturgical spirituality.
*
* *
Adorable Master, preserve me from counterfeits of the
Liturgical Life. They are hurtful to all interior life, especially
because they weaken the spiritual combat.
Preserve me from a piety which would make this
Liturgical Life consist only in poetic enjoyment or in an
alluring study of religious archaeology ; or else would lead
to quietism and all its consequences ; for quietism strikes
at the very roots of the interior Life : fear, hope, desire
of salvation and of perfection, fighting one’s defects and
working to acquire virtue.
Make me really convinced that in this age of absorbing
and perilous occupations, the Liturgical Life, however
perfect it may be, can never dispense with morning mental
prayer.
Keep far from me all sentimentality and false piety, which
would make the Liturgical Life consist in impressions and
emotions, leaving the will to become the slave of the
imagination and the feelings.
Not that I am to remain untouched by all the beauty
and poetry which the Liturgy contains ; quite the contrary.
By her chant and her ceremonies the Church appeals
intimately to the feelings, with the object of more fully
reaching the minds of her children, of presenting to their
wills more effectively what is really good, and of raising
them up more surely, more easily and more completely
towards God.
I can therefore enjoy all the unchanging and wholesome
refreshment of the Dogmas enhanced by the Liturgy,
allow myself to be moved by the majestic spectacle of a
solemn High Mass, and esteem the prayers of the absolution
or the touching rites of baptism, extreme unction, the burial
service, etc.
But I must never lose sight of the fact that all the

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I75

resources offered by the holy Liturgy are only means to
reach the sole end of all interior life : to put to death the
“ old man,” so that Thou, 0 Jesus, may live and reign in
his place.
I will therefore be living the true Liturgical Life only
when I am so filled with the liturgical spirit that I make
use of my Mass, Prayers and official Rites to intensify my
union with the Church, and thus to advance in my par­
ticipation in the interior life of Our Lord, and by that means
in His virtues, so that I may give a inter reflection of them
to the faithful.
ΙΠ. The Liturgical Spirit

This Liturgical Life, 0 Jesus, supposes a special attraction
for everything that pertains to worship.
To some Thou hast freely given this attraction ; others
are less privileged. But if they ask it from Thee and
make use of study and reflection they too will obtain it.
The meditation that I shall make later on concerning
the advantages of the Liturgical Life will increase my
desire of acquiring it at any cost. At present I pause to
consider the special characteristics which distinguish this
life, and give it such an important place in spirituality.

*♦ *
To be united even remotely to Thy Sacrifice, 0 Jesus, by
thought and intention along with the Church, to mingle
my prayer with the official and unceasing prayer of Thy
Church, this is already a great thing ! The heart of the
ordinary' Christian thus wings its way more surely to God,
borne up to Him by Thy praise, adoration, thanksgiving,
reparation and petition.1

I. Union with the prayers of others may lead to advanced holiness.
Take the case of the peasant who offered to carry the luggage
of St. Ignatius and his companions. Noticing that the Fathers on
arriving at a tavern made haste to find a quiet corner to recollect
themselves before God, he followed their example and knelt down

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

In the words of Saint Pius X, “ To take an active part
in the Holy Mysteries, and in the public and solemn Prayer ”
by assisting with piety and understanding, by being eager
to profit by festival days and ceremonies, or better still
by serving Mass, and answering the prayers, or by helping
in the recitation or the singing of the Office—this is the
means of entering more directly into union with the thoughts
of the Church and of drawing from its original and indis­
pensable source the true Christian spirits
But, O Holy Church, what a noble mission it is to
present oneslf every day by virtue of ordination or religious
profession in union with the Angels and the Elect as your
recognised ambassador before the throne of God to offer
your official Prayer !
What a dignity, incomparably more sublime and above
all expression is mine when as an ordained Minister, I
become another Christ, 0 My divine Redeemer, by ad­
ministering the Sacraments and above all by celebrating
the Holy Sacrifice 1
* *
1st Principle.—As a member of the Church I must be

like them. One day they asked him what he did when he knelt
down on these occasions. " I do not do anything else,” he replied
" but say, ' Lord, these men are saints and I am their beast of
burden ; what they do I want to do too, and this is what I offer
to God.' ” (Rodriguez, cf. Christ. Peri. ; part. I, 5th treatise,
ch. XIX).,
If this man by means of the continual practice of this exercise
reached a high degree of mental prayer and spirituality, how much
more would even an uneducated rnan profit greatly by uniting with
the I.iturgical Life of the Church !
A Cistercian lay brother of Clairvaux was minding the sheep out
in the hills during the night of the Assumption. He did his best,
especially by repeating the Hail Mary, to unite himself to the Matins
which the monks were chanting, and the distant echoes of which
came faintly to his ears. God revealed to St. Bernard that this simple,
humble prayer had pleased Our Lady so much, that she had preferred
it to that of the other monks, fervent as they were (Exordium
magnum Ord. Cister., Distinct, 4, c. XIII).
i. Motu proprio of St. Pius X, 22 Nov. 1903

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177

convinced that when 1 take part, even as an ordinary ChristianJ
in a liturgical ceremony, I am united to the whole Church,
not only by the Communion of Saints, but in virtue of a real
and active co-operation in an act of religion which the Church,
the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, offers as a Society to
God. By this union the Church like a true Mother helps to
train my soul in the Christian virtues.12
Thy Church, O Jesus, forms a perfect Society, the
members of which, closely united to one another, are
destined to form a still more perfect and holy Society,
that of the Elect.
As a Christian I am a member of that Body of which
Thou art the Head and the Life. And that is how Thou
dost regard me, divine Saviour ; and I cause Thee special
joy when in presenting myself before Thee, I look upon
Thee as my Head and look upon myself as one of the sheep
of this Fold, of which Thou art the sole Shepherd, and
which encloses in its unity all my brothers of the Church
militant, triumphant and suffering.
Thine apostle teaches me this doctrine, which expands
my soul and widens the horizon of my spirituality: For
as in one body we have many members, so we being many

1. The priest and even the bishop, is held to be only one of the
faithful when, discharging no special function, he assists at a
ceremony ; and he is able to profit from it as a ordinary Christian.
2. We can better understand the efficacy of the Liturgy to help
us to live by grace and make interior life easier for us, when we
recall that every official prayer, every ceremony instituted by the
Church, possesses a power of impétration which is most efficacious in
itself, per se efficacissima. In this case the power that is put in
action is not only the gesture of an individual, the isolated prayer
of a soul however excellently disposed, but also the act of the Church,
which becomes a suppliant along with us ; it is the voice of the well­
beloved Spouse, which always delights the heart of God, and which
He always hears and answers in some way.
If 1 had to sum up this briefly, I should say that the power of
impétration of the liturgical prayer is made up of two elements :
the opus operantis of the soul which uses the great Sacramental
of the Liturgy, and the opus operantis of the Church. The two
actions, that of the soul and that of the Church, are like two forces
which combine and are carried up in a single momentum to God.

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are one body in Christ, and each one member one of another.1
For as the body is one, he says elsewhere, and hath
many members ; and all the members of the body, whereas
they are many, yet are one body, so also is Christ.'2,
This then is the unity of Thy Church : indivisible in its
whole and in its parts, entire in its whole and entire in
each of its parts,12
34 united in the Holy Ghost, united to
Thee, O Jesus, and brought by this union into the unique
and eternal Societ}· of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost?
The Church is the assembly of the faithful who under
the government of the same authority are united by the
same faith and by the same charity and tend to the same
end, that is incorporation in Christ, by the same means,
which are summed up in grace, of which the ordinary
channels are prayer and the Sacraments.
The great prayer, and the favourite channel of grace, is
the prayer of the Liturgy, the prayer of the Church itself,
more powerful than the prayer of single individuals and even
of pious associations, no matter how powerful private and
non-liturgical forms of common prayer may be, and no
matter how much they may be recommended in the
Gospel.5
Incorporated in the true Church, a child of God and a
member of Christ by the Sacrament of Baptism, I have
acquired the right of partaking in the other Sacraments,
in the Divine Office, in the fruits of the Mass, and in
1. Sicut enim in uno corpore multa membra habemus . . . ita
multi unum corpus sumus in Christo, singuli autem alter alterius
membra (Rom., XII, 4, 5).
2. Sicut enim corpus unum est et membra habet multa, omnia
autem membra corporis cum sint multa unum tamen corpus sunt,
ita et Christus (I Cor., XII, 12).
3. Unusquisque fidelium quasi quaedam minor videtur esse
Ecclesia, dum salvo unitatis arcanae mysterio, cuncta Redemp­
tionis humanae unus homo suscipit Sacramenta (S. Pet. Dam.
Opusc. XI, ch. x—Patr. Lat., t. CXLV, coi. 239).
4. S. Pet. Dam, quoted by D. Gréa, La Sainte Liturgie, p. 51.
5. S. Ign. Epist. to Eph. n. 5. St. Alphonsus Liguori preferred
one prayer of the Breviary to a hundred private prayers.

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179

indulgences and the prayers of the Church. I can benefit
by all the graces and all the merits of my brethren.
By Baptism I am signed with an indelible mark which
commissions me to the worship of God according to the rite
of the Christian religion.1 By baptismal consecration I
become a member of the kingdom of God and I form part
of that chosen generation, the kingly priesthood, the holy
nation, the purchased people.12
From that time I participate as a Christian in the sacred
ministry, although in a remote and indirect manner, by
my prayers, by my share in the offering, by my attendance
at the sacrifice of the Mass and at the liturgical offices,
by multiplying my spiritual sacrifices, by the practice of
virtues, as St. Peter recommends, by performing all things
with the intention of pleasing God and uniting myself to
Him, and by making of my body a living victim, holy and
agreeable to God.3
This is w’hat you make me understand, Holy Mother
Church, when by the priest you say to the faithful : Orate
fratres . . . Pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours may
be acceptable ...” and when the priest says also in the
Canon of the Mass : Remember, Lord . . . (TV. and N.) and
all those who are here present and for whom we offer to
Thee or who offer to Thee this sacrifice of praise.
And
further on : We therefore beseech thee, 0 Lord, to be appeased
and to receive this offering of our bounden duty, as also of
thy whole household.4

1. Charactere sacramentali insignitur homo ut ad cultum Dei
deputatus secundum ritum Christianae religionis (Card. Billot,
De Ecc. Sacram., t. I, thes. 2).
2. Vos autem genus electum, regale sacerdotium, gens sancta,
populus acquisitionis (I Pet., II, 9).
3. Sacerdotium sanctum, offerre spirituales hostias acceptabiles
Deo per Jesum Christum (I Pet., II, 5)—It is in this sense, that
St. Ambrose says “ Omnes filii Ecclesiae sacerdotes sunt ; ungimur
enim in Sacerdotium sanctum offerentes nosmetipsos Deo hostias
spirituales (In Lucam, Lib. IV, n. 33—Patr. Lat., t. XV, coi. 1645)
Sicut omnes Christianos dicimus, propter mysticum Chrisma ;
sic omnes Sacerdotes, quoniam membra sunt unius Sacerdotis
(S. Aug., De civit. Dei, lib. XX, cap. X, 66. Patr. lat. t. XLI, coi. 676).
4. Memento Domine ... et omnium circumstantium pro quibus

ΐ8θ

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

The holy Liturgy, in fact, is so truly the common work
of the whole Church, that is to say, of the priest and the
people, that the mystery7 of this unity is always really
present in the Church by the indestructible power of the
Communion of Saints which is proposed to our belief in
the Apostles’ Creed. The Divine Office and the Holy Mass,
which are the principal part of the Liturgy, cannot be
celebrated without the whole Church being associated with
them and being mystically present.1
Thus in the Liturgy everything is done in common, in
the name of all, for the benefit of all.
This close link which unites the members together by
the same faith and by participation in the same Sacraments,
produces fraternal charity in our souls, and this is the
distinctive mark of those who wish to imitate Our Lord
and walk in His footsteps. By this shall all men know
that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.2
This bond between the members of the Church becomes
closer in proportion as these members share more fully
by the Communion of Saints in the grace and the charity
of the Head, who communicates to them supernatural and
divine life.
These truths are the foundation of the Liturgical Life,
which in its turn brings me back constantly to them.
tibi offerimus vel qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium laudis.—Hanc
igitur oblationem servitutis nostrae sed et cunctae familiae tuae
quaesumus, Domine, ut placatus accipias (Canon of the Mass).
“ We all make this offering along with the priest, we consent to all
that he does, to all that he says. And what docs he say ? ' Pray,
my brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be agreeable to the
Lord Our God.’ And what do you answer ? ’ May the Lord receive
from your hands.’ What ? ‘ My sacrifice and yours.’ And what
says the priest next ? ‘ Remember Thy servants for whom we
offer.’ Is that all ? He adds, ‘ Or who offer Thee this sacrifice.’
Let us then offer with him. Let us offer Jesus Christ ; let us offer
up ourselves along with His whole Catholic Church spread over
all the earth ” (Bossuet, Méditât, sur l’Evangile.—Cène, r partie,
LXIII jour).
r. S. Peter Damien quoted by D. Gréa : La Sainte Liturgie, p-5T.
2. In hoc cognoscent omnes quia discipuli mei estis, si dilectionem
habueritis ad invicem (Joan., XIII, 35).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

l8l

What great love for you, 0 holy Church of God, does this
thought enkindle in my heart ! I am one of your members ;
I am a member of Christ ! What love for all Christians
this gives me, since they are my brothers and we are all
one in Christ ! What love for my divine Head, Jesus Christ !
I can be indifferent to nothing that concerns you. Sad
when I see you persecuted, I rejoice at the news of your
conquests and your triumphs.
What joy to think that in sanctifying myself I also
contribute to the increase of your beauty and that I am
working for the sanctification of all the children of the
Church, my brethren, and even for the salvation of the
whole human family !
0 Holy Church of God, I wish, as far as it depends on
me, to make you more beautiful, more holy, and more
full of members ; the splendour of your whole body will
spring from the perfection of each of your children, based
on that close fellowship which was the main theme of the
prayer of Our Lord after the Last Supper and the true
testament of His Heart : That they may be one . . . that
they may be made perfect in one.1
0 Holy Mother Church, how moved I am with love and
admiration for your liturgical Prayer ! Since I am one of
your members, it is my prayer too, especially when I assist
at it or co-operate in it. All that you have is mine and all
that I have belongs to you.
A drop of water is nothing ; but united with the ocean,
it shares in all that power and immensity. So it is with my
prayer when it is united to yours. In the eyes of God for
whom all things are present, who takes in at one glance
the past, the present and the future, this prayer makes one
with that universal chorus of praise which you have been
sending up, ever since you began and which you will con­
tinue to send up to the throne of the Eternal till the end
of time.
Thou wishest, O Jesus, that my piety should, in certain
respects, be utilitarian, and egotistical. But Thou hasti.
i. Ut sint unum . . . ut sint consummati in unum Joan., XVII,
2i, 23).

18-2

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

taught me by the order of the petitions in the Our Father
how much Thou desirest that my piety should first of all
be consecrated to the praise of God,1 and that far from
being selfish, narrow and isolated, it should make me include
in my supplications all the needs of my brethren.
Help me by the Liturgical Life to reach that lofty and
generous piety which, without any loss to the spiritual
combat, gives to God great praise, and gives generously ;
that charitable, fraternal, universal piety, which embraces
all men and takes an interest in all the cares of the Church.
It is your mission, O holy Church, to bring forth without
ceasing new children to your divine Spouse and to bring
them up unto the measure of the age of the fulness of
Christ.'12 Accordingly you have received in abundance all
the means to achieve this end. The importance that you
attach to the Liturgy proves how efficacious it is in teaching
me how to praise God and make spiritual progress.
During His public life Our Lord spoke as one having
power. 3
Thus too do you speak, O holy Church, my
Mother. Guardian of the treasure of truth, you realise the
importance of your mission ; dispenser of the Precious
Blood, you know all the means of sanctification which the
divine Saviour has entrusted to you.
You do not call on my reason and say to me, ” Examine
these things, study them.” But you do appeal to my faith,
saying, “ Have confidence in me ; am I not thy Mother ?
and what do I desire more than to see you grow from day
to day in likeness to your divine Model ? Now who knows
Christ better than I, who am His Spouse ? Where then
will you better find the spirit of your Redeemer than in the
Liturgy, which is the authentic expression of my thoughts
and my feelings ? ”

1. Creatus est homo ad hunc finem, ut Dominum Deum suum
laudet, ac revereatur eique serviens tandem salvus fiat (Exerc.
spirit. S. Ignatius).
Our end is the service of Our Lord and it is only to serve Him
better, that we must correct our defects and acquire virtues ;
holiness is only a means of better service (Blessed J. Eymard).
2. In mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi (Eph., IV 13).
3. Sicut potestatem habens (Mattii., VII, 20).

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183

Y es, holy and beloved Mother, I will let myself be guided
and trained by you, with a child's simplicity and confidence,
saying, It is with my mother that I pray. She puts her
own words on my lips in order that I may be filled with
her spirit, and let her thoughts sink into my heart.
With you then, O holy Church, with you 1 will rejoice,
gaudeamus, exultemus ; with you I shall lament, ploremus ;
with you I shall praise Him, confitemini Domino ; with
you I shall implore mercy, miserere ; with you I shall hope,
sperabo ; with you I shall love, diligam. I will ardently
unite myself with all the requests that you express in your
admirable prayers, so that the fruitful movements of mind
and will which you wish to elicit from these words and
sacred rites, may penetrate more deeply into my heart,
make it more pliant to the touch of the Holy Ghost and at
last absorb my will into the Will of God.

** *
2nd Principle. Whenever I take part as a representative
of the Church 1 in any liturgical function, God desires me
to give expression to my virtue of religion, by bearing in mind
the official mandate with which I am honoured, so that
being thus more and more united with the life of the Church,
I may progress in all the virtues.
I am the representative of Thy Church, in order that
in her name and in the name of all her children I may
offer without ceasing to God through Thee, O Jesus, the
sacrifice of praise and supplication ; I am therefore,

I. Those who are thus delegates of the Church are the clerics
and religious who are obliged to recite the Office, even though they
do so only in private. So too in churches canonically erected
are those who are obliged to sing office in choir, and to attend
chapter or conventual masses. The same also applies to those
who without having received Orders fulfil such functions by the
tolerance of the Church, as for instance servers of Mass.

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THE SOUL Ol·' THE APOSTOLATE

according to the fine phrase of St. Bernardine of Siena, an
official person, the mouth of the whole Church.1
Therefore at every liturgical function there must be in
me a kind of dual personality, like that which exists for
instance in an ambassador. In his private life the am­
bassador is an ordinary citizen ; but once he has put on
the insignia of his office, and speaks or acts in the name of
his sovereign, he becomes at once the representative and
in certain respects the very person of his master.
The same is true of me when I am performing my liturgical
functions. To my individual personality is added a dignity
which invests me with a public mandate. I am and I
must consider myself then as the delegate, the official
deputy of the whole Church.
If I pray, or recite my office, even in private, it is no
longer merely in my own name. The words I use were not
chosen by me. It is the Church that places them on my lips.Therefore it is the Church that prays by my lips, and speaks
and acts through me, just as the king acts and speaks by
his ambassador. I am then truly, according to the fine
expression of St. Peter Damian, the whole church. 12
3
Through me the Church is united to the divine religion of
Jesus Christ and addresses to the Most Holy Trinity
adoration, thanksgiving, reparation and supplication.
Hence, if I have any appreciation of my dignity, how
can I begin my Breviary, for instance, without a mysterious
activity taking place in my soul and raising me above myself,
above the natural course of my thoughts, to fill me com­
pletely with the conviction that I am in a sense a mediator
between heaven and earth ? 4
1. Persona publica, totius Ecclesiae os (Sermo XX).
2. Sacerdos personam induit Ecclesiae, verba illius gerit, vocem
assumit (Guliel. Paris. De Sae. Ord.).
3. Per unitatem fidei, Sacerdos Ecclesia tota est et ejus vices
gerit (S. Pet. Damian Opusc. XI, cap. X—Patr. Latr. ; t. CXLV,
coi. 239) ; ■—Quid mirum si Sacerdos quilibet . . . vicem Ecclesiae
solus expleat . . . cum per unitatis intimae Sacramentum tota
spiritualiter sit Ecclesia ? (S. Pet. Damian, loc. cit.).
4. Medius stat sacerdos inter Deum et humanam naturam ;
illinc venientia beneficia ad nos deferens et nostras petitiones
illuc perferens (S. John Chrysost. Hom. V. η. I. in illud : Vidi
Dominum).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

185

What a misfortune if I were to forget these truths !
The Saints were deeply impressed by them.1 They lived
by them. God expects me to be mindful of them when I perform
any liturgical function. The Church by her Liturgical Life
helps me at every moment not to lose sight of the fact
that I am her representative, and God demands that T
live up to this dignity by leading an exemplary life.12
0 my God, fill me with a profound esteem for this mission,
which the Church has entrusted to me. What a spur it
will be against my sloth in the spiritual combat ! But grant
me too a true sense of my dignity as a Christian and give
me a childlike attitude towards Thy Church, so that I may
1. Why does the priest, when reciting his Breviary, even when
alone, say Dominus vobiscum ? And why does he answer Et cum
spiritu tuo, instead of answering, Et cum spiritu meo ? " No,”
says St. Peter Damian, ” the priest is not alone. When he says
Mass or prays, he has before him the whole Church mysteriously
present and she it is whom he salutes by saying Dominus vobiscum.
And then since he represents the Church, she answers him through
his own mouth, “ Et cum spiritu tuo.” (Cf. S. Pet. Damian, Dom.
vob. c. 6, 10, etc.). It is his thoughts on this subject which we re­
produce above.
2. Laudate Dominum ; sed laudate de vobis, id est, ut non sola
lingua et vox vestra laudet Deum, sed et conscientia vestra, vita
vestra, facta vestra (S. August., Enarrat, in Ps. cxLViu, n. 2). Just
as men expect you to be holy when you present yourself to them
as the ambassador of God, so God requires that you appear before
Him as an intercessor of men. An intercessor is an envoy sent from
the misery of this earth to the justice of God. Now two conditions
are required from an envoy, says St. Thomas, in order that he may
be favourably received. The first is that he be a worthy representative
of the people who send him ; and the second that he be a friend
of the prince to whom he is sent. You priest, who have no esteem
for your sanctity', would you be a worthy representative of the
Christian people, when you do not practise the highest type of
Christian virtue ? Can you be the friend of God. when you are not
even His faithful servant ?
If this is true of the indifferent mediator, how much more is it
true of one who is in sin ? And who can describe the anomaly of his
dreadful condition ? " Pray for me, Father, you have influence over
God,” say pious souls. Do you want to know the efficacy of this safe­
guard so piously invoked ? " The barking of dogs is more pleasing to
God, than the prayers of such priests.” P Caussette, Manrèze du
Prêtre. j« jour. 2'’ discours (St. August , Serin. 37).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

profit abundantly by the treasures of interior life which
are stored in the holy Liturgy.

* *
3rd Principle. As a priest, when I consecrate the Blessed
Eucharist or administer the Sacraments, I must revive my
conviction that I am the Minister of Jesus Christ, therefore
an Alter Christus ; and 1 must hold, it as certain that it
depends on myself if I am to find in the exercise of my duties
special graces to acquire the virtues demanded by my priest­
hood. 1
Thy faithful, O Jesus, form one body, but in this body,
all the members have not the same office.12 There are diversities
of graces.3
Thou hast willed that a visible sacrifice be left to the
Church ; for this Thou hast endowed her with a priesthood,
whose principal duty is to continue Thine immolation on
the altar, and then to distribute Thy Precious Blood by
the Sacraments and to sanctify Thy Mystical Body by
communicating to it Thy divine Life.
O Sovereign Priest, Thou hast decided from all eternity to
choose me and consecrate me for Thy minister in order to
carry on through me Thy Priesthood.45 Thou hast given
me Thy powers in order to accomplish by my co-operation 6
a work greater than the creation of the universe, the miracle
of Transubstantiation and in order to remain by this marvel
the sacrificial Victim and the Religion of Thy Church.

1. What is said here of the priest applies also in due proportion
to the deacon and subdeacon.
2. Omnia autem membra non eumdem actum habent (Rom.,
XII, 4)·
3. Divisiones gratiarum sunt (I Cor., XII, 4).
4. Ipse est principalis sacerdos, qui in omnibus et per omnes
sacerdotes Novi Testamenti offert. Ideo enim quia erat Sacerdos
in aeternum instituit Apostolos sacerdotes, ut per ipsos suum
sacerdotium exsequeretur (De Lugo, De Euchar., disp. XIX, sect.
VI, n. 86).
5. Dei adjutores sumus (I Cor., Ill, 9).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

187

Now do I understand the enthusiastic words with which
the Fathers of the Church seek to express the dignity of
the priesthood.1 Their words logically compel me to
consider myself as another Christ, Sacerdos alter Christus,
by virtue of Thy priesthood, which Thou hast com­
municated to me.
Is there not in fact an identification between Thee and me,
since Thy person and mine are so truly one that Thou
makest Thine own the words, Hoc est Corpus maim, Hie
est calix Sanguinis mei, when I pronounce them ? 2 I lend
Thee my lips, since in all truth I can say, “ My Body,
My Blood." 3 It is enough that I wish to consecrate for
Thee to wish it also. Thy Will is blended with mine.

1. The Fathers seem to have exhausted their eloquence in
speaking of the dignity of the priest. Their thoughts may be summed
up in these words. This dignity surpasses everything created :
God alone is greater.—Sublimitas sacerdotis nullis comparationibus
potest adaequari (S. Ambr., lib. de dig. Sacerd., cap. II).—Qui
sacerdotem dixit, prorsus divinum insinuat virum (S. Dion, Areop.).
—Praetulit vos regibus et imperatoribus, praetulit vestrum ordinem
ordinibus omnibus, imo ut altius loquar, praetulit vos Angelis et
Archangelis, Thronis et Dominationibus (S. Bern., Sermo ad Past,
in Syn.—Inter apocryp. opp—Patr. lat., t. CLXXXIV, coi. 1086).
Perspicuum est illam esse illorum Sacerdotum functionem qua
nulla major excogitari potest. Quare merito non solum angeli,
sed dii etiam, quia Dei immortalis vim et numen apud nos teneant,
appellantur (Cat. Rom., de Ord. I).
2. Reliqua omnia quae dicuntur in superioribus a Sacerdote
dicuntur , . . Ubi venitur ut conficiatur venerabile Sacramentum
jam non suis sermonibus utitur Sacerdos, sed utitur sermonibus
Christi. Ergo sermo Christi hoc conficit Sacramentum. Quis est
sermo Christi ? Nempe is quo facta sunt omnia (S. Ambr. De Sacram.,
lib. IV, cap. IV, n. 14 seq.—Inter dubia opera.—Patr. lat., t. XVI,
coi. 439).
Ecce Ambrosius non solum vult sacerdotem loqui in persona
Christi, sed etiam non loqui in propria persona, neque illa esse
verba sacerdotis. Quia, cum sacerdos assumatur a Christo ut eum
repraesentet, et ut Christus per os sacerdotis loquatur, non decuit
sacerdotem adhuc retinere in his verbis proprium sermonem (De
Logo, De Euch., disp. XI, sect. V, n. 103).
3. Ipse est (Christus) qui sanctificat et immolat ; cum videris
sacerdotem offerentem, ne ut sacerdotem esse putes, sed Christi
manum invisibiliter extentam . . . Sacerdos linguam suam com­
modat (S. Joan. Chrysost., Horn., 86 in Joan. n. 4).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

In the greatest act that Thou canst perform here below
Thy soul is linked with mine. I lend to Thee what is most
my own, my will ; and immediate!}7 Thine becomes one
with mine.
So true is it that it is Thou who dost act by me, that if
1 dared to say, over the matter of the sacrifice, “ This is
the Body of Jesus Christ,” instead of " This is my Body,”
the consecration wrould not be valid.
The Blessed Eucharist is Thy very self, O Jesus, under
the appearance of bread. And each Mass makes it more
clear to my eyes that the priest is Thyself, O sole Priest,
under the appearance of a man whom Thou hast chosen
for Thy Minister.1
“ Another Christ.” I am led to think of these words
every time that I administer one of the other Sacraments.
Thou alone canst say, in Thy character of Redeemer,
Ego te baptizo, Ego te absolvo thus exercising a power
as divine as that of creation. I too utter these same words
myself, and the angels are more attentive to them than
to the fiat which called forth the universe from nothing,12
since these words are capable, O miracle, of forming God
in a soul, and of producing a child of God who shares
in the intimate life of the Divinity !
At each priestly function I think I hear Thee say, “ O
my son, how could you suppose that having made you
‘ another Christ ’ by these divine powers, I should tolerate
that in the usual rotetine of your life you should be “ without
Christ,” or even *' against Christ ? ”
“ What ! In the exercise of these priestly functions, you
have just acted in unison with Me ; and a few minutes later,
it will be Satan who will come and take My place and make
of you by sin, a sort of Antichrist, or wrho will lull you
into such a state of torpor that you deliberately forget the
obligation of imitating Me and of putting Me on, as
my Apostle says.

1. Nil aliud Sacrifex est quam Christi simulacrum (Petr. Bles.
Tract, rythm. de Euch., cap. VII).
2. Majus opus est ex impio justum facere quam creare caelum
et terram (S. Aug.).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

189

“ Absit ! Let it not be so. When human weakness is alone
the cause of your daily faults, which you immediately
regret and attone for, you can count on My mercy ; but
to adopt in cold blood a life of deliberate infidelities and
return from these without remorse to your sublime functions,
this surely will draw down My anger.
“ There is a great gulf between your functions and those of
the priests of the Old Law. And yet, if My prophets uttered
dire threats against Sion on account of the sins of the people
or their rulers, listen to what resulted from the prevari­
cations of the priests : The Lord hath accomplished His
wrath, He hath poured out His fierce anger ; and He hath
kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath devoured the foundations
thereof . . . for the iniquities of her priests. 1
“ With what severity too does My Church forbid the priest
to approach the altar or to confer the Sacraments, if there
is a single mortal sin on his conscience !
“ Under My inspiration she goes further. By her very
rites she compels you to be either truly holy or an impostor.
You will have to make up your mind either to live the
interior life or else resign yourself to say to Me, from
the beginning to the end of the Mass, what you do not really
think and ask what you do not desire. The sacred words
and ceremonies of necessity demand in the priest a spirit
of compunction and freedom from the slightest faults, and
therefore custody of the heart ; a spirit of adoration,
and therefore of recollection ; a spirit of faith, hope and
love, and therefore a supernatural aim in all you say and
do, and in your whole ministry.”
I fully realise, O Jesus, that to put on the sacred vest­
ments, without being firmly resolved to try to acquire the
virtues which they symbolise, would be a kind of hypocrisy.
It is my will that henceforth genuflections, signs of the cross,
and other forms and ceremonies, must never be a vain
sham, concealing emptiness, coldness, indifference to the
interior life, and thus adding to my faults that of a lying
display before the face of the Eternal God.i.

i. Lamentationes (IV, 11, 13).

I go

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Let then a holy tear come upon me every7 time that
I draw near to Thy dread mysteries and every7 time that
I put on the liturgical vestments ! Let the prayers with
which I accompany this act, the formulas so full of strength
and unction in the Missal and the Ritual, move me to search
into my heart, so as to find out whether it is in harmony
with Thine, O Jesus, whether I have a loyal and practical
desire to imitate Thee by leading an interior life !
O my soul, away with those compromises, which might
lead me to think it enough to be “ alter Christus ” only
during my sacred functions, and to believe that afterwards,
provided that I am not actually " against Christ,” I need
take no trouble to fut on Jesus Christ.
Seeing that I am not only7 an ambassador of Jesus
Crucified, but still more another Christ, shall I attempt
to shelter myself under an easy-going piety and commonplace
virtues ?
It is useless for me to try to persuade myself that the
monk in the cloister is bound more than I am to strive to
imitate Our Lord and to acquire an interior life. This is
a grave error based on a confusion of thought.
In order to attain holiness, the religious binds himself
to the use of certain means : vows of obedience and poverty,
and keeping his Rule. As a secular priest I am not bound
to the use of these means, but I am obliged to pursue and
realise the same end, and I am so obliged by many more
considerations than the consecrated soul who does not have
the responsibility7 of dispensing the fruits of the Precious
Blood.1*IV,
i. Vos estis lux mundi, vos estis sal terrae. Quod si sal evanuerit
in quo salietur ? (Matth., V, 13).—Exemplum esto fidelium in
verbo, in conversatione, in caritate, in fide, in castitate (I Tim.,
IV, 12).—In divino omni quis audeat aliis dux fieri, nisi secundum
omnem habitum suum factus sit Deo formissimus et Deo simillimus
(S. Dionys., De eccl. hier i).—Sacerdos debet vitam habere immacu­
latam, ut omnes in illum, veluti in aliquod exemplum excellens,
intueantur (S. Joan. Chrysos., Hom. loin Tim.).—Nihil in sacerdote
commune cum multitudine. Vita sacerdotis praeponderare debet,
sicut praeponderat gratia (S. Amb., Epis., 82).—Aut ceteris hon­
estiores aut fabula omnibus sunt sacerdotes (S. Bern., De consid.,

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

I QI

Woe to me then if I deceive myself with an illusion
that is beyond doubt culpable, since it could easily have
been dispelled if I had only consulted the teaching of the
Church and her saints ; an illusion, the falseness of which
will be brought home to me on the threshold of eternity !
Woe to me if I do not know how to profit by my liturgical
functions to discover what God demands of me, or if I
remain deaf to the voices of all the sacred objects that
surround me : the altar, the confessional, the baptismal
font, the vessels, the sacred linen and vestments. Imitate
what you handle.1 Be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of
the Lord.2 They offer . . . the bread of their God and therefore
they shall be holy. 3
I shall be so much the less excusable for shutting my
ears to these appeals, O Jesus, in as much as each of my
functions is the occasion of an actual grace which Thou
offerest me to form my soul to Thy image and likeness.
The Church solicits this grace ; her heart, jealously eager
to come up to Thine expectation, takes care of me like the
apple of her eye ; at my ordination she puts before me the
serious consequences involved in my identification with
Thee.
Impone, Domine, capiti meo galeam salutis . . . praecinge
me cingulo puritatis ...
Ut indulgere digneris omnia
lib. IV, c. 6).—Sicut illi qui ordinem suscipiunt, super plebem
constituuntur gradu Ordinis, ita et superiores sint merito sanctitatis
(S. Thom., Suppi., q. 35).—Sic decet omnino clericos in sortem
Domini vocatos, vitam moresque suos omnes componere, ut habitu,
gestu, incessu, sermone, aliisque omnibus rebus nihil nisi grave,
moderatum ac religione plenum prae se ferent (Cone. Trid., sess. 22,
c. i, de Reform.).—Si religiosus careat ordine, manifestum est excellere
praeeminentiam Ordinis quantum ad dignitatem, quia per sacrum
ordinem aliquis deputatur ad dignissima ministeria, quibus ipsi
Christo servitur in sacramento altaris ; ad quod requiritur major
sanctitas interior, quam requirat etiam religionis status (S. Thom.,
2.2, q. 84).—Vix bonus monachus facit bonum clericum (S. Aug.,
ad Val.).—Nullam ascensus et deificationis mensuram agnoscant
(S. Greg. Naz).—Pares Deo conentur esse sanctitate, ut qui viderit
ministrum altaris, Dominum veneretur (S. Ambr., de Offic., c. 5)
1. Roman Pontifical : Imitamini quod tractatis.
2. Mundamini qui fertis vasa Domini (Is., LII, 11).
3. Panes offerunt Deo, et ideo sancti erunt (Levit., XXI, 6).

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peccata mea. Fac me tuis semper inhaerere mandatis et
a te nunquam separari permittas, etc. It is not I alone who
make these requests for myself ; all the true faithful, all
the fervent souls consecrated to Thee, all the members of
the Church’s hierarchy make my poor prayer their own.
Their cry rises to Thy throne ; it is the voice of Thy Spouse
which Thou dost hear. When Thy ministers are resolved
to pursue the interior life and therefore put their hearts in
harmony with their liturgical functions, Thou dost always
grant these entreaties made for them by the Church.
Instead then of depriving myself by my voluntary
negligence of the suffrages which I address to Thy Father
for the body of the faithful, whenever I say Holy Mass
or administer the Sacraments, I wish to profit by these
graces, O my Saviour. In each of my priestly actions
I shall open my heart wide to Thine influence. Thou wilt
then shed upon it light, consolation, and strength, which in
spite of all obstacles will enable me to identify with Thine
all my judgments, affections and desires, just as my Priesthood
identifies me with Thee, Eternal Priest, wrhen through me
Thou dost become a Victim on the altar, or the Redeemer
of souls.
♦
♦ ♦

I sum up here in a fewT words the three principles of the
liturgical life.
Cum Ecclesia. When I unite with the Church as a simple
Christian, this very union impels me to share in her thoughts
and feelings.
Ecclesia. When so to speak I am the Church itself,
that is, wrhen I am acting as her ambassador before the
Throne of God, I am all the more powerfully drawm to make
her aspirations my own, so as to be less unworthy of address­
ing myself to the thrice-holy Majesty, and to exercise
by my official prayer a more fruitful Apostolate.
Christus. But wrhen by my sharing in the Priesthood
of Christ, I am “ another Christ,” what terms can express
the insistence of Thine appeals, 0 Jesus, when Thou dost

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IÇ3

call me to take on more and more of Thy divine likeness,
and thus show Thee to the faithful and by the Apostolate
of good example move them to follow in Thy footsteps ?

IY.—The Advantages of the Liturgical Life
(a) It helps me to be permanently supernatural
in all my actions.

How difficult I find it, 0 my God, to act as a rule by
supernatural motives ! My self-love, helped by Satan and
by creatures, prevents my soul and my faculties from being
dependent on Jesus living within me.
How often during the day is this purity of intention,
which alone can render my actions meritorious and my
apostolate successful, how often is it ruined through lack
of vigilance or of fidelity ! Only as the result of continual
efforts am I able to obtain with God’s help the power to
ensure that most of my actions may have grace as the
life-giving principle, which directs them to God as towards
their end.
For me to make these efforts mental prayer is indis­
pensable. But what a difference it makes, when this
striving for purity of intention is offered in the centre of
the liturgical Life ! Mental Prayer and the liturgical life
are two sisters who help each other. Mental prayer, taking
place before my Mass and my Office, places me in a super­
natural atmosphere.
The liturgical life gives me the means of transmitting
my mental prayer to all the actions of the day.1
*
* *

When 1 am taught by you, O holy Church, how easy
it is for me to acquire the habit of rendering to my Creator
and Father at all times the worship which is His due !

I. " I make a good meditation in order to say my Mass well;
and 1 say my Mass and I recite my Office with devotion in order
to make my mental prayer well next day” (Fr. Ollivaint).
8

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

You are the Spouse of Him who is Adoration, Thanksgiving,
Reparation and Mediation in the highest degree, and you
communicate to me, by the Liturgy, that thirst which Jesus
had to glorify His Father ; and this is the first end you had
in view when you established the Liturgy.
It is clear that if I live the liturgical life, I shall be
filled with the virtue of religion, since the whole Liturgy
is nothing but the continual and public exercise of that
virtue which is the most excellent after the theological
virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.
If I make use of the light of faith, there is no doubt that
piety, vigilance, courage in the spiritual combat, and the
subjection of all my faculties to God can be developed in my
soul. But how greatly this human being of mine, composed
of body and soul, needs the assistance of all its faculties in
order to fix its mind on eternal things, fill its heart with
eager enthusiasm to profit by them, and excite its will to
ask for them repeatedly and to pursue them unceasingly !
The Liturgy takes possession of my whole being. The whole
combination of ceremonies, genuflections, bowings, symbols,
chants, texts, appealing to the eye, to the ear, to the
feelings, to the imagination, to the intelligence, to the
heart, directs me wholly and entirely to God ; it reminds
me that everything that is in me, os, lingua, mens, sensus,
vigor, must be directed to God.
Everything used by the Church to remind me of the
rights of God and His claim to my filial w’orship and my
total dependence on Him, develops in me the virtue of
religion and by that means the supernatural spirit.
Everything in the Liturgy speaks to me of God, of His
perfections, His mercies ; everything leads me back to God,
shows me how His Providence is ever holding out to my
soul the means of sanctification by trials, help from on high,
warnings, encouragement, promises, light, yes, even in
His threats.
The Liturgy also makes me continually speak to God
and give expression to my religion under the most varied
forms.
If I give myself up to this liturgical training, with the

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IQS

earnest desire of profiting by it, surely after the profusion
of exercises which follow every day from my functions as
a minister of the Church, surely the virtue of religion will
strike its roots ever more deeply into my soul ? Surely
I shall form a habit, a state of mind, and that means a
true interior life ?

♦* *
The Liturgy is a school of the Presence of God, and of
the Presence of God as He has shown it in the Incarnation !
Or rather, it is a School of the Presence of Jesus and of
Love.
Love is fostered by the knowledge of the loveableness
of the beloved, by the proofs of love which He has given,
but above all, says St. Thomas, by His presence.
The Liturgy reproduces for us, explains and applies these
various manifestations of the life of Jesus among us.
It kee-fs us permanently in a supernatural and divine atmos­
phere by prolonging, so to speak, the life of Our Lord,
and by showing us in all these mysteries the love and
tenderness of His heart.
Thou, O Jesus, by the Liturgy dost continue Thy great
lesson and the great revelation of Thy love. I see Thee
more and more not through the eyes of the historian, that
is to say, veiled by the centuries, nor through the eyes of
the theologian, as the object of arduous speculations.
Thou art quite close to me. Thou art someone that each
member of the Church lives with, and whom the Liturgy
shows me at all times in the forefront of my life, as the model
and the object of my affection.
By the Cycle of Thy feast days, by the lessons chosen
from Thy Gospel and from the writings of Thine Apostles,
and by the splendour with which she makes the Sacraments
and, above all, Thy Blessed Eucharist, shine forth, the
Church makes Thee live among us and lets us hear the beating
of Thy Heart.
What a mighty source of supernatural life my mental
prayer gives me by impressing on me the belief that Our

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Lord lives in me and that He wishes to act on my soul, if
I put no obstacle in His way. But frequently during the day
by the varied and sensible means which the Liturgy
supplies, I can nourish my mind and heart with the dogma
of grace, of Jesus praying, acting with each of the members
of whom He is the life, and whose deficiencies He supplies,
as He also does mine ; thus I can keep myself under the
permanent influence of the supernatural, thus can I live
in union with Jesus and be established in His love.
Love of complacency, of benevolence, of preference, of
hope—all these forms shine forth in the wonderful collects
of the Mass, in the psalms, the ceremonies, the prayers,
and penetrate my soul.
This manner of contemplating Our Lord as living and
always present, will make my interior life strong and
generous. And when some act of detacliment or of self­
denial may be required to keep my life supernatural,
when some difficult duty has to be done, some pain or insult
to be endured, then the spiritual combat, the virtue, or
the trial, will lose its painful and disagreeable side if,
instead of looking at the bare Cross, I look at Thee nailed
to it, O my Saviour, and hear Thee ask me, showing me
Thy Wounds, for this sacrifice as a proof of my love.
The Liturgy gives me strong support in another way
by repeatedly reminding me that I am not alone. I am
■not alone in the fight against my natural impulses, which
ever threaten to overwhelm me. The Church, concerned
about my incorporation with Christ, follows me as a mother,
giving me a share in the merits of millions of souls with
whom I am in communion, and who speak the same
language of official love as I do and she renews my confidence
that the souls in Heaven and Purgatory are here with me
to encourage and assist me.

*♦ *
Nothing is so effective in keeping the soul directed
towards God in all its acts as the mindfulness of eternity.
Everything in the Liturgy recalls Novissima mea, my

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197

last end ; the expressions Vita aeterna, Caelum, Infernum,
Mors, Saeculum saeculi, and other similar phrases, occur
often. Prayers and Offices for the dead, funeral services,
bring before my eyes death, judgment, eternal rewards ox­
punishments, the value of time and the purification
necessary here below or in Purgatory if I am ever to enter
into Heaven.
The feasts of the saints speak to me of the glory of those
who have gone before me here on earth, and show me the
crown which is in store for me, if I follow in their footsteps
and imitate their example.
By these lessons the Church is ever crying out to me,
" Beloved soul, look to the everlasting years so as to
remain faithful to your motto, God in all things, always,
everywhere."
O Divine Liturgy, if 1 were to acknowledge all the
blessings that I owe to you, I should have to mention all
the virtues. Thanks to the texts taken from Scripture
that you continually put before my eyes, thanks to the
rites and symbols which express the divine mysteries to me,
my soul is constantly raised above this earth and directed,
now towards the theological virtues, now towards the fear
of God, horror for sin and for the worldly spirit, and again
towards detachment, compunction, confidence or spiritual
joy.
(b)
It helps me most powerfully to conform my interior
Life to that of Our Lord.

There are three sentiments which prevail in Thy Heart,
O adorable Master : complete dependence upon Thy Father,
and therefore perfect humility ; then secondly a burning
and universal love for men ; and finally the spirit of sacrifice.
Perfect Humility. At Thine entry into the world, Thou
didst say, Behold 1 come . . . that I should do Thy Will,
O God.1 Thou dost often remind us that all Thine inneri.

i. Ingrediens mundum dicit : Hostiam et oblationem noluisti. . .
Tunc dixi : Ecce venio ... ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam
(Hebr., X, 5, 7).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

life is summed up in the constant desire to do always the
things that please the Father.1 Thou art obedience itself,
O Lord, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of
the Cross.123 Now even, Thou dost obey Thy priests; at
their word Thou dost descend to the earth, the Lord obeying
the voice of a man2
What a fine school the Liturgy is in which to learn to
imitate Thy submission, if my heart will only respond to
the smallest rites with the desire of forming a spirit of
dependence on God and of unflinchingly taming this self
of mine so eager for liberty ; and of bending my judgment
and my will, ahvays prone to stray away from the funda­
mental spirit, which Thou, O Jesus, hast come to teach by
Thine example, the worship of the Will of God.
Every time that I sink my own personality in order to
obey the Church as I would obey Thee Thyself, and to act
in her name and unite myself to her, and thus unite myself
to Thee, I am doing a valuable service for the improvement
of my soul ; my fidelity to the least prescriptions of the
rubrics will train me to humble my pride on more difficult
occasions.4
Nor is this all ; by constantly reminding me of the
reality of Thy life in me and of the necessity of Thy grace
if I am to make use of even the simplest thought, the Liturgy
fights against the presumption and the self-conceit which
could destroy all my interior life. The Per Dominum
Nostrum which ends almost all the prayers of the Liturgy
reminds me, if I ever should forget it that by myself I
can do nothing, absolutely nothing, except commit sin
or perform acts that have no merit. Everything convinces
me of the necessity of having frequent recourse to Thee,
1. Ego quae placita sunt ei, facio semper (Joan., VIII, 29)
Meus cibus est ut faciam voluntatem ejus qui misit me (Joan.,
IV, 34). Descendi de caelo non ut faciam voluntatem meam, sed
voluntatem ejus qui misit me (Joan., VI, 38).
2. Factus obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis
(Philipp., II, 8).
3. Obediente Domino voci hominis (Jos, X, 14).
4. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in
that which is greater (Luc., XVI, 10).

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

I99

everything keeps telling me that Thou dost require from
me this humble appeal, so that my life may not go astray
in pursuit of a misleading mirage.
The Church by means of her Liturgy strives anxiously
to persuade her children of the necessity of supplication.
Of this Liturgy she makes a true School of Prayer and
therefore of humility. By her formulas, by the Sacraments
and Sacramentals she teaches that everything comes to me
through Thy Precious Blood, and that the great means of
obtaining its fruits, is to unite myself by humble prayer
to Thy strong desire to apply them to us.
Let me then profit by these continual lessons, O Jesus,
in order to increase the vivid realisation of my nothingness,
to convince myself that I am but a tiny particle in the
Host which is Thy Mystical Body, and that in the immense
chorus of praise which Thou dost conduct, I am but a feeble
voice. Thanks to the Liturgy, I can see more and more
clearly that it is by humility that 1 can make that voice
purer and clearer and that particle ever more white.
Universal Charity. Thy Heart, O Jesus, has extended to
all men its mission of redemption.
From the Cross Thou hast cried out “ Sitio ” to the world ;
and Thou still continues! to make it echo upon the altar
and even in the midst of Thy glory. The answer to this cry,
even from an ordinary Christian, must be a strong desire to
spend oneself for one’s brethren ; a burning thirst for the
salvation of all men, and for the spreading of the Gospel ;
great zeal for the encouragement of priestly and religious
vocations ; and earnest prayers that the faithful may under­
stand the extent of their duties, and that souls consecrated
to God may feel the necessity of the interior life.
These desires should inflame to a much greater degree
the souls of Thy ministers ; the rites they perform con­
stantly remind them that Thou hast given them a special
place in Thy Mystical Body, in order that they may
incorporate in Thee as many souls as possible ; and that
they are co-redeemcrs, mediators, bound to weep between

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

the porch and the altar 1 over the sins of the world, and to
sanctify themselves, not alone on their own account, but
also in order to be able to sanctify others, and to form, instruct,
and guide souls and make Thy life course through their
veins. And for them do I sanctify myself, that they also may
be sanctified in truth.12
Holy Church of the Redeemer, Mother of all my brethren,
your children, how can I live your Liturgical Life without
sharing the strong desire that the Heart of your divine
Spouse feels for the salvation of His creatures and the
deliverance of the souls that groan in Purgatory7.
True it is that I have a chosen share in the fruits of the
Mass which I say, and of the Office which I recite. But
it is your intention that the first share should go to the
whole group of souls which are in your care : “ Which we
offer Thee first of all for thy Holy Catholic Church.” 3*
You take countless means to expand my heart with love
of God and to conform my interior life to that of Jesus.
O Beloved Life of the Liturgy, increase my filial love for
Holy Church and for the common Father of all the faithful.
Make me more devoted and more submissive to my hier­
archical superiors and more in unison with their cares.
Help me to remember that Jesus lives in each one of those
whom I meet every day and that He holds them all in His
Heart. Make me resolve to radiate to them a spirit of
forbearance, kindness, patience, and of readiness to help
so that I may thus reflect the meekness of the sweet
Saviour.
Keep well before me the conviction that 1 cannot reach
Heaven but by the Cross, and that my praises, my adoration,
sacrifices and all my other acts are of no value for Heaven
except through the Precious Blood of Jesus ; and that it is
in union with all Christians that I am to gain heaven,
since it is with all the elect that I am to enjoy it, and to con­
1. Inter vestibulum et altare plorabunt sacerdotes (Joel, Π, 17).
2. Ego sanctifico meipsum ut sint et ipsi sanctificari (loan.,
XVII, 19).
3. In primis quae tibi offerimus pro Ecclesia tua sancta catholica
(Canon of the Mass).

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201

tinue with them through Jesus, for all eternity, the chorus
of praise, in which I have a part here on earth.
Spirit oî Sacrifice. O Jesus, Thou knowest that mankind
cannot be saved except by sacrifice, and therefore Thou
hast made a perpetual immolation of all Thy life on earth.
Identified with Thee, acting as priest with Thee when I
celebrate Mass, O divine sufferer on the Cross, with Thee
I wish to be a victim. Everything in Thee revolves around
Thy Cross ; everything in me shall revolve around my Mass ;
it will be the centre and the sun of my days, as Thy sacrifice
is the central act of the Liturgy. This Liturgy which brings
me always by way of the Altar and the Tabernacle to the
thought of Calvary, will be for me a School of the spirit of
Sacrifice. By making me share in the sentiments of Thy
Church, it will communicate Thine own sentiments to me,
O Jesus, and thus I shall realise in my fife the words of
St. Paul, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus,1 along with those other words which were spoken
to me at my ordination, Imitate what you perform.12
The Missal, the Ritual, and the Breviary will remind me
in many different ways, were it only by the countless signs
of the cross, that sacrifice has become since the Fall the
law of the human race, and that it has no value except
in so far as it is united with Thy sacrifice. I shall render
Thee then victim for victim. I shall make a total immolation
of myself, a sacrifice that will wholly merge with Thine
consummated once on Golgotha and renewed many times
every minute in the Masses which are said in unending
succession over the whole world.
The Liturgy will make this oblation of myself much
easier for me and will enable me to contribute more towards
filling up those things that are wanting of Thy sufferings for
Thy Body which is the Church.3

1. Hoc sentite in vobis quod et in Christo Jesu (Philipp., II, 5).
2. Imitamini quod tractatis (Roman Pontifical).
3. Adimpleo quae desunt passionum Christi pro corpore ejus
quod est Ecclesia (Coloss., I, 24).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

1 shall contribute my share and join it to this great
Sacrificial Host which is made up of the sacrifices of all
Christians ; 1 and this Host will ascend to heaven to
expiate the sins of the world and draw down on the Church
militant and the Church suffering the fruits of Thy
Redemption.
I shall in this way lead a true liturgical life. For when
I “ put on ” Thee, O Jesus crucified, and unite myself in
a practical way to Thy Sacrifice, by making a holocaust of
myself through following Thy counsel, Let him deny
himself, is not that, O my Saviour, the goal to which
Thy Church wishes to lead me, while instilling Thy senti­
ments into me by her prayers and holy ceremonies, and
putting into my heart what in Thee dominated everything,
the Spirit of Sacrifice ? 12
Thus I shall become one of those living, chosen stones
which, polished by trials, Scalpri salubris ictibus et tunsione
plurima, Fabri polita malleo,3 are destined to be used in
the construction of the heavenly Jerusalem.
(c) The liturgical Life makes me live the Life of the
Blessed in Heaven.

But our conversation is in heaven,4 said St. Paul.
Where shall I better learn how to carry7 out his instruction
1. Tota ipsa redempta civitas, hoc est congregatio societasque
sanctorum, universale Sacrificium ofiertur Deo per Sacerdotem
magnum, qui etiam obtulit in Passione pro nobis, ut tanti capitis
corpus essemus . . . Cum itaque nos hortatus esset Apostolus ut
exhibeamus corpora nostra hostiam viventem . . . Hoc est Sacri­
ficium Christianorum ; multi unum corpus in Christo. Quod etiam
sacramento altaris, fidelibus noto, frequentat Ecclesia, ubi ei
demonstratur quod in ea re, quam offert, ipsa offertur (S. Aug.,
De Civit. Dei, lib. X, cap. VI).
2. Tum demum sacerdoti hostia proderit si seipsum hostiam
faciens velit humiliter et efficaciter imitari quod agit (Petr.
Blesens., Epist., CXXII1). Qui passionis Dominicae mysteria
celebramus, debemus imitari quod agimus. Tunc ergo vere pro
nobis Hostia erit Deo, cum nosmetipsos Hostiam fecerimus (S.
Greg., Dialog., lib. IV, cap. LIX).
3. Dedication of a Church ; Rom. Brev. Hymn at Vespers.
4. Conversatio nostra in caelis est (Philipp., Ill, 20).

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203

than in the Liturgy ? This Liturgy of earth is simply an
imitation of the heavenly liturgy that John the Beloved
Disciple has described in his Apocalypse. When I chant
or recite my Office, what else am I doing but fulfilling
the same function with which the angels are honoured
before the throne of the Eternal God ?
More than that, the doxology of every psalm, the
conclusion of every prayer casts me down in adoration
before the Blessed Trinity.
The numerous feasts of the Saints make me live, as it
were, in intimacy with my brothers in Paradise who protect
me and pray for me. The feasts of the Blessed Virgin
remind me that I have on high a Mother full of loving
kindness who is all powerful, and who will not rest till she
beholds me in safety at her feet in the kingdom of her Son.
Could it be possible that all these feasts, that the mysteries
of my sweet Saviour, Christmas, Easter, and especially the
Ascension, should not give me that home-sickness for
Heaven which St. Gregory regards as a pledge of pre­
destination ?

V. Practice of the Liturgical Life
Good Master, Thou hast deigned to explain to me the
Liturgical Life ; shall I offer the calls of my ministry
as a pretext for avoiding the effort that Thou dost ask of
me in order to put it into practice ? Assuredly Thou wilt
answer that to fulfil the liturgical functions in the way
Thou dost desire will take no more time than it does to perform
them mechanically. Thou wilt ask me to consider as an
example the vast number of Thy servants, Blessed Father
Perboyre amongst others,1 who, entrusted by Thee with
continual and absorbing occupations to a really intense
degree, were nevertheless a chosen band of souls deeply
imbued with the liturgical spirit.i.

i. See his “ Life,” Book III, c. VIII and IX, Paris, 1890.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

(a) Remote preparation.

Grant, O my Saviour, that my desire for the Liturgical
Life may manifest itself by a great spirit of faith with
regard to everything that has to do with the divine worship.
Thy Saints and Angels see Thee face to face ; nothing can
distract their minds from the sublime functions which form
one of the elements of their unutterable joy. But how
can I, still burdened with all the weakness inherent to
human nature, how’ can I keep myself in Thy presence
w’hen I unite with the Church in addressing Thee, if Thou
dost not increase in my soul the gift of faith which I received
at Baptism ?
May I never come to regard the liturgical functions as
a burdensome task to be got over as soon as possible,
or something to be put up with because fees are attached
to them. Never, I hope, will I dare to speak to the thrice
holy God or perform His rites in a free and easy way
that I should be ashamed to manifest towards the humblest
servant. May I never give scandal in those things which
were designed to edify ! And yet, can I foresee w'here 1
should stop, once I began to neglect being watchful with
regard to the spirit of faith ?
O my God, if I am already slipping down this incline,
deign to hold me back, or rather grant me so lively a faith,
that I will be convinced of the importance which all these
liturgical acts really possess in Thine eyes, and will rejoice
at realising their sublimity and increase the enthusiasm of
my will.
Would I have the slightest spirit of faith if I took no
trouble to know the Rubrics and to observe them ? The
finest thoughts on the Liturgy could not excuse this neglect
in Thy sight, 0 God. It matters not if 1 feel no natural
attraction for this w’ork ; it is enough for me to know’ that
my obedience pleases Thee and that it will be profitable to
my soul.
During my retreats I shall never fail to examine myself
on this point with regard to the Missal, the Ritual and the
Breviary.

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205

Thy Church, 0 Jesus, has chiefly drawn upon the treasures
of the Psalms for her worship. If I have the liturgical
spirit, my soul will be able to see Thee, in the extracts
from the Psalter, especially in Thy sufferings. I will realise
that those intimate words, those deep feelings and thoughts
that Thy Heart addressed to God during Thy life on earth,
are to be found in a great number of the prophetical
passages with which Thou hast inspired the Psalmist.
And there shall I find, marvellously summed up long before,
the principal teachings of Thy Gospel.
Under these same veils I shall hear the voice of the Church
as she carries on Thy fife of trials, and expresses to God,
in the midst of all her sufferings and her triumphs, senti­
ments that echo those of her divine Spouse ; sentiments
which every soul in whom Thy life is manifested may apply
to itself in all its temptations, defeats, struggles, sorrows,
discouragement, disappointment, as well as in its victories
and consolations.
If I set aside part of my reading time for Holy Scriphire,
I shall develop my taste for the Liturgy and make it easier
to devote more attention to the words.1
Attention and reflection will show that every liturgical
composition has a central idea round which the different,
teachings are grouped.
What weapons you shall forge, O my soul, in this way
against my roving imagination, especially if you understand
how to learn from symbols ! The Church makes use of
symbols to speak to the senses in a language which captivates
them by making the truths that are represented sensible.
Agnoscite quod agitis, was said to me by the Church at my
ordination. Ceremonies, sacred linen, altar objects, vestments,
to all these the Church, my Mother, gives a voice full of
meaning. If I do not possess the key to this instruction,
how can I enlighten the understanding and touch the hearts
of the faithful, whom the Church wants to impress by this
language as simple as it is imposing ?
_
i. Plus lucratur qui orat et intelligit quam qui tantum lingua
orat. Nam qui intelligit reficitur quantum ad intellectum et quantum
ad affectum (S. Thom., in I Cor., XIV, 14).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

(b) Immediate preparation.

Before sprayer prepare thy soul.1
Immediately before
Mass and every' time I read my Breviary, I shall make a
calm but firm act of recollection, in order to take my mind
off what does not relate to God and to fix my attention
upon Him. He to whom I am about to speak is God.
But He is also my Father. Therefore to the reverence and awe
which even the Queen of Angels retains when she speaks
to her divine Son, I shall unite the simple candour, which
gives the soul of a little child even to an old man, when
he addresses the infinite Majesty.
This simple and childlike attitude before my Father will
reflect my conviction that I am united to Jesus Christ and
that I represent the Church in spite of my unworthiness,
and that I am certain of having as companions in my prayer
the spirits of the heavenly host : 1 will sing praise to
Thee in the sight of the Angels.12
For you, O my soul, it is no longer the time to reason,
to meditate ; you must become like a little child. When
you reached the age of reason, you accepted everything
that your mother said as being absolute truth. So you
must with the same simplicity and candour receive from
your Mother the Church everything that she presents to
you as nourishment for your faith.
The soul must renew its childlike state ; this is indis­
pensable. The more I form in myself the soul of a child,
the more shall I profit by the treasures of the Liturgy and
be possessed by the poetry which appears in it. This will
be the measure of my progress in the liturgical spirit.
Then my soul will easily enter into adoration and remain
in it during whatever function (ceremony, Office, Mass,
Sacraments, etc.) I take part in whether as member or
ambassador of the Church or as minister of God.
On the manner of my entering into adoration will depend
to a great extent not only the profit and merit of the litur­
gical act, but also the consolations which God reserves for
1. Ante orationem praepara animam tuam (Eccli., XVIII, 23).
2. In conspectu angelorum psallam tibi (Ps. cxxxvn).

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207

its perfect accomplishment ; and these consolations are
to be my support in my apostolic labours.
I desire to adore. I desire by an act of my will to unite
my adoration with that of the God-Man, so as to offer to
God this combined homage ; it will be an effort of the heart
rather than of the mind.
I desire it with Thy grace, O Jesus ; and this grace I
implore, for instance, in the Office by the Deus in adjutorium
and in the Mass by the Introibo slowly and attentively
recited. I desire it ; and it is this desire, filial and affec­
tionate, strong and humble, united to an earnest request for
Thy help, that Thou requirest from me.
If I reach the point where my intellect shows to my
faith beautiful vistas, or my feelings present it with some
pious emotion, my will shall profit by it to adore more easily.
But I will always remember this principle, that union with
God, when all is said, resides in the superior part of the soul,
in the will, and that even though darkness and aridity be
its lot, this faculty of the will, though dry and cold in itself,
will then wing its flight, supported by faith alone.
(c) Fulfilment of the liturgical function.

To perform the liturgical functions well is a gift of Thy
bounty, 0 my God. Omnipotens et misericors Deus, de
cujus munere venit ut tibi a fidelibus tuis digne et laudabiliter
serviatur ; 1 deign to grant me this gift, Lord. I want to
remain an adorer during the liturgical act. This sums up
every method.
My will has placed my heart at the feet of the Majesty
of God and keeps it there ; I sum up all its work in the
three words, digne, attente, devote (from the prayer Aperi),
and they express exactly what ought to be the attitude
of my body, my mind and my heart.
Digne. By my respectful posture and bearing, by the
exact pronunciation of the words, going more slowly at the
important parts, by careful observance of the rubrics, byi.

i. Prayer of the 12th Sunday after Pentecost.

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

the tone of my voice and by my way of making the signs
of the Cross, genuflections, etc., my body will make clear
not only that I know to whom 1 am speaking, what I say,
what apostolate I can at times practise,1 but also that
my heart is in what I am doing.
In the courts of the kings of this earth simple servants
consider the smallest positions important and unconsciously
adopt a solemn and majestic manner. Shall I ever manage
to acquire this distinctive bearing, which will be shown by
the attitude of my mind and the dignity of my demeanour
in the performance of my functions, I who form part of
the guard of honour of the King of kings and of the God
of all Majesty ?
i. Apostolate or Scandal. For many of the faithful who see
religion through a vague intellectualism or ritualism, a whole sermon
given by an indifferent priest is often far less effectual than the
apostolate of the true priest, whose strong faith, compunction and
piety shine forth on the occasion of a baptism, funeral or above all
a Mass. Words and rites are arrows capable of piercing these hearts.
Liturgy when it is so lived shows forth to them the true Mystery ;
the Invisible comes into existence, and invites them to invoke that
Jesus, almost unknown to them, but with whom they feel this priest
is in intimate communication.
On the other hand, a lessening or loss of their faith follows when,
disgusted, they exclaim, " No, indeed, it is not possible that this
priest believes in God and fears Him, since he celebrates Mass,
baptises, recites prayers, performs ceremonies in that fashion.”
What a responsibility ! Who will dare maintain that such scandals
will not be visited with a rigorous judgment ?
The manifestation of reverential fear, or, on the contrary, insolent
nonchalance in the sacred functions can have great influence over
the faithful for good or evil.
Once when I was a student in a university and away from any
clerical influence, I happened by chance to see a priest reciting his
Breviary ; he was unaware of my presence. His bearing which was
full of respect and of religion was a revelation to me, and I felt a
strong desire to pray henceforth and to pray trying to imitate this
priest. To me the Church appeared, as it were, crystalised in this
worthy minister, in communion with his God.
By contrast a loyal soul made this avowal to me not long ago :
“ When I saw the way in which a parish priest dashed through
his Mass, 1 was quite upset and convinced that he could have no
faith. From that time I gave up praying, even believing, and a kind
of loathing caused by the fear of seeing this priest saying Mass again
kept me away from church.”

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20g

Attente. My mind will be full of eagerness to gather from
the words and the sacred rites everything that can nourish
my heart. Sometimes my attention will be fixed on the
literal sense of the texts. I shall remain faithful to the
Mens concordet voci,1 whether I follow each phrase or,
while continuing my recitation of the prayers, I meditate
at length on a word or sentence which has struck my
attention, until such time as I feel the need of seeking the
honey of devotion in some other flower.
At other times my mind will be occupied with the mystery
of the day or the leading idea of the liturgical period. But
the mind will play a secondary part to the will ; the mind
will serve only as the provider to help my will to remain
in adoration or to return to that state.
As soon as distractions come I will return to this act
of adoration without irritation, without harshness, without
a sudden violent jerk, but gently, like everything that is
done with Thy help, O Jesus, and vigorously, in the manner
of one who really desires to co-operate with Thy help.

Devote. This is the most important point. Everything
must be directed to making the Office and every liturgical
function an act of piety, and consequently an act of the heart.
Overhaste is the death of devotion. Such is the principle
laid down by St. Francis de Sales in speaking of the Breviary
and it applies a fortiori to the Mass. Hence I lay down this
rule for myself, to devote about half an hour to my Mass,
so that not only the Canon, but also all the other parts
may be recited devoutly. I shall reject pitilessly all pretexts
for performing this central act of my day in a hurry. If
the force of habit leads me to garble certain words or cere­
monies, I will apply myself, even overdoing it for awhile,
and go very slowly at these faulty places.2 With due
1. The thought should be in agreement with the voice (Rule
of St. Benedict).
2. A writer of the last century as notorious for his impiety as
he was famous for the realism of his descriptions, wishing to caricature
a person who talked volubly without knowing what he was talking
about, could find no better comparison than to say he spoke like
a priest " who hurries slovenly through his Mass.”

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proportion I shall extend this resolution to all rny other
liturgical functions : Sacraments, benedictions, burials, etc.
As regards my Breviary I shall take care to settle in
advance at what time I shall say it ; when that time comes,
I shall bind myself to drop what I am doing whatever the
cost. Come what may, I want this recitation of the Office
to be a true prayer from the heart. O divine Mediator, fill
my soul with a horror of haste in those functions where
I am taking Thy place or acting in the name of the Church.
Make me understand that haste paralyses the great Sacra­
mental which the Liturgy is, and prevents it from nourishing
that spirit of prayer, without which, no matter how zealous
a priest I may outwardly appear to be, I would be in Thine
eyes only lukewarm or w’orse still. Impress on my heart
those words that should make me tremble : Cursed be he
that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully.1
Sometimes I shall let my heart be carried away and
include in a panoramic view of the Faith the general
meaning of the mystery recalled by the liturgical Cycle,
and I shall nourish my soul with this comprehensive survey.
At other times my Office will be a long, lingering act
of faith or of hope, of desire or regret, of oblation or of love.
And again at other times a simple look wall be enough ;
a look deep and long on a mystery, on a perfection of God,
on one of Thy titles, O Jesus, on Thy Church, on my
nothingness, my woes, my needs, or my dignity as a
Christian, as a priest, as a religious ; a look quite different
from an act of the intellect in the course of a study of
theology ; a look which increases faith, but still more
charity ; a look which is a faint reflection no doubt of the
beatific vision, but which fulfils even here below what
Thou hast promised to the pure and fervent. Blessed are
the clean of heart for they shall see God.12

* ♦♦
Thus each ceremony will become a restful change, because
1. Maledictus qui facit opus Dei fraudulenter (Jer., XLVIII, io).
2. Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt (Matt.,
V, 8).

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211

it will give my soul a breathing space and relieve it from
the press of occupations that stifle it.
O Holy Liturgy, what comfort you bring to my soul by
your various functions. Far from being a slavish burden,
they will become one of the greatest consolations of my life,
How could it be otherwise since through being continually
reminded by you of my dignity as a child and ambassador
of the Church, as a member and minister of Jesus Christ,
I shall “ put on ” more and more Him who is the Joy
of the Elect ?
By my union with Him I shall learn to profit by the
crosses of this mortal life to sow the seeds of my eternal
happiness ; and by my Liturgical Life which is far more
powerful than any apostolate, I shall have the consolation
of having attracted other souls to follow me in the path
of salvation and of sanctity.
4. Custody oî the heart is the keystone of the interior Life, and
thus the essence of the Apostolate.
RESOLUTION FOR CUSTODY OF THE HEART.

I wish, 0 Jesus, that my heart may be habitually solicitous
to keep itself from every stain, and to become more united to
Thy Heart in all my duties, conversations, recreations, etc.
The negative but indispensable element of this resolution
is that I repudiate any blemish in my motives and in the
way my undertakings are carried out.1
I. How is this purity of intention acquired ?—By a close attention
to oneself at the beginning and, above all, during the course of
one's actions.
Why is this intention necessary at the beginning of our actions ?
—Because if these actions are agreeable, useful, or congenial to our
natural tastes, we are attracted to them by our own natural impulse
and by the attraction of pleasure or self-interest alone. Now we must
pay very great attention and have great self-control to prevent our
wih from being led away at first by the appeal of natural motives,
which flatter, invite and charm.
Why do you add that this attention is above all necessary during
the course of our actions ?—Because even when we have been

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

The positive element makes me ambitious to wish to
intensify the faith, hope and charity which give life to the
action which I have begun.
This resolution will be the real test of the practical value
of my morning mental prayer and my liturgical life. For
my interior life will be what my custody of heart is :
With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth
out from it.1
Mental prayer and the Liturgical Life will enable me to
make a start to unite myself with God. But it is the
custody of the heart which will help the traveller to gain
strength from the food taken before the journey began, or
during a halt, so that he will always maintain the lively
pace of the beginning.
This custody of the heart is simply lhe habitual or at
least frequent anxiety to keep all my actions, as I perform
them, free from everything that could corrupt their motive
or their performance.
This anxiety must be calm, at ease, free from strain, at
once humble and strong, since it is based on filial recourse
to God and confidence in that recourse. It is the work of
my heart and my will, much more than of my mind, which
must remain free to carry out my many duties. Far from
impeding my activity, custody of the heart makes it more
perfect by regulating it by the spirit of God and adapting
it to the duties of my state.
strong enough at first to renounce all the seductive attractions
of the senses and of self-love in order to follow the directions of
faith with a pure intention, nevertheless if we forget later on to
watch over ourselves closely, the actual joy or pleasure that we feel,
or the interest we find during certain actions always produces new
impressions on us, and our heart slackens its fervour little by little ;
so that our nature, though mortified by our former renunciation,
awakens and regains its mastery ; soon self-love insinuates its
selfish motives artfully and almost without our being aware of it ;
putting them in the place of the good motives by which our actions
had been undertaken and begun. Whence it happens on many
occasions, as St. Paul says» ti|at having begun in the spirit, we finish
in the flesh, Uret Ts, in low
or selfish views (P. Caussade).
i. Omni custodia séfvà 'CW (/^uuf!|(k quia ex ipso vita procedit
(Prov., IV, 23).

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213

I resolve to practise this exercise continually. It will
consist of a glance from the heart at my present action
and a moderate attention to the different parts of the action,
according as I perform them. It amounts to the exact
observation of “ Age quod agis.” 1 My soul like a vigilant
sentinel will exercise its watchfulness over all the move­
ments of my heart, over everything that passes in my
mind : impressions, intentions, passions, inclinations ; in a
word, over all my acts, interior and exterior, thoughts,
words, deeds.
Obviously this custody of the heart will require a certain
amount of recollection ; and it cannot be realised if my
soul is dissipated. But by the frequent practice of this
exercise, I shall acquire little by little the habit, which
will make custody of the heart easy for me.
Quo vadam et ad quid ? 12 What would Our Lord do ?
How would He behave in my place ? What would He
advise ? What does He ask of me at this moment ? Such
are the questions which will arise, of their own accord,
in my soul eager for the interior life.
When I shall feel drawn to approach Jesus through Mary,
this custody of the heart will become still more affective ;
and to have recourse to this kind Mother will become an
incessant need of my heart.
Thus will be realised the words, Abide in Me and 1
tn you,3 which sum up all the principles of the interior
life. What Thou dost express, O Jesus, as the fruit of
the Blessed Eucharist, He abideth in Me and I in him,
is what my soul strives to attain by the custody of the heart
which will unite me to Thee.
He abideth in me. Yes, I shall consider myself as truly
at home in Thy divine Heart, with the right of disposing
of all Thy riches, by making use of all the treasures of
1. Do what you do.—Apply yourself wholly to the matter in
hand.
2. “ Where am I going, and why ? ” Words of St. Ignatius
of Loyola alluded to in the Spiritual Exercises.
3. Manete in me et ego in vobis.—In me manet et ego in eo.
(Joan., XV, 4, 5).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

sanctifying grace and the inexhaustible mine of Thine
actual graces.
And I in him. Thanks to the custody of my heart,
Thou too my beloved Saviour, wilt be truly at home
in my poor soul. For as I make every effort to make sure
of Thy continued influence on all my faculties, not only
will I take care to do nothing without Thee, but my
ambition will go the length of wishing to put into every
one of my actions an ever increasing power of love.
The habit of interior recollection, of spiritual combat,
of a busy, well-regulated life and an incalculable increase
of merits will result from the custody of my heart.
Thus, 0 my Saviour, my indirect union with Thee
through my works, that is to say, through the relations
which, according to Thy Will, I shall have with creatures,
will become the continuation of my direct union with Thee
by Mental Prayer, the Liturgical Life and the Sacraments.
In both these cases this union will proceed from faith and
charity and will be formed under the influence of Thy
grace. In the direct union, it is Thou and Thou alone,
O my God, that I have in view ; in the indirect union I
apply myself to other objects. But since it is in obedience
to Thee that I do so, these objects to which I have to give
my attention become the means intended by Thee to unite
myself to Thee ; I leave Thee in order to find Thee again ;
it is always Thou, that I am seeking, and with the same
affection, but now I seek Thee in Thy Will ; and this
divine Will is the sole beacon that the custody of my heart
allows me to fix my gaze on in order to direct all my
actions to Thy service. In both cases I can therefore say,
It is good for me to adhere to my God. 1
It is an error then to believe that in order to unite
myself to Thee, I must put off my active work or wait till
my work is ended ; it is an error to suppose that certain
works, by their very nature or because of the amount of
time they take, may enslave me or hamper my liberty to
such an extent that union with Thee is impossible. No,i.

i. Λ-Iihi adhaerere Deo bonum est (Psalm., LXXII, 28}.

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215

Thou wishest me to be free ; Thou dost not wish that
activity should keep me enslaved. Thou dost wish me to
he the. master and not the slave of activity ; and for this end
Thou off erest me Thy grace, on condition that I am faithful
to the custody of my heart.
From the moment then that supernatural commonsense
has made me discern, by the many events, circumstances,
or details contrived by Thy Providence, that a certain
activity is linked truly to Thy Will, my duty is neither to
avoid it, nor to do it merely for the pleasure it may give me.
I must undertake it and carry it out, but solely in order
to do Thy Will. For otherwise self-love would corrupt its
value and diminish its merits.1 If perceiving what Thou
wishest, O Jesus, and how Thou dost wish it done, Quod
et quomodo Deus vult, I then do it because Thou wishest
it, Quia Deus vult, my union with Thee, far from becoming
less, will only be intensified all the more.
I. Necessity for custody of the heart.

My God, Thou art Holiness itself and here below Thou
dost admit a soul to Thy friendship only in the measure in
which it applies itself to destroy or to avoid everything that
might soil or contaminate it.
Let me consider a few of these venial sins : spiritual
laziness preventing me from raising my heart to Thee ;
inordinate affection for creatures ; haste and impatience ;
I. "Good acts,” says Father Desurmont, "conceal within
themselves a pleasure, an honour, a glory, something unexplainable
of which human nature is extremely fond, fonder often than of evil
itself. The soul is not on its guard against this cankering worm,
this refined selfishness which destroys actual grace.
The Lord through kindness for us as much as through jealousy
for His glory has declared Himself indifferent to all particular
good things. He has decided that only one thing would please
Him, His Will. So that a trifle in conformity with this Will merits
heaven, while wonders performed without it go unrewarded. So
we must propose in everything not simply to do good, but the
good that God wishes us to do, that is to say His holy Will ” (Le
retour conti nuel à Dieu).

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THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

nursing a grievance, fickleness, effeminacy, love of ease.;
readiness to speak of other people's faults without any
reason ; dissipation, curiosity having no relation to the
glory of God ; talkativeness, tattling, vain and rash
judgments about my neighbour ; vain self-complacency ;
contempt of others ; criticism of their conduct ; looking
for admiration and praise and doing things for these motives;
showing off what is to my advantage ; presumption,
obstinacy, jealousy, lack of respect for authority, grousing ;
want of mortification in eating and drinking, etc. What
a swarm of venial sins or at least of deliberate imperfections
may invade my soul and deprive me of the abundant
graces which Thou didst reserve for me from all eternity.
What good will my Mental Prayer and my Liturgical
Life produce, if they do not gradually help me to keep
my soul on the alert against even faults of simple weakness ;
if they do not help me to rise again promptly the moment
my will begins to give way, and if they do not urge me even
to impose a penance on myself in certain cases ?
To think that I can paralyse the action of Our Lord in
myself through want of custody of the heart ! Masses,
Communions, Confessions, other exercises of piety, the
the special protection of divine Providence with regard to
my eternal salvation, the solicitude of my guardian angel,
even your maternal watchfulness over me, O Mother
Immaculate, all these may be paralysed and made barren
by my own fault.
If I am wanting in good-will to impose upon myself
that restraint to which Thou, O Jesus, makest allusion by
these words. The violent bear it away,1 Satan will ever
be seeking to surprise my heart and lead it astray and
weaken it, and he will even succeed in perverting my
conscience with his illusions.
Some of your failings, 0 my soul, that you call mere
weakness, are perhaps of a different nature, different in
the eyes of God. If you do not practise custody of the heart,
if you do not strive to realise this programme : “ I wishi.

i. Violenti rapiunt illud (Matth., XI, 12).

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217

to reach the point of keeping Jesus as the motive of each
of my actions,” how can you reach any other conclusion ?
If 1 do not resolve upon custody of the heart, not only
am I piling up fearful and prolonged expiations for Pur­
gatory, but even if I as yet avoid mortal sin, I am on the
slope which inevitably leads to it. Reflect on this, O my soul.
Π. The presence oî God, the foundation of custody of the heart.

O Holy Trinity, if, as I hope, I am in the state of grace,
then you are dwelling in my heart with all your glory, with
all your infinite perfections, just as you dwell in heaven,
though hidden here under the veil of faith.
There is not a moment in which your eyes are not on
me, seeing all I do. Your justice and your mercy are
always at work in me. As a penance for my infidelity
sometimes you withdraw your special graces or you cease
to arrange lovingly events which would turn out for my
advantage ; at other times to bring me back to You
You overwhelm me with fresh kindness.
If I regarded your indwelling in me as an event of the
highest importance and the most worthy of attracting my
attention, should I be forgetful of it so often and for such
long periods ? Is it not this failure to attend to a fun­
damental fact of my existence that has caused this lack
of success, which up to the present has met all my attempts
to acquire custody of heart ?
Ejaculatory prayers uttered without intermission through­
out the day ought to have reminded me of this loving
indwelling of God in my heart. Have you done enough,
my soul, up to the present, to fill your life with these little
landmarks at least once in an hour ? Have you gained
enough profit from your daily Mental Prayer and your
Liturgical Life to retire from time to time, if only for
a few seconds, into the inner sanctuary of your heart, in
order to adore there the infinite Splendour, the Immensity,
the Omnipotence, the Holiness, the Life, the Love, in
a word the supreme and perfect Good, who deigns to dwell
therein, and who is your Beginning and your End ?

2l8

the soul of the apostolate

When do spiritual communions take place during my day ?
Yet they are at my disposal every moment not only to
remind me of the indwelling of the Most Holy Trinity in
me, but still more to increase this indwelling by a fresh
increase of the Precious Blood in my soul !
What value have I placed up to now on these treasures
that lie in my path ? I had only to stoop to pick up
diamonds and place them in my diadem. How far removed
am I from those souls who, in the midst of their work or
their conversation, return hundreds of times in the day
to their divine guest ! They have acquired this habit and
their hearts are fixed where their treasure is.
ΙΠ. Devotion to Our Lady helps custody oî the heart.

O my Immaculate Mother, the words of your Son on
Calvary have made me your child, in order that you might
help me to keep my heart united through Jesus to the
Holy Trinity.
I wish that the invocations, which ever more frequently
I shall address to you may be directed above all to this
custody of my heart, so that I may purify all its tendencies,
intentions, affections and wishes. I no longer wash to close
my ears to your gentle voice : “ Stop, my son, keep an
upright heart ; no, it is not true that at this moment you
are seeking only for the glory of God.” How often during
my times of dissipation or questionable occupations have
you addressed this maternal appeal to me ! and how often,
alas ! have I stifled it !
My Mother, henceforth I shall listen to your Heart
reminding me of the truth, and my fidelity will respond to
it by an energetic and prompt recollection. It may pass like
a flash, but it will give me time to put to myself one of these
questions : “ For whom am I doing this ? How would
Jesus act in my place ? ” This inward questioning, when
it becomes a habit, will constitute custody of the heart.
Even in the smallest details, it will enable me to keep
my faculties and all their impulses in an ever more perfect
habit of subjection to God living within me.

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219

IV. Apprenticeship ot the custody oï the heart.

I lament that I remain out of the presence of God for
long intervals during the course of my day’s work. 1 lament
when I realise that during this period of external life
numerous faults are committed irrespective of the state of
my soul, whether I display a mixture of fervour and
imperfection, or whether I am manifestly lukewarm ;
I wish to begin to-day to remedy this, by practising custody
of the heart.
In the morning during my mental prayer I shall determine
firmly and precisely upon a certain moment during my work,
when I shall strive, even while devoting myself earnestly
to the work in hand and which is the Will of God, to live
as perfect an interior life as possible by custody of the heart,
that is, watchfulness over myself in Thy presence, O Jesus,
always having recourse to Thee as if I had made the vow
always to do what is most perfect.
I shall begin by five minutes of recollection, or even less,
morning and evening ; 1 in this exercise I shall aim more
at perfection than at length, I shall strive to do it better
and better, and to act in the midst of my work, especially
if it is absorbing, in the fashion of a saint, by practising
purity of intention, custody of the heart and of all my
faculties, and generosity of soul ; in a word, doing every­
thing as Otir Lord Himself would, if He had to do the same
work.
This will be an apprenticeship of practical interior life ;
it will be a protest against my habit of dissipation and the
wandering of my mind. I want Our Lord ; I want Hisi.

i. This is practically what Bousset calls "the moment of loving
solitude, which we must contrive, at any cost, during the day.”
It is also what St. Francis of Sales so strongly recommended
under the name of spiritual retreats: “ In this exercise of the spiritual
retreat and ejaculatory prayers lies the great work of devotion.
This exercise may supply the place of almost all other prayers, but the
want of it can hardly ever be repaired by any other means. Without
this exercise it is impossible to lead an active life otherwise than
badly . . . and work is only an obstacle to us (Intro, to Devout Life,
Part 2, c. III).

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kingdom ; 1 want His reign to continue in me when the
time for exterior work comes. I do not want my mind to
be any longer like a passage-way open to every wind,
where it would be impossible to live united to Our Lord,
but I wish it to be vigilant, prayerful, generous.
During this brief moment of recollection, my mind will
examine, without straining, the various motives of my
actions and will not forgive any fault. My good-will in its
turn will be earnestly determined to spare no effort to live
perfectly during this short interval. My heart will be
resolved to have frequent recourse to Our Lord in order to
maintain itself in this attempt at sanctity. This exercise
will be cordial, joyous, and accompanied by expansion of
the soul. Of course, vigilance and mortification will be
necessary’ to keep myself in the presence of God and to deny
my faculties and my senses anything that looks like giving
way to nature. But I shall not be satisfied with this
negative attitude. I shall aim especially at putting into
this exercise an intensity of love, w’hich, by making me practise
with the greatest care the Age quod agis, first by purity
of intention, and then with ever increasing ardour, un­
selfishness and generosity, will give to my w’orks all their
perfection and all their value.
In the evening at my general examination of conscience
(or at the particular examen, if I make this exercise its
subject), I shall make in the presence of Our Lord a strict
and thorough analysis of what took place during these
minutes of custody of the heart ; then I shall impose a
sanction, some slight penance (some deprivation of food at
meals which no one will notice, or a short prayer with arms
outstretched in the form of a cross, or a few smart raps
w’ith a ruler on the fingers), if I find that I have not been
vigilant enough, fervent enough, prayerful enough, loving
enough during this attempt at custody of the heart, that
is to say, in the union of interior and active life.
What wonderful results will spring from this practice !
What a school of custody of the heart ! What new’ light it
will throw on sins and imperfections whose existence I did
not suspect !

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These blessed moments will little by little virtually illu­
minate those that follow them. Nevertheless I shall not
prolong them until I shall first have accomplished all that
I am capable of in holiness, perfection of execution and
intensity of love. 1 shall aim at quality rather than extent.
My thirst to spend more than a few short minutes at this
exercise will grow keener in proportion as I see more
exactly what 1 am and what Thou dost expect from me,
O Jesus. Thus little by little growing familiar with this
wholesome exercise, I shall contract the need for it, and
acquire the habit of it, and Thou shalt reveal to my soul
thus purified the secrets of the life of union with Thee.
V. Conditions oî custody oî the heart.

The whole course of my life is more or less stained with sin.
From this conviction, which Satan tries to obscure, springs
distrust of myself and of creatures. This conviction, grafted
on to my desire to belong to Jesus will necessarily produce :
vigilance, loyal and exact, gentle, peaceful, trusting in
grace and based on the repression of dissipation and of the
excess of natural enthusiasm ; frequent renewal of my
resolution ; unwearied beginning again, full of confidence
in the mercy of Jesus for the soul that really strives to
obtain custody of the heart ; an ever increasing certainty
that I do not fight alone, but in union with Jesus living
in me, with Mary my Mother, with my Angel Guardian
and the Saints ; a confident assurance that these powerful
allies are always assisting me, as long as I observe custody
of the heart and do not neglect their help ; finally a cordial
and frequent recourse to these divine aids, that they may­
help me to do Quod Deus vult and to do it quomodo Deus
vult el quia Deus vult.1
Oh ! how my life will be transformed, 0 Jesus, if 1 keep
my heart united to Thine !
My mind will be able to apply itself to the task of the
moment. But I wish to be able to realise even in the course
i. What God wishes, as God wishes and because God wishes it.

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of the most absorbing labours what 1 have noted in souls
that are exceedingly busy but whose heart never ceases to
breathe in Thee.
If I have fully grasped what custody of the heart means,
far from diminishing the freedom of action necessary to
enable my faculties to accomplish all the duties of my
state, my soul breathing in the atmosphere of love, in
which Thou art, 0 Jesus, will only increase that freedom
and make my life calm, serene, powerful and fruitful.
Instead of being the slave of my pride, of my selfishness
or of my laziness, instead of groaning under the yoke of my
passions and emotions, I shall become more and more free.
And with my increased liberty I shall be able, 0 my God,
to pay Thee frequently, the homage of my submission.
Thus I shall be strengthened in true humility, the foundation
of my interior life. Thus I shall develop in my soul the
fundamental spirit of submission, Submissio ad Deum,1
which sums up the whole inner life of the Saviour.
Sharing in the flame of love which made Thee, O Jesus,
always so attentive and docile to the good pleasure of Thy
Father, I shall merit in heaven a share of the glory which
Thy humanity enjoys as a reward for its admirable sub­
mission by humility and love, Becoming obedient . . . for
which cause God also hath exalted Him.12
5. The Apostle must have an ardent devotion to Mary Immaculate.

As a member of the Order of the Cistercians, so intimately
consecrated to Mary, and as a son of St. Bernard, who was
the peerless apostle of Europe for half a century, how can
I forget that the holy Abbot of Clairvaux attributed to
Mary all his progress in union with Jesus and all his success
in tire Apostolate ?
Everyone know’s of the success of the apostolate of this
1. Humility consists especially in the submission of man to God
(S. Thom.).
2. Factus obediens . . . propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum
(Philipp., II, 9).

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223

most illustrious of the sons of St. Benedict, which embraced
peoples and kings, Councils and even Popes.
Everyone praises the holiness, the genius, the deep
knowledge of Holy Scripture, and the penetrating unction
of the writings of this the last of the Fathers of the Church.
But what sums up the admiration of the ages for this
holy Doctor is the title of “ Harper of Mary,” Cytharista
Mariae, which has been conferred upon him. This " Bard
of Mary ” has never been surpassed by any of those who
have celebrated the glories of the Mother of God. St.
Bernardine of Sienna and St. Francis de Sales, as well as
Bossuet, St. Alphonsus, St. Grignon de Montfort, etc., all
draw deeply from the treasures of St. Bernard when they
wish to speak of her, and find arguments to support that
great truth which the holy Doctor proclaims : “ Everythings comes to us by Mary.”
“ See, my brethren, with what feelings of devotion God
has wished us to honour Mary, He who has placed in her
the fulness of all good. If there is in us any hope, any
grace, any pledge of salvation, let us recognise that all
this overflows on us from her who is 4 flowing with delights.’
Take away the sun, which enlightens the world, and light
disappears. Take away Mary, that star of the sea, of our
great vast sea, and what remains but a deep obscurity,
the shadow of death and thick darkness ? It is therefore
from the depths of our hearts, from our innermost being,
and with all our soul that we must honour the Virgin Mary ;
for such is the will of Him who wished us to have all
through her.” 1
Relying on the strength of this doctrine we do not hesitate
to declare that whatever the apostle may do for his own
salvation and spiritual progress and for the success of his
apostolate, he runs the risk of building only on sand, if his
activity is not based on a very special devotion to Our Lady :
(a) For his personal interior life.—The apostle is
not sufficiently devoted to Maty’, his confidence in her has

I. Sermon on the Nativity of the H. F. M. otherwise named de
Aquaeductu (St. Bernard!.

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no enthusiasm, if the homage he renders her is almost
entirely exterior. Like her Son she “ searcheth the heart,”
she judges us her true children only by the strength with
which our love corresponds to hers.
We must have therefore a heart that is firmly convinced
of the glories, the privileges and the functions of her who
is at the same time the Mother of God and the Mother of
men ; a heart that is convinced of this truth that the struggle
against our defects, the acquisition of virtues, the reign of
Jesus Christ in souls and consequently the guarantee of
sanctification and salvation, are in proportion to the degree
of our devotion to Mary ; 1 a heart that is possessed by
this thought that everything is easier, surer, sweeter and
quicker in the interior life when we act with Mary; 12
a heart that is full to overflowing with filial confidence,
come what may, towards her whose affection, kindliness,
tenderness, mercy and generosity we know by experience ; 3
a heart that is ever more and more on fire with love for
her who is associated with all our joys, to whom we confide
all our sorrow’s, and through whom all our affections pass.
All these sentiments reflect the heart of St. Bernard,
who is the model for the man devoted to good w’orks.
Who does not know' the w’ords that surged from the heart
of this holy Abbot, when, in explaining to his monks the
Gospel Missus est, he cried out :
" O you, wrho in the ebb and flow of this age are aware
that you are tossed in the midst of storms and tempests
rather than walking upon the earth, keep your eyes fixed
on this star, so that you may not perish in the gale. If
the winds of temptations are let loose, if you are striking

1. Nobody is saved except by you, O Mother of God. Nobody
receives the gift of God except by you, O full of grace (Sr. Germain).
—Holiness increases in proportion to the devotion that one professes
for Mary (Fr. Faber).
2. With Mary we make more progress in the love of Jesus in
one month than we make in years while living less united to this
good Mother (St. Grignon de Montfort).
3. Filioli, haec mea maxima fiducia est, haec tota ratio spei
meae. My children, she is the foundation of my confidence and the
whole reason of my hope (St. Bernard).

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225

on the rocks of tribulation, look to the star, call upon
Mary. If you are flung about by the waves of pride, of
ambition, of scandal, of jealousy, look on the star, call upon
Mary. If anger or avarice or evil desires attack the frail
bark of your soul, lift up your eyes to Mary. If, crushed
under the enormity of your sins, in confusion at the horrible
wounds of your conscience, alarmed by the horror of the
judgment, you begin to be drawn into the whirlpool of
sadness and despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish,
in doubt, think of Mary, invoke Mary. Let Mary never
be far from your lips, never far from your heart ; and to
obtain the support of her prayer, do not forget the example
of her life. In following her, you shall not go astray ; by
praying to her you shall not despair ; in contemplating her
you shall not go wrong. With her support you fall not ;
under her protection you fear not ; under her guidance
you do not grow weary ; if she is propitious to you, you
will reach the port.”
Obliged to limit this work and yet wishing to offer my
confrères in the apostolate a sort of summary of the advice
of St. Bernard that we should become true children of Mary,
I think I cannot do better than invite them to read carefully
the solid and valuable volume, “ La vie spirituelle à l'ecole
du Bienheureux Grignon de Montfort,” written by Father
Lhomeau.1
Along with the works of St. Alphonsus and the com­
mentaries of Father Desurmont, the writings of Father
Faber, and of Father Giraud of la Salette, this book of
Father Lhomeau gives a complete exposition of the
teaching of St. Bernard, whom he constantly quotes. Solid
theological basis, unction, practical character, nothing is
wanting to achieve the result which the Abbot of Clairvaux
was always striving to attain, namely to form the hearts
of his children after the image of his own and give them
what was the outstanding mark of Cistercian writers,
the need of constant recourse to Mary and the life of union
with her.
____
I. Oudin, Paris.—Father Lhoumeau was Superior General
of the Congregation founded by St. Grignon de Montfort.

9

22b

THE SOUL OF THE APOSTOLATE

Let us conclude with the consoling words that the
admirable Cistercian nun, St. Gertrude, whom Dom
Guéranger calls Gertrude the Great, heard from the lips of
the Blessed Virgin : "You should not call my most sweet
Jesus my only Son, but my first-born son. I conceived
Him first in my womb, but after Him or rather through
Him I have conceived all of you to be His brothers and
to be my children, by adopting you in the womb of my
maternal charity." Everything in the writings of this holy
Patroness of the Trappistine nuns reflects the spirit of her
Holy Father St. Bernard with regard to the life of union
with Mary.
(b) For the success of the apostolate.—Whether the
apostle has to rescue souls from sin or to make virtues
blossom in their souls, he must always, following the
example of St. Paul, have as his first object, to bring forth
Our Lord in these souls. “ Now God," says Bossuet,
" having once washed to give us Jesus Christ by the Blessed
Virgin, this order does not change ” ; she has brought
forth the Head, so she must bring forth the members.
To isolate Mary from the apostolate would be to disregard
one of the essential parts of the divine plan. “ All the elect,"
says St. Augustine, " are in this world hidden in the womb
of the Blessed Virgin, where they are guarded, nourished,
cherished and reared by this loving Mother until after
death she brings them forth to glory."
“ Since the Incarnation,” justly concludes St. Bernardine
of Sienna, " Mary has acquired a sort of jurisdiction over
every temporal mission of the Holy Ghost, in such a way
that no creature receives grace except through her hands.”
But in his turn the truly devout servant of Mary becomes
all powerful over her Heart. Hence, what apostle can doubt
the efficacy of his apostolate if through his devotion he
controls the omnipotence of Mary over the Precious
Blood ?
Thus we see that all the great converters of souls were
filled with extraordinary devotion towards the Blessed
Virgin. Did they wish to save a soul from sin ? What
persuasive fervour they possessed, identified as they were

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by their horror of evil and their love of purity, with her
who has been called the Immaculate Conception ?
It was by the voice of Mary that the Precursor recognised
the presence of Jesus and leapt in his mother’s womb.
What persuasive accents will not Mary give to her true
children so that they may open to Jesus hearts until then
closed ! What consoling words the intimate friends of the
Mother of God know how to find when they want to prevent
despair taking hold of souls who have for a long time
abused grace !
Have they to deal with a hapless soul that knows not
Mary ? The assurance with which the apostle shows her
to be the True Mother and the Refuge of sinners opens new
horizons to such a soul.
The holy Curé of Ars met at times sinners who, blinded
by delusions, relied on some exterior practice of devotion
towards the Blessed Virgin to calm their conscience, to let
them sin more at their ease and have no fear of the eternal
flames of hell. In such cases his words were all-powerful,
both to show to the guilty ones the monstrosity of such
insulting presumption towards the Mother of Mercy and
to make them use this actual devotion to implore the grace
of escaping from the clutches of the infernal serpent.
In a similar situation the apostle who has but slight
devotion to Mary will succeed by his sharp cold words only
in making the poor shipwrecked sinner abandon the plank
which w’ould have floated him to safety.
When Mary is living in the heart of an apostle he will
be assured of that mother’s persuasive eloquence helping
him to move souls with whom all else has failed. It would
seem that, with admirable delicacy, Our Lord has wished
to reserve to the mediation of His Mother the most difficult
conquests of the apostolate and to grant them only to those
who live in devotion to her. “ Through thee He has reduced
our enemies to nought.” Per te ad nihilum redegit inimicos
nostros.
The true son of Mary will never be at a loss for arguments,
or means or even expedients when, in almost hopeless cases,
he has to strengthen the weak, or console the inconsolable.

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The decree which added to the Litany of the Blessed
Virgin the invocation, “ Mother of Good Counsel,” was
based on the titles of “ Treasury of heavenly graces ” and
of “ Universal Consoler ” (Caelestium gratiarum thesauraria,
Consolatrix universalis') which are Mary’s due. “ Mother
of Good Counsel,” she gives as at Cana only to those who
are truly her servants, the secret of obtaining from God
the wine of joy and strength in order to distribute them
to men.
But it is especially when they have to speak to souls
about the love of God that this “ Ravisher of hearts,”
Raptrix cordium, as St. Bernard calls her, the Spouse of
Him whose essence is Love Itself, places on the lips of her
friends those words of fire which enkindle the love of Jesus
and through it cause all virtues to blossom forth.
As priests we must passionately love her whom Pius IX
called Virgo sacerdos, the Priestly Virgin, whose dignity
surpasses in every way that of priests and pontiffs. This
love gives us the right never to give up a task as fruitless, if
we have once begun it with Mary and if we wish to continue
it with her ; for Mary in fact is at the base and the summit
of everything that concerns the reign of God through her
Son.
But do not let us think that we are working along with
her, if we confine ourselves merely to raising altars to her or
singing hymns in her honour. What she wants from us is a
devotion which allows us to affirm in all sincerity that we
live habitually united with her, that we have recourse to her
counsel, that our affections pass through her heart and that
our petitions are frequently made through her. But what
Mary expects above all, in our devotion is the imitation of
all the virtues that wre admire in her and our total abandon­
ment of ourselves without reserve into her hands, that
through her w’e may “ put on ” her divine Son.
On this condition of our constant recourse to Mary we
shall imitate that general of the army of the People of God,
wiio before marching against the enemy said to Deborah,
“ If thou wilt come with me, I will go ; if thou wilt not come
with me, I will not go ” ; and thus w’e shall truly accomplish

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22Q

all our works with her. Not only will she be concerned with
the chief decisions of our lives, but also with the details
of their execution, even the most unforeseen.
United with her whose invocation," Our Lady of the
Sacred Heart,” sums up for us all her titles, wre shall never
run the risk of failing in our work by allowing it to hinder
our interior Life, to become a danger to our souls and
serve more for our own glory than for the glory of God. On
the contrary, our wrork will be a means to interior life,
and thus to an intimate union with her who will guarantee
us the possession of her Son for all eternity.

EPILOGUE
Before the throne of Mary Immaculate we lay the offering
of this humble work.
She lives in Jesus, through Jesus, by His life, His love,
and in union with His sacrifice ; and Jesus speaks in her
and by her. Jesus is her life and she carries the Word,
she makes us hear His voice and shows us Jesus as in the
Monstrance.
Thus the soul devoted to the highest of works, the
apostolate, must live with God in order to be able to speak
of Him with the best results for souls ; the active life, let
us repeat it once more, should be in the Christian soul
only the overflow of its interior life.

Μ. Η. GILL AND SON LTD., PRINTERS, DUBLIN.