Part I. God Wills Not Only the Apostolic Works, but Also the Interior Life of the Apostolic Laborer

To the Divine Nature pertains sovereign liberality. Goodness tends to diffuse itself and to impart to others the good it enjoys.

The mortal life of our Divine Saviour was but a continual manifestation of His inexhaustible liberality. The Gospel shows Him sowing, on His way, treasures of love from His Heart, full of eagerness to draw mankind to the truth and the life.

Our loving Redeemer communicated this flame of the Apostolate to His Church as the gift of His love, I the manifestation of His truth and the resplendent reflexion of His holiness. The mystic Spouse of Christ, animated with the same spirit, continues through succeeding ages the work of the Apostolate of her Divine Spouse and Model.

How admirable is the universal law established by Divine Providence, that man should learn the way of salvation through the ministry of man. “ It pertains,” says Pope Leo XIII, “to the ordinary law, : by which God, who best provides for all things, has : decreed that men should be saved mostly through men.” Jesus Christ alone shed the blood which redeemed the world. He’could have applied its virtue Himself and have alone acted directly on men’s — souls, as He actually does in the Blessed Eucharist. : But He preferred choosing cooperators among men for dispensing His benefits; and why? Without doubt it was because the Divine Majesty would have it so. But besides, He was moved to do this by His tender love for men. And if it is befitting for the ruler of a State to govern chiefly through his ministers, it is, nevertheless, a wonderful condescension on the part of God to associate poor creatures, like ourselves, to His labors and glory.

The Church, born on the Cross from the pierced side of the Saviour, perpetuates by the apostolic ministry the beneficent and redeeming action of the Man-God. This ministry, willed by Jesus Christ, becomes the essential factor for propagating the Church throughout the nations, and the ordinary instruments of her conquests.

In the first rank are the clergy, whose hierarchy forms the framework of the army of Jesus Christ,— the clergy illustrated by so many holy and zealous bishops and priests, so gloriously honored of late by the beatification of the Curé d’Ars.

Alongside the official clergy there arose from the very beginning of Christianity, companies of volunteers, real “corps d’élite,” for special work, whose perpetual and luxuriant vegetation will always be one of the most manifest phenomena of the vitality of the Church.

First, in the early ages of the Church, came the contemplative Orders, whose unceasing prayer and severe austerities so powerfully contributed to the conversion of the pagan world. In the Middle Ages the preaching Orders arose together with the Mendicant and Military Orders, and those devoted to the Redemption of the captive Christians from among infidel nations. And lastly, the modern times have beheld the birth and labors of the numerous teaching Orders, missionary Institutes, Congregations and Societies devoted to the care and relief of every kind of misfortune, need and disease to : which mankind is subject, whether spiritual or corporal.

Moreover, at every epoch of her history the Church has found among the laity of both sexes numerous co-workers with her Clergy and Religious, such as fervent Catholics in every condition and state of life, who are now legion, men of action, as we may call them, ardent souls, who, uniting their forces and means in pious associations, place in the service of our Mother the Church their time, their talents, their means and often even sacrifice their liberty and their life.

It is. indeed, an admirable and encouraging sight to behold the providential budding forth and blooming of Apostolic Activities, at the very time they are most needed, and so wonderfully adapted to the wants of the period, as is proved by the history of the Church. Every new want, every new danger to ward off or overcome invariably beholds the appearance of the Institution required by the wants of the hour.

Hence in our times we have beheld and still behold works, scarcely even thought of previously, arising around us to combat new evils, to fill new wants, such as 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, Association of the Catholic Press, the Total Abstinence Societies, Holy Name Society, the Federation of Catholic Societies, and other works, of both local and general usefulness. All these are forms of the Apostolate raised up by the spirit which inflamed the soul of St. Paul, “ I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls” (II Cor. 12. 15), and which seeks to spread everywhere the benefits of the blood of our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

The object of these works of the Apostolate is three-fold; first, to win souls or preserve them to Jesus Christ ; secondly, to promote the spiritual welfare of the apostolic workers; and thirdly, to please God and promote His glory. However noble and meritorious these apostolic works are in themselves, the apostolic laborers should constantly watch over themselves, for these very works, if not properly performed, will not attain this three-fold object, but may even prove dangerous to the laborers them- selves. Wherefore, it behooves them to imitate the great Apostle St. Paul, who strove to perform the labors of his apostolate properly, “lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway” (I Cor. 9. 27).

Our object in writing this book has been to indicate to apostolic laborers the chief means requisite for attaining the three-fold object of their apostolate.

II. God Wills That Jesus Should Be The Life Of The Apostolic Works

Modern science has reason to be proud of its immense progress and success. There is, however, one thing which has hitherto been and shall forever be impossible for it to perform, namely, to create life, to produce from a chemist’s laboratory a grain of wheat, a larva, a worm. The celebrated Pasteur has completely defeated the arguments of the advocates of “spontaneous generation,” and has proved the futility and error of such pretentious theories. God has reserved to Himself the power to create life.

In the vegetable and animal kingdoms living be- ngs can increase and multiply; but their fecundity lepends on the conditions laid down by the Creator. ut as to intellectual life, God reserves it to Himself and directly creates the rational soul. Furhermore there is a far higher domain, of which de is still more jealous, the domain of the superatural life, for it is an emanation of the divine ife communicated to the human nature of the Inarnate Word. ;

“Through Jesus Christ our Lord; with Him and n Him” (Liturgy). The Incarnation and the edemption establish Jesus as the Source, the only source of this divine life, in which all men are alled to participate. The essential action of the -hurch consists in spreading this supernatural life mong mankind by means of the Sacraments, Prayer, Preaching and all the Works connected erewith. The heavenly Father does nothing except through dis Son, for “ All things have been made by Him, nd without Him was nothing made that was ade” (John 1. 5). This is true in the natural rder, but how much more in the supernatural order, which God communicates His intimate life to en and “renders them partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet. 1. 4), “in order to make them children of God” (I John 3. 1).

“T came that they might have life” (John 10 10); “In Him was life” (John 1. 4); “I am th life” (John 14.6). How precise are these words How luminous is the parable of the vine and th branches, in which our divine Master develops thi truth! And how He insists thereon, in order t engrave deeply in the minds of His apostles th fundamental principle that He, Jesus, alone is th Life, and the consequence of this principle, that i order to participate in this life and communicate i to others, they should be grafted on the Man-God.

They who are called to be co-workers with th Saviour in transmitting to souls this divine life should, therefore, consider themselves as mere chan nels charged with drawing this life from its origina and only source.

An apostolic laborer who would disregard i principles and imagine that of himself he can produce the slightest vestige of the supernatural life without receiving it all from Jesus, would be guilty of a theological error.

Moreover, the apostolic laborer who, through a blind presumption would, in his functions, rely chiefly on his own efforts and work, rather than on Jesus Christ, would be very displeasing to God on account of such a presumption. Let us bear in mind, that the apostolic laborer has only a secondary and subordinate role to fill, and that all his labors and talents cannot produce real fruit without the divine grace and blessing, for our divine Saviour tells us expressly: ‘‘ Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15.5). And St. Paul declares the same in other words, saying: “I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase. Therefore, neither he that planteth is anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase” (I Cor. 3. 6, 7). Let us always bear in mind that in all that concerns the spiritual life, either in ourselves or in others, we are powerless of ourselves, and that all “ our sufficiency is from God” (II Cor. 3. 5).

III. What Is The Interior Life?

When in the course of these pages we use words found in the works of the Fathers, the Scholastics and ascetical writers such as, life of mental prayer, contemplation, contemplative life, we always mean “the very interior life accessible to all,” and not the unusual states of mental prayer treated in mystic theology, and especially not ecstasies, visions, raptures and the like. Nor is the study of asceticism our object. We shall here limit ourselves to recall briefly certain truths which all who wish to care properly for their soul, are bound to accept.

First Truth: The supernatural life is the very life of Jesus Christ Himself in me by Faith, Hope and Charity.

This presence of our Lord by the supernatural life is not His Real Presence peculiar to Holy Communion, but a presence by vital action, like the action of the head or heart on the members, an intimate presence which God usually conceals from my soul to increase the merit of my faith; wherefore this action is habitually imperceptible to my natural faculties. Such action does not interfere with my free will and utilizes events, persons and things to enable me to know the will of God and to profit by the occasions of acquiring or increasing my participation in the divine life. This life, inaugurated at Baptism by the state of grace, perfected by Confirmation, supported and nourished by the Eucharist, is my Christian life.

Second Truth: By this life Jesus Christ imparts His Spirit to me, and thereby becomes the superior principle, which, if I place no obstacle, moves me to think, judge, love, will, suffer and work with Him, in Him, through Him, like Him. My external actions then become the manifestations of the life of Jesus in me. In this manner do I tend to realize the ideal of the Interior Life thus formulated by St. Paul: “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. II. 20).

There is no essential difference between the terms Christian life, piety, interior life, holiness, for they are only divers degrees of one and the same love; they are like the twilight, the dawn, the light and the splendor of one and the same sun. My interior life will be my Christian life blooming in the normal development which God expected of me, when granting me the grace of baptism. If I ama priest ora religious, I am still more obliged to cultivate this life. It consists essentially in purity of heart and generosity of life, and may be defined: An habitual and always more and more exact, strong and extended custody of the heart, which by frequent recourse to God arms_us for our daily strife against our defects, enables us to acquire the virtues, and by uniting our soul to Jesus, perfects us in divine love.

By the custody of my heart my soul, like a watchful sentinel, is not only constantly armed against all attacks from the seven capital sins, but is always attentive to all interior motives, and competent to regulate my conduct by the spirit of Jesus and in accordance with my duty. How far my interior life is connected with the custody of the heart is shown by these words of Holy Writ: “ With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out of it” (Prov. 4. 23).

Third Truth: I would lack one of the most powerful means of acquiring the Interior Life, if I did not strive to possess a precise and sure belief in the active presence of Jesus within me, and did not exert myself that such a presence should become in me a living reality, penetrating more and more the atmosphere of my faculties. In this manner Jesus will become my light, my ideal, my counsel, my support, my recourse, my strength, my physician, my consolation, my joy, my love, in short, my life, and I shall then be able to acquire all the virtues. And I shall then be able also to make truly my own the admirable prayer of St. Bonaventure which the Church proposes to me as a thanksgiving after Mass, and begins with the words: “ Transfige, dulcissime Domine Jesu.”

Fourth Truth: In proportion to the intensity of my love of God, my supernatural life can increase every moment by a fresh infusion of the grace of the active presence of Jesus in me, produced whenever I perform meritorious acts, such as, practising a virtue, working, suffering in its various forms, privations, humiliations, self denial, praying, hearing Mass, performing acts of devotion to Our Lady, and receiving the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.

O Jesus, this fact overpowers me by its sublimity and depth, but it especially fills me with joy and courage, because by every occurrence, person or thing, Thou, O Jesus, objectively presentest Thyself to me every moment. Under these appearances Thou concealest Thy wisdom and Thy love, and solicitest my cooperation, in order to increase Thy life in me.

O my soul, it is Jesus who presents Himself to thee by the grace of the present moment, prompting me to say a prayer, to say or hear Mass, to make spiritual reading, to make an act of patience, or zeal, or self-denial, or resistance to temptation, of confidence, or of love. Wouldst thou reject such an inspiration?

Fifth Truth: The three-fold concupiscence arising from original sin, and intensified by my actual sins, places within me elements of spiritual death opposed to the life of Jesus, and in proportion as they are developed, diminish its activity, and may even extinguish it altogether. Nevertheless all inclinations and sentiments opposed to this life of Jesus in me, and even violent and protracted temptations can do me no harm, so long as my will is opposed to their assaults. How consoling it is to reflect that temptations, like every element of spiritual combat, serve to increase in me the life of Jesus in proportion to my zeal in overcoming them.

Sixth Truth: If I neglect to use faithfully the appropriate means, my mind will become blind and my will too weak to cooperate with Jesus in increasing and sustaining in me this life. Thence follows a progressive diminution of His life in me and my path will be directed towards tepidity of will! Through dissipation, sloth, illusion, or blind-

1 There are three kinds of tepidity: 1, that of mere feel- ing, as when we feel spiritually dry at prayer. It will prove beneficial, if we try to overcome it; 2, tepidity of frailty, that

: 7 : : ness I live in peace with venial sin and therefore I am not secure of salvation, because tepidity easily disposes to mortal sin. If I were unfortunate enough to fall into tepidity, or even still lower, I should make every exertion to recover true fervor, first, by reflecting more seriously on my own death as near, on judgment, hell, eternity, the enormity of sin; secondly, by reflecting lovingly, O Jesus, on Thy sacred wounds, going to Calvary in spirit and prostrating myself at Thy feet, so that Thy precious living blood falling upon me might dissipate my blindness, melt my icy soul and shake the torpor off my weak will.

Seventh Truth: 1 should be in dread of not possessing interior life in the degree Jesus requires of me, first, if my desire to live by Jesus, to please is committing faults but not deliberately, and only out of mere human frailty; such faults are not dangerous; 3, tepidity of the will. He who has fallen into this tepidity commits venial faults deliberately, habitually and makes no serious effort to correct them. He wishes, indeed, to save his soul, but is not willing to make the necessary efforts or exertions, for he is too fond of his ease and comfort, he is willing to avoid mortal sin, but makes no account of venial sins and commits them without remorse. It is as if he said to God, “T will avoid only the sins which are deserving of hell; as to the others, I do not care how many I commit, how often I displease thee.” This tepidity leads to mortal sin.

Him, and my dread of displeasing Him in the least cease to grow; if I no longer make use of the necessary means, such as prayer, the particular and the general examen of conscience, spiritual reading, reception of the sacraments; or, if through my own fault, I draw no profit therefrom. Secondly, if in my occupations I do not practise the minimum of recollection, requisite to enable me to keep my heart in the purity and generosity sufficient to keep the voice of Jesus from being stifled, when it warns me of the dangers besetting my path, and urges me to combat them. This minimum will be wanting to me, if I neglect the means of securing it, such as leading a liturgical life, raising my heart to God by the practice of ejaculatory prayers, petitions, spiritual communions, the presence of God, good intentions.

Without God’s assistance venial sins will soon swarm in my life, even though I should not be aware of it. To screen them and to conceal from me a state even more lamentable, the illusion will make use of an appearance of piety, more theoretical than practical, and of zeal for the apostolic works. My blindness in this matter will be rightly imputed to e, for having neglected to practise the necessary recollection.

Eighth Truth: Jesus Christ reigns in the soul that strives earnestly and lovingly to imitate Him in all things. There are two degrees in this imitation. In the first the soul endeavors to acquire a holy indifference towards creatures in themselves, without reference to her own natural likes and dislikes, seeking in them, after the example of the Saviour, only the will of God: “ I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 6. 38). Secondly, “ Christ,” says St. Paul, “ did not please Himself” (Rom. 15. 3). In the second degree the soul seeks preferably that which is repugnant to her, than that which is pleasant. To him who imitates the Saviour’s poverty and His love of sufferings and humiliations, and does violence to his merely natural feelings, these words of St. Paul may be rightly applied: “ You have learned Christ” (Eph. 4. 20).

Ninth Truth: In whatever state of life I am placed, if I really wish to pray and be faithful to divine grace, Jesus offers me all the means necessary to lead an interior life, to possess His friendship and make progress therein, this will make me cheerful and happy even in the midst of trials; and the words of Isaias will be realized in me: “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. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear, and the Lord will give thee rest, and will fill thy soul with brightness ” (Is. 58. 8, 9, 11).

Tenth Truth: If God demands of me that I should direct my action not merely to my own sanctification, but also to apostolic works, I will, before all, impress this firm conviction deeply in my soul: ‘“ Jesus shall be, as He demands, the life of all my apostolic labors.” My own efforts in themselves only are nothing, absolutely nothing, for Jesus says expressly: “ Without Me you can do nothing’ (John 15.6). My labors will prove useful and be blessed by God, provided I, by my interior life, unite them to the vivifying action of Jesus Christ. Then, and then only, will they become all-powerful, for “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4. 13). Were I to labor from pride, self-confidence or a selfish desire of success, God would reject all I do, for it would then a sacrilegious folly on my part to endeavor to b God of His own glory for my own adornment! e conviction of my own impotence, far from king me pusillanimous, will be a means of ength, for it will make me aware of the necessity prayer to obtain humility, which is a treasure r my soul, the assurance of the divine help and e sure pledge of the success of my labors.

When this “Creed” of the interior life has beme the foundation of its existence in us, it seres for us already in this life a participation of avenly happiness, because the interior life is, inred, the life of the predestined and corresponds the end for which God has created us. It corsponds, moreover, to the Incarnation, for “ God int His only-begotten Son into the world, that we ay live by Him” (I John 4. 1). It is a blessed ate, for, says St. Thomas, “the end of man is adhere to God, because in this his happiness consts.” Contrary to earthly joys, its thorns are all twardly, but its roses subsist inwardly. ‘“ How eatly are the worldly-minded to be pitied!” exaims the Blessed Curé d’Ars; “‘ on their shoulders ley wear a cloak lined with sharp thorns, and they annot make the least movement without feeling their stings; but the true Christians wear garments lined with soft skins.” ‘ Worldlings,”’ says St. Bernard, ‘‘ see our crosses, indeed, but not the unction accompanying them.”

It is a heavenly state, and our soul becomes, as it were, a living heaven. “ Be always mindful of God,” says St. Ephrem, “and thy mind will become a heaven to thee;” and thy soul will chant with Blessed Margaret Mary: “ At all times and in all places I will bear within me the God of my heart and the Heart of my God.” ‘“ This is,” says St. Thomas, “as a beginning of beatitude,” and divine grace is heaven in germ.

The interior life is often misunderstood. Pope St. Gregory, who was as able an administrator and zealous an apostle as he was a great contemplative, briefly described the soul of St. Benedict, when he was laying the foundation of his Order, which became one of the greatest apostolic works on earth, in these words: “ Benedict lived within himself.” In our times, to live within oneself, to undertake to govern oneself, and not to allow oneself to be governed by external circumstances, to subject one’s” imagination, feelings, mind and memory to one’s will, and one’s will entirely to the holy will of God, is a proceeding always less and less acceptable, for the new ideal is now, “ Love of action for its own sake.” To elude the discipline of subordination and subjection of one’s faculties to the divine will, all mere pretexts are considered good, such as: business, family cares, hygiene, popularity, love of country, prestige of the Order or Association, a pretended glory of God, all vie with each other to keep us from living with or in ourselves. This sort of mania of living out of ourselves is apt to become an invisible attraction for us. Need we then wonder that the interior of life is not only misunderstood, but even sometimes despised and ridiculed, and this by certain persons who ought to appreciate its advantages and necessity, so that Pope Leo XIII in one of his letters found it necessary to protest against the dangerous consequences of an exclusive admiration for apostolic works.

In order to avoid the very arduous labor required for leading a truly interior life, some go so far as practically to disparage “the life with Jesus, in Jesus, through Jesus,’ and to ignore, that in the divine plan of the Redemption everything is as truly based on the Eucharistic Life as on the Rock of Peter. To relegate that which is essential to a secondary place, is what the disparagers of the Interior Life are unconsciously tending to effect. In their estimation holy Communion has no longer an element of life —so just as essential for themselves as for their apostolic labors. There are even some engaged in apostolic works, who speak of their exploits, as if the Almighty stood in need of their assistance. Let us, however, bear in mind that just as God wishes only for “‘ adorers in spirit and in truth” (John 4. 23), so also He wishes for “laborers in spirit,’ who labor, not so much for exterior results, for their own satisfaction, etc., but solely to please and glorify God. God is pleased with. the gifts of “ His friends,” of those who are “filled with His spirit.” He seeks first our heart, that is, our interior life; and if we give Him not our heart, no work of ours deserves His blessing. If the apostolic labors of those who lack the interior life, are blessed with spiritual fruits, with success, it is owing not so much to such a laborer's work or ability, as to the prayers and good works offered by persons truly pious, and, in certain cases, to the good will of the recipients of the divine favors, for the apostolic laborer in these cases, is a mere instrument of the good effected.

The interior life, far from being an easy life, is really a very laborious life. It is a source of devotedness, of incomparable activity. Because it is the more direct road to heaven, the saying of Jesus Christ, that “the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matt. II. 12), is applied to it in a special manner. Dom Sebastian Wyart, who.knew, by his varied experience, the labors of the ascetic, the fatigues of the military, and the cares of a great business, was fond of speaking of these three kinds of labor: The almost exclusive physical labor, such as farming, mechanics, soldiering; “‘ This,” he said, “ is the easiest kind of work.” Secondly, the intellectual work of the learned, the philosopher, the writer, the professor, the diplomat, the merchant, the general in very active war; and this kind of work is far more arduous and wears out more one’s physical strength; it is like the sword-blade wearing out its scabbard. Thirdly, the labor requisite for leading an interior life, and this is the most arduous of all when earnestly performed, for, says St. Gregory, “Tt is far more arduous to resist our vices and lusts than to engage in corporeal labors,” but at the same time it is the most consoling on earth, and almost the most important. It does more than a man’s profession, for it forms man himself, How many engaged in the first two kinds of labor which lead to fortune and success, glory in their courage, but are only sloth and cowardice when they have to labor to acquire virtue!

The aim of those who are determined to lead an interior life is to strive with all their energy constantly to govern themselves and their surroundings, so as to act in all things for the glory of God. To realize this object they must endeavor in all circumstances to remain united to Jesus Christ and to concentrate their thoughts on the end to be attained and to weigh all they do by the light of the Gospel, repeating with St. Ignatius: “ Whither am I going, and for what?’’ Wherefore everything in them, intellect and will, as well as memory, feelings, imagination and senses, depend wholly on this one principle. But how great is the labor required to accomplish this result! Whether we mortify ourselves or allow ourselves some pleasure or enjoyment, whether we reflect or act, whether we work or rest, whether we love that which is good, or experience aversion — or repugnance to that which is evil, whether we desire or fear, whether we accept joy or sadness, whether we hope or dread, whether we feel indignant or calm, we must persistently, always and in all things, direct ourselves according to God’s holy will and good pleasure. At prayer, especially before the Blessed Sacrament, we have to isolate ourselves still more completely from exterior objects, in order to be able to commune with the invisible God as if we actually beheld Him. “As seeing Him that is invisible” (Hebr. 11.27). Even in the midst of our apostolic labors we should seek to realize the ideal which St. Paul so greatly admired in Moses. Neither the adversities of this life, or the storms of his passions, nor anything else can cause the interior man to deviate in the least from his line of conduct. If, however, he happens to falter or weaken therein for a moment, he soon recovers and resumes his progress with greater vigor than before.

And how arduous his labor! And how naturally we can understand that God already here below rewards, with special delights, those who do not grow faint from the efforts required for such a work. Whence Dom Sebastian concludes: “ Let the busiest of worldlings tell us whether their labors are as arduous as the labors required to lead a truly interior life! And who has not already experienced this? Often we priests and religious feel we would rather spend many hours in the most fatiguing bodily or mental labor, than devote half an hour to a well-performed mental prayer, to devoutly hearing Mass or attentively reciting the Divine Office?’ “ Whatever be the difficulties of the active life,’ says an experienced Benedictine, “ only those who lack experience venture to question or deny the arduous trials of the interior life. Many who are engaged in the active ministry, admit that the hardest of all their duties is not working in the ministry, but performing the prescribed exercise of mental prayer, and that it is a relief for them to be called away from that exercise, in order to attend to some active duty of the ministry.” Father Faber regrets being obliged to admit that a quarter of an hour’s thanksgiving after Mass or Communion, is the most trying and tiresome quarter of an hour of the whole day. How disagreeable and repugnant to not a few is a short retreat of three days! To give up for only three days the comparatively easy, though very busy active life, and to live a few days in a supernatural atmosphere by infiltrating it into — all the details of one’s life, to compel one’s mind to look at everything only with the eyes of faith, and to constrain one’s heart to forget all, in order to inhale only Jesus and his life; to have a private interview with oneself, in order to discover one’s spiritual infirmities and weaknesses, and to place one’s soul without pity into a crucible to discover its faults! Such is the perspective which discourages from leading the interior life many persons, who are equal to any amount of work and fatigue in merely natural or exterior objects. And if three such days appear so disagreeable, so trying, what does poor human nature experience at the idea of a whole life gradually trained in the exercises of the interior life!

There is no doubt that in this work of spiritual transformation divine grace has a large share and renders “the yoke sweet and the burden light.” But, at the same time, how many and how great the efforts demanded of each one’s soul! How much does it cost one to get back into the right

: way and proceed till we can truly say, “ Our conversation is in heaven” (Phil. 3. 20). “ Man,” says St. Thomas, “is placed between earthly objects and spiritual good, in which eternal beatitude con- sists; the closer he adheres to the one, the further he is removed from the other.” When one end of the scale rises, the other goes down. The catastrophe of original sin, having upset the economy of our being, renders this up and down motion of the scale very difficult to us. To reestablish and preserve, by means of the interior life, the original equilibrium of man’s little world, is very difficult; there is need of much labor, trouble and sacrifice; for a crumbled edifice has to be rebuilt and preserved from a fresh ruin. Hence how arduous the task of constantly tearing away from earthly thoughts and aspirations, by dint of watchfulness, self-denial and mortification, that heart of ours, which is borne down by the immense weight of our corrupt nature,— to reform our character especially in those points which render it so unlike the physiognomy of our Saviour’s soul, since we are so dissipated in mind, passionate, self-complacent, proud, harsh, devoid of higher motives, selfish, unkind; to resist the allurements of present and sensible pleasure by the hope of a spiritual happiness, which can be enjoyed only after an indefinitely long expectation; to detach ourselves from all that may attach to this earth, and to make an unreserved holocaust of all attachment to creatures, of all merely natural desires, aspirations, lusts, external good and of our self-will and judgment. How great a task!

And yet this is only the preparatory or the purify ing part of the interior life. After that close, in timate struggle, which caused St. Paul to make the following avowal: “I am delighted with the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind and captivating me in the law of sin, which is in my members. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7. 22-24). The celebrated Father Ravignan, S. J., speaking on this very subject, says: “Vou ask me, what I did during my novitiate. There were two of us; I pitched one of them out of the window, and I alone remained.” After this struggle without truce with a foe ever ready to rise up again, it behooves us to protect ourselves against the least return of the natural spirit into our heart; for after having been purified by penance, it is now consumed by the desire of repairing the outrages committed against God, of using its whole energy to strive to acquire the invisible beauty of the virtues of Jesus Christ by faithful imitation and an absolute confidence in divine Providence. In this consists the labor of acquiring the interior life itself. How great the field of labor required to do this!

The labor must be intimate, assiduous and constant. By its means the soul acquires a wonderful facility and an astonishing rapidity of execution in performing apostolic labors. This secret belongs exclusively to the interior life.

The immense works accomplished in spite of poor health, by Sts. Augustine, John Chrysostom, Bernard, Thomas Aquinas, Vincent de Paul, are really astonishing. And what is still more marvellous is to see that these holy men notwithstanding their incessant labors maintained themselves in constant union with God, for they quenched their thirst at the Source of life, drawing therefrom their vast capacity for work.

A great bishop, whose labors and cares were very numerous, being one day asked by a statesman who also was overburdened by the numerous duties of © his office, the reason of his constant serenity and of the admirable results of his labors, replied: ‘“ To all your occupations add every morning a half hour’s meditation, and your work will not only be expedited, but you will find time for even more work.” And, in fact, did not St. Louis, King of France, find, in the eight or nine hours he daily devoted to the exercises of the interior life, the secret and the strength to apply himself with so great a solicitude to his official duties and the welfare of the people, that a certain socialist orator felt compelled to admit, that not even in our times, is so much done for the working classes as was done by St. Louis during his reign.

There is no selfishness in the interior life. As we have already seen it is the pure and abundant source of the most generous charity for souls and for relieving human suffering. He who would call selfish and sterile the interior life of Mary and Joseph, because no exterior work of charity is attributed to them, would be absurd and, in some manner, even blasphemous. The very radiation on the world of an extensive interior life, the merits, prayers and sacrifices applied to extend the benefits of the Redemption sufficed to constitute Mary as Queen of the Apostles and Joseph as patron of the uni- versal Church. In the sequel we shall see that it is the interior life that imparts fecundity to apostolic works.

How much does not he resemble Martha, who like her, complains of not being helped in his labors, because he considers merely his own work and its results. His lack of knowledge of the ways of God, although it may not go so far as to imagine, that God cannot do without him, nevertheless prevents him from appreciating the excellence of Mary’s contemplation, for, like Martha, he says to Jesus: “ Tell him to help me,” and even exclaims: “for what is such a loss!” reproaching as a waste of time the moments which his more interior brethren in the apostolate devote to their intimate life with God. “For them I sacrifice myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth” (John 17. 19), replies the soul that grasps the meaning of “so that,’ and appreciates, therefore, the value of prayer and sacrifice, which add, as it were, to the Redeemer’s tears and blood, the tears ot his own eyes and his heart’s blood and help to draw down God’s mercy on this sinful world, for the interior soul hears the horrible din of the crimes of mankind ascending heavenward and calling down

THE INTERIOR LIFE a on their perpetrators condign punishment, which it retards by the almighty power of her supplications, and thus she stays the hand of God about to hur! the shafts of divine justice on the criminals. “ Those who pray,” said the great statesman, Donoso Cortes, “‘do more for the world than those who combat; and if the world is growing worse, it is because there is now more fighting done thai praying.” “‘ The hands raised heavenward,” ; xys Bossuet, “overcome more enemies than those who strike.” In their deserts the anciert solitaries of the Thebaid were often animated with a zeal like that of St. Francis Xavier. ‘“ They seemed,” says St. Augustine, “to have forsaken the world to a greater extent than it behooves them to do. But we do not consider that their prayeis, having become more pure by their separation from the world, had also become more powerful aii. more necessary to the world.” : A short, but fervent prayer, will usually promote a conversion more than powerful arguments and elegant exhortations. He who prays, treats with God Himself, the First Cause, and acts directly on the First Cause, the Source and Giver of grace; - and without efficacious grace no conversion is pos- sible. According to a revelation worthy of respect, ten thousand heretics were converted in consequence of a fervent prayer of St. Teresa; for her ardent soul could not believe that a truly contemplative and interior soul can be indifferent to the infinite solicitude of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the souls whom He died to redeem and save! “ I would be glad to remain in purgatory until the day of judgment,” she would say, “ if I could thereby save one soul, Direct to this apostolic object,’ she would say to her nuns, “ your prayers, your fasts, your penitential works and your desires.”

And, indeed, this is the very aim of the contemplative Orders. They follow in spirit the travels and labors of apostolic men and nourish them, so to speak, with the superabundance of their prayers and austerities. Their prayers, after ascending heavenward, alight therefrom on the souls in the darkness of error and sin, bringing along to them supernatural light and strength.

No one here below can account for those distant conversions of pagans, or the heroic constancy of the persecuted Christians, or the heavenly joy of the martyred missionaries. All this is invisibly connected with the prayers of the cloistered religions.

“They have, as it were, their fingers on the keyboard of the divine forgiveness,” says a certain pious author, ‘and their silent and solitary souls preside over the salvation of souls and the conquests of the Church.”

“T want Trappists in the Vicariate Apostolic,” said Monsignor Favier of Peking; “I will not have them labor in the external ministry, so that they be not distracted from their life of prayer, penance and their sacred studies, for I know the great assistance a fervent monastery of contemplatives is to our poor Chinese.” At a later date he said: ‘“ We have at last been able to penetrate into a region hitherto inaccessible, thanks to our dear Trappists.” “ The prayers of ten Carmelite nuns will be of greater assistance than the preaching of twenty missionaries,” wrote a bishop to the governor of Saigon.

The clergy, the religious of both sexes devoted to the active life and leading an interior life participate in the same power over the Heart of God, as we can see from the lives of Father Chevrier, Ven. Don Bosco and many others. The Ven. Maria Taigi, attending to her domestic duties, was a real apostle, and so were St. Benedict Joseph Labre, Mr. Dupont, the “‘ Holy Man of Tours,” Col. Taqueron and many other laymen, filled with a similar ardor, were powerful in their works, because they were filled with the interior spirit. And Gen. de Sonis, between two battles, would continue his apostolate through his union with God.

The wonderfully successful apostolate of the Blessed Curé d’Ars was the result of his interior life, of his intimate union with God, for it enabled him to participate so abundantly in the divine power of converting souls. Were each diocese of our country to possess a “Curé d’Ars,” our country would be more effectively and thoroughly regenerated, than by all the resources, talent, learning and activity of multitudes of apostolic laborers.

Notwithstanding our numerous schools, churches, learned, active and eloquent clergy, able Catholic publications, Catholic institutions and works, and numerous converts every year, there is an unaccountable leakage; for the number of Catholics in the country is below what it ought to be, through divorces, mixed marriages, neglect of the religious education of children, and the absence of a Catholic atmosphere in the home life.

IV. Genuine Zeal For Souls

Some one may ask: Can we ever spend ourselves too much in our labors to save souls? Does not our great activity, our admirable devotedness fill every requirement? There is a saying, that ‘he who labors for souls prays, and sacrifice comes before mental prayer.” Does not Pope St. Gregory say that “ there is nothing more pleasing to God than zeal for souls” ?

But, in the first place, we should correctly explain St. Gregory’s saying by the express teaching of St. Thomas. “To offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to offer to Him something that gives Him glory. We cannot offer Him anything more pleasing than the salvation of a soul; but every one should offer to God first his own soul according to Holy Scripture ; ‘ Dost thou wish to please God, have pity on thy own soul, pleasing God’ (Eccli. 30. 24). After accomplishing this sacrifice, we may procure a similar benefit to others. The more closely we, before all, unite ourselves to God, and afterwards the soul of another, the more acceptable to Him is our sacrifice.” But this intimate, generous and humble union of our soul to God can be effected only by means of mental prayer. To devote ourselves or to cause others to lead a life of mental prayer is more pleasing to God than to devote ourselves or induce others to devote themselves to works of zeal. From this St. Thomas concludes that “ St. Gregory does not intend to give the active life the preference over the contemplative, but means that to offer to God one soul is far more glorious and meritorious than any offering of earthly goods.”

But the necessity of the interior life should not, by any means, deter generous souls from works of zeal, if God’s will, clearly known, demands this of them; such a one should not give up such works or perform them carelessly, or desert them under the pretense of devoting all his efforts to his own sanctification and to attain a more perfect union with God. Such a one would be the victim of a pure illusion, and would be liable to fall into great dangers of going astray. “ Woe to me,” says the great apostle St. Paul, “if I do not preach the Gospel” (I Cor. 9. 16).

With this reservation we say that he who devotes himself to the conversion of souls and forgets the wants of his own soul, falls into a still more dangerous illusion. God wills that we should love

GENUINE ZEAL FOR SOULS _. our neighbor as ourselves, but not more than ourselves; that is, our love for our neighbor should not induce us to neglect ourselves. In practice, we are bound to take greater care of our soul than of the souls of others, for our zeal must be regulated by charity, and we should, first of all, practise charity towards ourselves. “I love Jesus Christ,” says St. Alphonsus, “and this is why I burn with the desire of giving Him souls, first my own soul, and then innumerable other souls.” This is in accordance with the direction of St. Bernard: “ Be thou everywhere thine own: he is unwise who is not his own.”

The holy Abbot of Clairvaux, who was a real phenomenon of apostolical zeal, is thus depicted by his secretary: “In the first place, Bernard was all to himself, and then all to all.” The saint, among other things, wrote as follows to Pope Eugenius III: “T do not mean, that you should avoid treating of all secular matters. I merely exhort you, not to devote yourself entirely thereto. If you are devoted to everybody, be also devoted to yourself. Otherwise what would it profit you to devote yourself to every one, if you were to be lost? Reserve also some time, some care for yourself; if every one comes to drink from your fountain, do not fail to drink yourself therefrom. Why should you alone suffer from thirst? Begin by first taking care of yourself. In vain would you devote yourself to the care of others, if you were to neglect your own self.’ Care for yourself first and last, and remember that, in all that concerns salvation, no one is nearer to you than your mother’s son.”

Let us now turn to Msgr. Dupanloup, the celebrated Bishop of Orleans; we quote the following passages from a note he wrote in one of his retreats: “I have,” he avows, “a terrible activity; it ruins my health, disturbs my piety, and is not necessary to my science—I must regulate this; God has given me the grace to discover, that the great obstacle in me to leading an interior life is my own natural activity and the enticement of a multitude of occupations. I own, moreover, that my lack of the interior life is the source of all my faults, troubles, spiritual dryness, disgust and of my ill health. Wherefore I will direct all my efforts to the acquisition of the interior life which is wanting tome. And I have resolved, with God’s grace, to keep the following resolutions: 1. I will always take more time than is needful for each — thing, in order never to be in a hurry, or carried away by my anxiety for other things. 2. As I have always more things to do than time to do them properly, and therefore am preoccupied and carried away by my anxiety to perform them all, I will no longer consider so much what I have to do, as the time I can devote to business, and I will carefully spend that time, beginning with the most important matters, and I will not worry about those for which I have no time.”

A jeweler prefers a very small diamond to several sapphires. In like manner, in accordance with the divinely established order, our intimacy with Him glorifies Him more than all the possible good we might procure to many souls to the detriment of our own spiritual progress. “Our heavenly Father,” says one of the great masters of the spiritual life (Father Lallemant, S. J.), “ devotes more care to govern a soul, in which He reigns, than in governing all nature in the universe and in the civil government of all nations.” He wills that our zeal for souls should not be greater than for our own spiritual progress. Sometimes He even allows a good work to disappear, if it becomes an obstacle to the development of charity (divine love) in the soul that is occupied with it.”

Satan, on the contrary, does not hesitate to favor an apostolic man’s superficial success, if he can thereby prevent him from making progress in the spiritual life, for his rage leads him to discover where are the apostolic man’s real treasures in the sight of God. To suppress a diamond, he will easily grant a few sapphires.