> [[part-one-chau-soul|← Previous]] | [[chau-soul-apostolate-toc|TOC]] | [[part-three-chau-soul|Next →]] # Part Two – The Soul of the Apostolate ## Union of the Active Life and the Interior Life ### 1. The Priority of the Interior over the Active Life in the Eyes of God In God is life, all life. He is life itself. Yet it is not by exterior works, by the creation, for instance, that the infinite Being manifests this life in its most intense form, but rather by what theology calls operationes ad intra, by that ineffable activity of which the term is the perpetual generation of the Son and the unceasing procession of the Holy Spirit. Here, preeminently, is His eternal, His essential work. Let us consider the mortal life of Our Lord, a perfect realisation of the divine plan. Thirty years of recollection and solitude, then forty days of retreat and penance are the prelude to His brief evangelical career. How often, too, during His apostolic journeys, we see Him retiring to the mountains or the desert to pray: “He retired into the desert and prayed,”52 or passing the night in prayer: “He passed the whole night in the prayer of God.”53 Still more striking is the example of Our Lord’s reply to Martha who, desiring Jesus to condemn the supposed laziness of her sister, meant that He should proclaim the superiority of the active life. But Jesus said: “Mary hath chosen the better part,”54 a reply which definitely establishes the pre-eminence of the interior life. What is to be concluded from this, if not that it was His express intention to show us, in this way, the superiority of the life of prayer over the life of action? After the Master, the Apostles, faithful to His example, take upon themselves, first of all the duty of prayer; and then, after that, in order to devote themselves to their preaching ministry, they leave to the deacons all other, more external, duties. “We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”55 In their turn, Popes, holy doctors of the Church, and theologians affirm that the interior life is, of itself, superior to the active life. Not many years ago a woman of faith, of virtue, and of great character, superior general of one of the most important teaching congregations in the Aveyron district of central France, was invited by her superiors to consent to the secularisation of her nuns. What should they do: sacrifice the religious life in order to continue teaching, or abandon their active work in order to keep their status as religious? Perplexed, and not knowing how to find out what was God’s will in the matter, she left secretly for Rome, was granted an audience with Leo XIII, and placed before him her doubts, explaining what great pressure was being put upon her, in favour of active works. The venerable pontiff, after a few moments of recollection, gave her this categorical reply: “Before everything else, before any kind of work, keep the religious life for those of your daughters who really possess the spirit of their holy state, and who really love the life of prayer. And if you cannot keep both your life of prayer and your active work, God will find a way to raise up other workers, in France, if they are necessary. As for you, by your interior life, above all by your prayers and sacrifices, you will be more useful to France by remaining true religious, although exiled from her, than you would by staying in your native land, though deprived of the treasure of your consecration to God.” In a letter addressed to a great religious institute, exclusively devoted to teaching, Pius X flatly declared his views on this subject in the following words: 52 Luc. v:16. 53 Luc. vi:12. 54 Luc. x:42. 55 Acts vi:4. \-31 --- “We learn that an opinion is current to the effect mat you ought to put in the front rank the education of the young, and leave your religious profession in the second place, on the grounds that the spirit and the needs of the time make this necessary. It is altogether against our wish that such an opinion should receive any weight with you, or with any other religious institute which, like yours, has education as its object. Let it be taken as a firmly established truth, as far as you are concerned, that the religious life is vastly superior to the common life, and that even if you have grave obligations to your neighbour, in your duty to teach, far more grave still are the obligations that bind you to God.” But is not the whole reason for the religious life, and its principal object, the acquiring of an inner life?56 _Vita contemplativa_, says the Angelic Doctor, _simpliciter melior est... et potior_ _quam activa_. “The contemplative life is by its very nature better and more effective than the active life.”57 St. Bonaventure accumulates comparatives to demonstrate the excellence of this inner life: _Vita sublimior, securior, opulentior, suavior, stabilior_. “A life that is more sublime, more secure, richer, pleasanter, and more stable.” **_Vita sublimior._** The active life is concerned with men, the contemplative introduces us into the realm of the highest truth, and never turns aside its gaze from the very principle of all life. _Principium, quod Deus est, quaeritur_. Being more sublime, it has a much more extensive horizon and field of action. “Martha, in one place, was busy in bodily work, with a few things. Mary, by her charity in many places, accomplished many things. For she, in the contemplation and love of God, beholds everything; her heart goes out to everything, comprehends and embraces all, so that, by comparison with her, it can be said that Martha is troubled over only a few things.”58 **_Vita securior._** There is less danger. In a life that is almost exclusively active, the soul is excited, worked up, scatters its energies and, by that very fact, weakens itself. It has a threefold defect: _sollicita es_59 (thou art careful), it is worried with mental problems, _sollicitudines in_ _cogitatu; turbaris_ (thou art troubled), and here are the troubles that stir up the passions, _turbatones in affectu_; finally, _erga plurima_ (about many things), occupations are multiplied, and so our energy and our action is divided: _divisiones in actu_. But for the interior life one thing alone is necessary: union with God. _Porro unum est necessarium_. All the rest can only be secondary, something accomplished solely by virtue of this union and in order to strengthen it more and more. **_Vita opulentior._** Contemplation brings with it all the other good things. “All good things came to me together with her.”60 It is the better part,61 above all others. Contemplation overflows with much greater merits. Why? Because at the same time it increases the zest of the will and the degree of sanctifying grace in the soul, and makes the soul act with love as its motive power. 56 However, to give up, temporarily, the religious habit in order to keep a work going is not here blamed by Pius X, provided that every means is taken to preserve, in all things the religious spirit. 57 Summa Theol. 2, 2ae, q. 182, a. 1. 58 Richard of St. Victor, in Cant. viii. 59 Luc. x:41, 42. 60 Sap. vii:11. 61 Luc. x:42. \-32 --- **_Vita suavior._** The truly interior soul abandons itself to the good pleasure of God, and accepts with the same patience and evenness of heart both what is pleasing and what brings pain: indeed, it goes so far as to be joyful under affliction, and happy to carry the Cross. **_Vita stabilior._** No matter how intense it may be, the active life has its limits here below. Preaching, teaching, works of every sort all come to an end at the threshold of eternity. But the interior life will never cease: “Which shall not be taken away from her.” Through this life, our stay here below becomes a continual ascent towards the world of light, an ascent which death only makes incomparably more radiant and more rapid. One may sum up the perfections of the interior life by applying to it St. Bernard’s words: “In this life man lives more purely, falls more rarely, recovers more promptly, advances more surely, receives more graces, dies more calmly, is more quickly cleansed, and gains a greater recompense.”62 ### 2. Good Works Should Be Nothing but an Overflow from the Inner Life “Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. v:48). With all due proportion, the way that God acts ought to be the criterion and the rule both of our interior and exterior life. However, as we already know, it is God’s nature to give, and experience teaches us that here below He spreads His benefits in profusion over all creatures and, especially, upon human beings. And so, for thousands and perhaps millions of centuries, the entire universe has been the object of this never failing prodigality, which pours it out in ceaseless gifts. And yet God is nothing the poorer, and this inexhaustible munificence cannot, in any way whatever, diminish His infinite resources. To man, God does more than grant exterior gifts: He sends him also His Word. But here again, in this act of supreme generosity which is nothing else but the gift of Himself, God abandons and can abandon none of the integrity of His nature. In giving us His Son, He keeps Him, nevertheless, ever in Himself. “Take, as an example, the All-highest Father of all, sending us His Word, and at the same time keeping Him for Himself.”63 By the Sacraments, and especially by the Eucharist, Jesus Christ comes down to enrich us with His grace. He pours it out upon us without measure, for He also is a limitless ocean whose fullness overflows upon us without ever being exhausted. “Of His fullness we have all received.”64 And so we ought to be, in some manner, apostolic men who take upon ourselves the noble task of sanctifying others: “Your ‘word’ is your consideration. If it goes forth from you let it still remain.”65 Yes, our “word” is the interior spirit formed, by grace, in our souls. Let this spirit then, give life to all the manifestations of our zeal, but, though poured out unceasingly for the benefit of our neighbours, let it be renewed likewise without ceasing, by the means which Jesus offers us for this purpose. Our interior life ought to be the stem, filled with vigorous sap, of which our works are the flowers. The soul of an apostle — it should be flooded first of all with light, and inflamed with love, so that, reflecting that light and that heat, it may enlighten and give warmth to other 62 St. Bernard, Hom. _Simile est... homini neg_. 63 St. Bernard, _De Consideratione_, II, c.3. 64 Joan. i:16. 65 St. Bernard, _De Consideratione_, II, 3. \-33 --- souls as well. That which they have heard, which they have seen with their eyes, which they have looked upon, and their hands have almost handled, this will they teach to men.66 Their lips will pour forth into souls the abundance of celestial joys, says St. Gregory. Now, therefore, we can deduce the following principle: The life of action ought to flow from the contemplative life, to interpret and extend it, outside oneself, though at the same time 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 should lift up his thirsting soul to God, in order to give forth what he has drunk in, and pour forth that with which he is filled.”67 Before giving, says the Pseudo-Denys, one must first receive, and the higher angels only transmit to the lower the lights of which they have received the fullness. The Creator has established this universal order with respect to divine things: the one whose mission it is to distribute these things must first share them and fill himself abundantly with the graces that God wishes to give to souls through his intermediary. Then, and then only, will it be permitted him to share them with others. Is there anyone who does not know St. Bernard’s saying, to apostles: “If you are wise, you will be reservoirs and not channels.” _Si sapis, concham te exhibebts et non canalem_? (Serm. xviii in Cant.) The channels let the water flow away, and do not retain a drop. But the reservoir is first filled, and then, without emptying itself, pours out its overflow, which is ever renewed, over the fields which it waters. How many there are devoted to works, who are never anything but channels, and retain nothing for themselves, but remain dry while trying to pass on life-giving grace to souls! “We have many channels in the Church today,” St. Bernard added, sadly, “but very few reservoirs.”68 Every cause is superior to its effect, and therefore more perfection is needed to make others perfect, than simply to perfect oneself.69 As a mother cannot suckle her child except in so far as she feeds herself, so confessor, spiritual directors, preachers, catechists, professors must first of all assimilate the substance with which they are later to feed the children of the Church.70 Divine truth and love are the elements of this substance. But the interior life alone can transform divine truth and charity in us, to a truly life-giving nourishment for others. ### 3. Active Works Must Begin and End in the Interior Life, And, in It, Find Their Means Of course, we speak only of active works that are worthy of the name of “works.” In our day, there are not a few that do not deserve this title at all. They are a species of enterprise, organised under a pious front, but with the real aim of acquiring, for their initiators, the applause of the public, and a reputation for an extraordinary ability. And these men are determined to achieve the success of such enterprises at any cost, even that of using the least justifiable of means. Other works there are which, it is true, deserve a little more respect. Their intention, at least, is good. Their end and their means are beyond reproach. And yet, because their organisers have little more than a wavering faith in the power of the supernatural life to act 66 I Joan. i:1. 67 St. Augustine, _De Doctrina Christiana_, Book IV. 68 St. Bernard, Serm. xviii in Cantica. 69 St. Thomas Aquinas, _Opusc. de Perfec. Vitae Spir_. 70 St. Bonaventure, _Illus. Eccl_. Serm. xvii. \-34 --- upon souls, their results, in spite of great efforts, are either totally, or at any rate almost totally, futile. To give a precise idea of what a good work ought to be, let us quote a man whose apostolic work is the pride of his district, and recall the lessons he gave to us at the beginning of our priestly ministry. We were interested in the formation of a club for young men. Having visited the Catholic clubs of Paris and a few other French cities, the work going on at Valdes-Bois, and so on, we went to Marseilles to study the work done for Catholic youth by the saintly Father Allemand and the venerable Canon Timon-David. We rejoice to recall the emotions in our hearts (as a young priest) on hearing the latter speak as follows: “Bands, theatricals, lantern-lectures, movies — I do not condemn all that. When I started out, I too thought no one could do without them. And yet they are nothing but crutches, to be used when there is no alternative left. However, the further I advance, the more my end and my means become supernatural because I see more and more clearly that every work built upon a merely human foundation is bound to collapse, and that only the work that aims at bringing men closer to God by the interior life is blessed by Providence.” “Our band-instruments have been relegated to the attic for a long time, and our stage has become useless, and yet the work is going on better than ever before. Why? Because, thanks be to God, my priests and I see much clearer and straighter than before, and our faith in the action of Christ and of grace has increased a hundred percent.” “Take my advice, do not be afraid to aim as high as you possibly can, and you will be astonished at the results. Let me explain: do not merely have, as your ideal, to give the youth a selection of clean amusements that will turn them aside from illicit pleasures and dangerous associations, nor simply to give them a Christian varnish, through routine attendance at Mass, or the reception of the Sacraments at long intervals and with questionable dispositions. “Launch out into the deep.”71 Let your ambition be, first of all, the noble one of making a certain number of them, at any cost, take the firm resolution of living as fervent Christians; that is, of making their mental prayer every morning, going to Mass every day, if they can, and doing a little spiritual reading, besides going frequently to Communion, and fervently too. Put all your efforts into giving this select group a great love for Jesus Christ, the spirit of self-denial, prayer, vigilance over themselves; in a word, solid virtues. And take no less trouble to develop in their souls a hunger for the Holy Eucharist. And then stir up these young men to act upon their companions. Train them as frank, devoted apostles, kind, ardent, manly, not narrow-minded in their piety, full of tact, and never making the sad mistake of spying on their comrades under pretext of zeal. Before two years have gone by, come and tell me whether you still need a lot of brass or stage sets to catch your fish.” “I understand,” I replied, “this minority will be the leaven. But what about the others that you will never be able to bring up to that level — what about the group as a whole, the youths of all ages and even the married men who will join the club we are planning: what are we going to do with them?” “You are going to build up a strong faith in them, by a series of well prepared talks, which will take up many of their winter evenings. Your Christians will go out, after these talks, well enough armed not only to give complete and effective answers to their fellows in the various plants and offices, but also to resist the more treacherous action of newspapers and books. If you can give men unshakable convictions which they will know how to affirm if they have to, without regard to human respect, you will (already) have achieved a result that is not to be despised. But still, you will have to take them further yet, and give them piety, genuine and ardent piety, based on conviction and full of understanding.” “Shall I open the doors to all comers right from the start?” I asked him. 71 Luc. v:4. \-35 --- “Numbers will be no use to you unless everyone is handpicked. Let the growth of your club depend, most of all, on the influence exercised by the nucleus of apostles, the centre of which will be Jesus and Mary, with you as their instrument.” “The premises won’t be very impressive. Should I wait until we can raise the money for something better?” “Well, when someone is starting out, spacious, comfortable rooms may serve as a big drum to advertise your new enterprise, and draw attention to it. But, I repeat, if you know how to build your club on the foundation of an ardent, complete, and apostolic Christian life, the barest minimum, in the way of premises, will always be enough to accommodate all the accessories demanded by the normal functioning of the club. Don’t worry! You will soon find out that noise does not do much good — and that what is good doesn’t make much noise. And you will see that a good clear understanding of the Gospel will cut down your expenses and, far from hurting your success, it will promote it! But above all, you will have to pay the price yourself, not so much by wearing yourself out rehearsing plays or setting up football games, as by storing up in yourself the life of prayer. For you can be sure that the extent to which you yourself are able to live on the love of Our Lord will be the exact measure of your ability to stir it up in other people.” “What it all comes to, then, is that you base everything on the inner life.” “Yes, absolutely. That way, you don’t merely get an alloy, but pure gold. Besides, speaking from long experience, I know you can apply what I have just said about youth clubs to any kind of work — parishes, seminaries, catechism classes, schools, soldiers’ and sailors’ groups, and so on. How much good a Christian society, really living on the supernatural level, can do in a city! It works there like a strong leaven, and only the angels can tell you how many souls are saved because of it.” “Ah,” he concluded, “if only the majority of priests and religious and workers in Catholic action knew what a powerful lever they have in their hands, once that lever takes advantage of the Heart of Jesus as a fulcrum. Living in union with that Divine Heart they would soon transform our country! Yes indeed, they would bring our land to life, in spite of all the efforts of Satan and his slaves.”72 ### 4. The Active and Interior Lives Are Completely Interdependent Just as the love of God is shown by acts of the interior life, so the love of our neighbour manifests itself by the works of the exterior life, and consequently the love of God and of our neighbour cannot be separated, and it follows that these two forms of life cannot exist without one another.73 And so, as Suarez points out, there cannot be any state that is properly and normally ordered to bring us to perfection, that does not at the same time share to some extent in both action and contemplation.74 72 The zealous canon who thus spoke to me and of whose conversation I retain so precious a memory has developed these thoughts in several fine books: _Méthode de Direction des Oeuvres de Jeunesse; 2__nd__, Traité de la_ _Confession des Enfants et Jeunes Gens; 3__rd__, Souvenirs de l‘oeuvre, ou vie et mort de quelques Congréganites_ (Paris, Mignar Frères.) 73 Just as God is to be loved in contemplation, we must also love our neighbour through the active life, and it follows that we cannot be without both these kinds of life, just as it is absolutely necessary for us to practice both kinds of love. 74 It may be necessary to point out that here, as everywhere else, Dom Chautard uses the terms active and contemplative life not in the sense of the active or contemplative states, such as are explicitly intended as the aim of the various active or contemplative religious orders, but merely in the sense of exterior works of virtue and of mercy on one hand, and interior union with God by prayer on the other. Every Christian is bound to practice both of these, and without them there is no Christian life. \-36 --- The great Jesuit is simply commenting on the teaching of St. Thomas on this subject. The Angelic-Doctor says that those who are called to the works of the active life would be mistaken if they thought that this duty dispensed them from the contemplative life. This duty is merely added to that of contemplation without diminishing its necessity. And so these two lives, far from excluding one another, depend on one another, presuppose one another, mingle together and complete one another. And if there is a question of giving greater importance to one than to the other, it is the contemplative life that merits our preference, as being the more perfect and the more necessary.75 Action relies upon contemplation for its fruitfulness; and contemplation, in its turn, as soon as it has reached a certain degree of intensity, pours out upon our active works some of its overflow. And it is by contemplation that the soul goes to draw directly upon the Heart of God for the graces which it is the duty of the active life to distribute. And so, in the soul of a saint, action and contemplation merge together in perfect harmony to give perfect unity to his life. Take St. Bernard, for example, the most contemplative and yet at the same time the most active man of his age. One of his contemporaries has left us this admirable portrait of him: Contemplation and action so agreed together in him that the saint appeared to be at the same time entirely devoted to external works, and yet completely absorbed in the presence and the love of his God.76 Commenting on the text of sacred Scripture: “Put me as a seal upon thine heart and as a seal upon thine arm,”77 Father Saint-Jure gives us a fine description of the relations of these two lives with each other. Let us, briefly, outline his thought: The heart stands for the interior, or contemplative life: the arm for the active, or exterior life. The sacred text speaks of them as the heart and the arm, to show how the two lives can be joined together and harmonise perfectly in the same person. The heart is mentioned first, because as an organ it is far more noble and more necessary than the arm. In the same way contemplation is much more excellent and perfect, and deserves far greater esteem than action. The heart goes on beating day and night. Let this all-important organ stop, even for a moment, and immediate death would result. The arm, however, merely an integral part of the human body, only moves from time to time. And thus, we ought sometimes to seek a little respite from our outward works, but never on the other hand, relax our attention to spiritual things. The heart gives life and strength to the arm by means of the blood which it sends forth; otherwise, that member would wither up. And in the same way, the contemplative life, a life of union with God, thanks to the light and the constant assistance the soul receives from this closeness to Him, gives life to our external occupations, and it alone is able to impart to them at the same time a supernatural character and a real usefulness. But without contemplation, everything is sick and barren and full of imperfections. Man, unfortunately, too often separates what has been united by God, and consequently this perfect union is rarely found. Besides, it depends for its realisation upon a number of precautions that are too often neglected. We must not undertake anything that is beyond our strength. We must habitually, but simply, see the will of God in everything. We must never get mixed up in words that are not willed for us by God, but only when, and to the extent that, He wants to see us engaged in them, and only out of the desire to practice charity. From the very start, we must offer our work to Him, and during the course of our labours, we 75 When a man is called from the contemplative to the active life, he does not subtract anything from, but adds to his obligations. 76 Geoffrey of Auxerre, _Vita Bernardi_, 1, 5; also III. 77 Cant. viii: 6. \-37 --- must often make use of holy thoughts and ardent aspiratory prayers to stir up our resolution to act only for and by Him. For the rest, no matter how much attention our work may require, we must keep ourselves always at peace, and always remain completely masters of ourselves. We must leave the successful outcome of the work entirely in die hands of God, and desire to see ourselves delivered from all care only in order that we may be, once again, alone with Jesus Christ. Such are the extremely wise counsels of the masters of the spiritual life, to those who want to reach this union. This perseverance in the interior life which, in St. Bernard of Clairvaux, was united to a very active apostolate, made a great impression on St. Francis de Sales. “St. Bernard,” he said, “lost not a whit of the progress he desired to make in holy love.... He moved from place to place, but did not move in his heart nor did his heart’s love change, nor did his love change in its object … he did not take upon himself the colour of every business or of every conversation like a chameleon, taking the colour of every place where it happens to be. But he remained ever united to God, ever white in his purity, ever crimson in his charity, and ever full of humility.”78 At times, our duties will accumulate to such an extent that they will exhaust all our strength, not allowing us to get rid of our burden, nor even to make it any lighter. The result may possibly be that we will be deprived, for a more or less prolonged period, of the sense of our union with God, but the union itself will only suffer if we actually permit it to do so. If this condition should be prolonged, we must feel suffering on account of it, we must lament it, and we must, above all, fear that we may become used to it. Man is weak and without constancy. If he neglects his spiritual life, he soon loses the taste for it. Absorbed in material duties, he gets to take satisfaction in them. But on the other hand, if the interior spirit gives signs of its latent vitality by pain and repugnance, the ceaseless complaints that issue from a wound that refuses to close, even in the midst of intense activity, these sufferings will themselves make up all the merit of our sacrificed contemplation. Rather, it is in this that the soul realises the admirable and fruitful union of die interior and active lives. Maddened by the thirst for the interior life, a thirst which there is no time to quench, the soul returns as soon as possible to the life of prayer. Our Lord will never fail to make room for a few moments’ colloquy. But he demands that we be faithful to these opportunities, and gives us grace to make up, by our fervour, for the brevity of these happy moments. St. Thomas admirably sums up this doctrine in a passage of which every word deserves to be carefully pondered: “The contemplative life is, in itself, more meritorious than the active life. Nevertheless, a man may happen to gain more merit by performing some exterior act; if, for instance, he endures, for a time, to be deprived of the sweetness of divine contemplation, in order, on account of the abundance of the love of God and for His glory, to fulfil God’s will.”79 We note what a great number of conditions the holy doctor lays down, to be fulfilled before active life can become more meritorious than contemplation. The inmost cause that moves the soul to active works is nothing else but the overflow of its charity: _proper abundantiam divini amoris_. Therefore, it is not a matter of excitement, or caprice, nor of the craving to get out of ourselves. Indeed, it is a source of suffering for the soul. _Sustinet_, it “endures” the privation of the sweetness of the life of prayer;80 _a dulcedine_ 78 Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, Part xvii, ch. 2. 79 St. Thomas goes on to quote St. Chrysostom,, who interpreted St. Paul’s desire to be "an anathema from Christ for his brethren” in the above sense. 80 Since this "sweetness" resides principally in the "summit" of the soul, it is quite compatible with dryness: _exsuperat omnem sensum_. It transcends all feelings. The logic of pure faith cold and dry in itself, is enough to allow the will to enflame the heart with supernatural fire, always with the help of grace. \-38 --- _divinae contemplationis... separari._ Furthermore, the sacrifice is only temporary: _accidere_ _— interdum — ad tempus_, and it is only for a purely supernatural end — the fulfilling of God’s will, and giving Him glory. Finally, what is sacrificed is only a part of the time to be given to prayer. How full of wisdom and goodness God’s ways are! How wonderfully He directs souls, 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 which persists in the midst of action and which, nevertheless, we generously offer up to Him, has its compensations. Thanks to this pain, we are freed from all dangers of dissipation, self-love, natural feelings of pride, etc. Far from hurting our freedom of spirit or our activity, this disposition in our souls imparts to them a more deliberate character. It is the practical way to keep in the presence of God, because now the soul, in the grace of the present moment, is able to find the living Christ, giving Himself to us, concealed in the work that we have to perform. Jesus works with us and sustains us. How many persons in responsible positions owe to this salutary suffering once it has been well understood, to this desire, persistent though sacrificed, to visit the Blessed Sacrament, to these almost incessant spiritual communions — how many owe to all this not only the splendid results of their work, but even the safety of their souls and their progress in virtue? ### 5. The Excellence of This Union The union of the two lives, contemplative and active, constitutes the true apostolate, the chief work of Christianity: _principalissimum officium_, as St. Thomas says.81 The apostolate implies souls capable of being carried away with enthusiasm for an idea, of consecrating themselves to the triumph of a principle. When the realisation of this ideal is supernaturalised by the interior spirit, and when our zeal, in its end, its centre, and its means is quickened by the spirit of Christ, we shall have the life which is in itself the most perfect of all, the highest possible life, since the theologians prefer it even to simple contemplation: _praefertur simplici contemplationi_. 82 The apostolate of a man of prayer is the word of the Gospel, conquering with the mandate of God; it is the zeal for souls, the ripening of conversions for the harvest: _missio a_ _Deo, zelus animarum, fructi-ficatio attditorum.__83_ It is a vapour rising from faith, breathing forth health-giving exhalations: _zelus, id est_ _vapor fidei_. 84 The apostolate of the saints sows seed all over the world. The apostle casts into souls the wheat of God.85 It is a blazing fire of love that devours the earth, the great fire of Pentecost, spreading unchecked across the nations of the world. “I am come to cast fire on the earth.”86 The sublimity of this ministry lies in the fact that it provides for the salvation of others, without danger to the apostle himself: _sublimatur ad hoc ut aliis provideat_. To transmit divine truths to the intellects of men! Is not this ministry worthy of angels? It is a good thing to contemplate the truth, and better still to pass it on to others. To reflect the light is something more than simply to receive it. It is better to give light, than to Saint Jane Chantal, who was one of the souls who had most to suffer in mental prayer, left to her daughters a spiritual legacy when she was on her deathbed at Moulins. It was the principle that had led her to base her life on this argument of faith: “_The greatest happiness here below is to be able to converse with God_.” 81 III, q. 67, a. 2, ad i. 82 St. Thomas. 83 St. Bonaventure. 84 St. Ambrose. 85 Fr. Léon, passim, op. cit. 86 Luc. xii: 49. \-39 --- shine under a bushel. By contemplation the soul is fed: by the apostolate, it gives itself away. _Sicut ma jus est illuminare quam lucere solum, ita majus est contemplata aliis tradere_ _quamsolum contemplare_. 87 _Contemplata aliis tradere_: prayer remains at the source of this ideal of the apostolate. Such is the unmistakable meaning of St. Thomas. This passage, like the words of the holy doctor that were quoted at the end of the preceding chapter, are an open condemnation of so-called “Americanism,” the partisans of which envisage a mixed life in which contemplation is strangled by activity. Two things are implied by this text. 1. That the soul is already habitually living a life of prayer, and doing so with sufficient intensity not to need to draw upon 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 watch over its heart that it runs no risk of withdrawing its actions from the influence of Christ. The beautiful words of Fr. Matheo, apostle of the enthroning of the Sacred Heart in the home, exactly express the thought of St. Thomas in their own way: “The apostle is a chalice full to the brim with the life of Jesus, and his overflow pours itself out upon souls,” It is this mixture of action, with all its outpouring of zeal, and of contemplation with its lofty nights, that produced the greatest of the 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 were mighty apostles. Interior life and active life! Holiness within works! A powerful union, and a fruitful one. What miracles of conversion it can work! O God, send many apostles to Thy Church, but stir up in their hearts, already consumed with the desire to give themselves, a desperate sense of their need for the life of prayer. Grant to Thy workers this contemplative activity, and active contemplation. Then Thy work will be done, and the workers of Thy Gospel will win those victories which Thou didst foretell to them before Thy glorious Ascension. 87 St. Thomas, 2a, 2ae, q. 188, a. 6. \-40 --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-soa]] > [[part-one-chau-soul|← Previous]] | [[chau-soul-apostolate-toc|TOC]] | [[part-three-chau-soul|Next →]]