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The Soul of The Apostolate
El lector encontrará en el libro una gran la vida de un cristiano no tiene sentido si no cumple el mandato de Cristo de acercar a Dios a sus iguales.
298 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1937
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May 7, 2025
Are you ever surprised when you return to a book that it isn’t quite as you remembered it?
I deliberately spent a long time with The Soul of the Apostolate, even though it was my second read and it would have been easy to whip right through it. Easy, but not wise. Very soon into the book, I realized my memory of it was limited by what I was able to get out of it at the time.* Coming back to it at this later date with (hopefully) more maturity, I will be able to more fully appreciate the author’s purpose and apply it to my life.
Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard wrote this book from a firm conviction we can do nothing for God unless we first cultivate a rich inner life with God Himself. And even this we must allow God to do for us—in, with and through Him. The Father does nothing except through His Son. “All things were made by Him and without Him was nothing made that was made.” Chautard tells us, ‘For a man, in his practical conduct, to go about his active works as if Jesus was not his one and only life-principle, has been called the “HERESY OF GOOD WORKS.”’ Most of Chautard’s book is given over to showing the importance of this inner life, and the benefits and dangers we may expect from heeding or neglecting this aspect of our life in Christ . He writes, ‘To apply oneself to a life of prayer, or to lead others to give themselves to it, is, therefore, more pleasing to God than to devote oneself to activity and good works, and lead others to practice these.’ As the source of all Good, God knows He alone can profit a soul more than anything or anyone or even everything and everyone else combined.
Later we read, ‘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 to the civil government of all empires,” looks for this harmony in our zeal.’ Of course prayer (faith) without works would be dead as St. James tells us and Dom Chautard answers, ‘Active works must begin and end in the interior life, and in it find their means.’ In other words, our prayer should lead us to lives of service and commitment to help others convince us of our utter dependence on God.
Would that many would read this great classic today. We need this wisdom even more now than when it was first published just after World War I. After the Prologue there are several pages of testimonials from holy men whose lives were transformed by this book. While making no claim to holiness, I can say that twice now my eyes and heart have been opened by what this saintly priest has written here.
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First read this back in 2009. It had a profound impact on my prayer life. Looking forward to rereading....
Jun 17, 2009: How do I even begin to write a review of this book? Well, for starters, I didn't even try to read it quickly; I've been reading and listening to it for almost two months now. Ignatius Press has an excellent audio version of the book which I highly recommend. As this is one of those books I put on my 'worth reading over and over and over...' shelf, the money invested in the CDs was money well-spent. I have listened to this book while cleaning, ironing, driving and just sitting. I have read it and listened to it at the same time. I have read and reread huge parts of it. It IS my book of the summer, along with The Spirit of the Liturgy—not my plan, His!
On the 10th of August, I began blogging about my own experiences trying to put into practice the precepts of Dom Chautard’s teachings on mental prayer. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going with this. Eventually it turned into a series of seven posts which I finished on the 4th of September—and yet it doesn’t feel “finished”. It feels as if I’ve just started on the greatest adventure of my life!
GREAT book!
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15 Aug '09 Update: This book has so changed my life, I've resumed a regular practice of mental prayer and been blogging about it.
4 Aug '09 Update: This section focuses on the question: Why are so many enterprises of our time fruitless? 'Because they are not firmly enough based on the interior life, the Eucharistic life, the liturgical life, fully and properly understood.' (page 187) Although written in 1946, these words are just as true today.
This book is AWESOME! Thematically-speaking it is very much like Fire Within St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel-On Prayer except that it draws on the spirituality of the entire history of the Church and not just the Carmelites. Emphasizes, drives home and convinces beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing happens without God and outside of a deep, deep prayer life.
*In the summer of 2009, when I first read The Soul of the Apostolate, it transformed my prayer life. It left me with an intense desire for mental prayer (or conversation with Christ), a general notion of how to do it and the importance of this type of prayer to everything else in my life. Looking back I realize that was all I was capable of understanding at that time. This time I saw so much more.
I deliberately spent a long time with The Soul of the Apostolate, even though it was my second read and it would have been easy to whip right through it. Easy, but not wise. Very soon into the book, I realized my memory of it was limited by what I was able to get out of it at the time.* Coming back to it at this later date with (hopefully) more maturity, I will be able to more fully appreciate the author’s purpose and apply it to my life.
Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard wrote this book from a firm conviction we can do nothing for God unless we first cultivate a rich inner life with God Himself. And even this we must allow God to do for us—in, with and through Him. The Father does nothing except through His Son. “All things were made by Him and without Him was nothing made that was made.” Chautard tells us, ‘For a man, in his practical conduct, to go about his active works as if Jesus was not his one and only life-principle, has been called the “HERESY OF GOOD WORKS.”’ Most of Chautard’s book is given over to showing the importance of this inner life, and the benefits and dangers we may expect from heeding or neglecting this aspect of our life in Christ . He writes, ‘To apply oneself to a life of prayer, or to lead others to give themselves to it, is, therefore, more pleasing to God than to devote oneself to activity and good works, and lead others to practice these.’ As the source of all Good, God knows He alone can profit a soul more than anything or anyone or even everything and everyone else combined.
Later we read, ‘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 to the civil government of all empires,” looks for this harmony in our zeal.’ Of course prayer (faith) without works would be dead as St. James tells us and Dom Chautard answers, ‘Active works must begin and end in the interior life, and in it find their means.’ In other words, our prayer should lead us to lives of service and commitment to help others convince us of our utter dependence on God.
Would that many would read this great classic today. We need this wisdom even more now than when it was first published just after World War I. After the Prologue there are several pages of testimonials from holy men whose lives were transformed by this book. While making no claim to holiness, I can say that twice now my eyes and heart have been opened by what this saintly priest has written here.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
First read this back in 2009. It had a profound impact on my prayer life. Looking forward to rereading....
Jun 17, 2009: How do I even begin to write a review of this book? Well, for starters, I didn't even try to read it quickly; I've been reading and listening to it for almost two months now. Ignatius Press has an excellent audio version of the book which I highly recommend. As this is one of those books I put on my 'worth reading over and over and over...' shelf, the money invested in the CDs was money well-spent. I have listened to this book while cleaning, ironing, driving and just sitting. I have read it and listened to it at the same time. I have read and reread huge parts of it. It IS my book of the summer, along with The Spirit of the Liturgy—not my plan, His!
On the 10th of August, I began blogging about my own experiences trying to put into practice the precepts of Dom Chautard’s teachings on mental prayer. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going with this. Eventually it turned into a series of seven posts which I finished on the 4th of September—and yet it doesn’t feel “finished”. It feels as if I’ve just started on the greatest adventure of my life!
GREAT book!
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
15 Aug '09 Update: This book has so changed my life, I've resumed a regular practice of mental prayer and been blogging about it.
4 Aug '09 Update: This section focuses on the question: Why are so many enterprises of our time fruitless? 'Because they are not firmly enough based on the interior life, the Eucharistic life, the liturgical life, fully and properly understood.' (page 187) Although written in 1946, these words are just as true today.
This book is AWESOME! Thematically-speaking it is very much like Fire Within St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel-On Prayer except that it draws on the spirituality of the entire history of the Church and not just the Carmelites. Emphasizes, drives home and convinces beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing happens without God and outside of a deep, deep prayer life.
*In the summer of 2009, when I first read The Soul of the Apostolate, it transformed my prayer life. It left me with an intense desire for mental prayer (or conversation with Christ), a general notion of how to do it and the importance of this type of prayer to everything else in my life. Looking back I realize that was all I was capable of understanding at that time. This time I saw so much more.
August 21, 2012
One of my absolute favorite reads. Absolute wisdom. I highly suggest this to all seeking to live a life pleasing to the Lord.
Read
December 7, 2023Definitely going to be rereading this one in the future
January 28, 2024
7 months to read a book, it should be enough they said. It was not. This work was wonderfully, challengingly dense in the richest of fashions. As everyone else already said, I’ll be returning to and referencing this book for quite some time.
January 10, 2013
This book is amazing. If you feel like your a "good" person who's not bad enough to go to Hell, this book will set the flames under your seat and really make you realize how much more you can do to be loved and to love God back.
November 11, 2024
There were many great takeaways that could be derived from this book but my enjoyment of it was hindered by how much was aimed at priests. Setting that aside, there were many parts that I appreciated. For starters, it rebutted some common arguments against cultivating your interior life that I had unknowingly embraced: the “laziness” or “selfishness” of doing so—it helped me finally get over my fear and aversion towards holy hours.
tSotA also highlights the importance of having custody over your heart and therefore doing frequent examination of consciences. It explained the danger of accumulating venial sins: “perhaps without my being aware of it, self-delusion will throw up the smoke screen of a seeming piety that is more speculative than practical, or of my ambition for good works, to hide this state from me, or even to conceal a condition more appalling still!” and suggested that we can tell if our mental prayer and liturgical participation are good based on how it leads us to awaken our souls and change our habits.
In reference to active works in and around the church, Chautard’s argument could perhaps best be summarized as follows: “Why do my resolutions bear no fruit? It can only be because my belief that “I can do all things” is not followed by; “in Him Who strengthenth me.” He tells us that we should frequently return to God in mental prayer, making sure that the works we’re pursuing are of Him, and finding rest for our soul in Him. He also pointed out that we shouldn’t simply aim to do good things, rather should seek to do the good things willed by God as there is a distinction. Like St. Francis de Sales, Chautard also emphasizes that the busier you are, the more you must prioritize your interior life.
tSotA also highlights the importance of having custody over your heart and therefore doing frequent examination of consciences. It explained the danger of accumulating venial sins: “perhaps without my being aware of it, self-delusion will throw up the smoke screen of a seeming piety that is more speculative than practical, or of my ambition for good works, to hide this state from me, or even to conceal a condition more appalling still!” and suggested that we can tell if our mental prayer and liturgical participation are good based on how it leads us to awaken our souls and change our habits.
In reference to active works in and around the church, Chautard’s argument could perhaps best be summarized as follows: “Why do my resolutions bear no fruit? It can only be because my belief that “I can do all things” is not followed by; “in Him Who strengthenth me.” He tells us that we should frequently return to God in mental prayer, making sure that the works we’re pursuing are of Him, and finding rest for our soul in Him. He also pointed out that we shouldn’t simply aim to do good things, rather should seek to do the good things willed by God as there is a distinction. Like St. Francis de Sales, Chautard also emphasizes that the busier you are, the more you must prioritize your interior life.
December 24, 2021
One of those spiritual classics that you keep coming back to — this was a bedside favorite of St. Pius X. So many lessons in these pages, but the chief of them is that you cannot hope to give to others what you don't have: cultivate a deep and authentic interior life. Only then will you have something meaningful to contribute to others.
"The interior life is the life of the elect." (p. 21)
(quoting St. Thomas) "The end of human creatures is union with God; and in this their happiness consists." (p. 21)
"We must devote all our energies to keeping that heart fixed upon the invisible beauty of the virtues to be acquired, that we may imitate those of Christ." (p. 32)
"'To all your occupations...add half an hour of meditation every morning. Not only will you get through all your business, but you will find time for still more.'" (p. 33)
"If the priest is a saint...the people will be fervent; if the priest is fervent, the people will be pious; if the priest is pious, the people will at least be decent. But if the priest is only decent, the people will be godless." (p. 39)
"Preaching, teaching, works of every sort will come to an end at the threshold of eternity." (p. 50)
(the fruits of the interior life) "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." (p. 50)
"Our interior life ought to be the stem, filled with vigorous sap, of which our works are the flowers." (p. 51)
(quoting St. Bernard) "We have many channels in the Church today, but very few reservoirs." (p. 53)
"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." (p. 57)
(quoting Cardinal Lavigerie) "[F]or an apostle there is no halfway between total sanctity, at least faithfully and courageously desired and sought after, and absolute perversion." (p. 76)
"But where there is not an intense interior life, deliberate venial sin will abound, and there will be many venial sins that are not even recognized as such, although they will be imputed to the lax and careless soul which has ceased to 'watch and pray.'" (p. 76)
(quoting St. Alphonsus) "Short of a miracle, a man who does not practice mental prayer will end up in mortal sin." (p. 82)
(quoting the Cure of Ars) "The heart of an interior soul stands in the middle of humiliations and sufferings like a rock in the midst of the sea." (p. 104)
(quoting St. Pius X) "To restore all things in Christ by the apostolate of good works, we need divine grace, and the apostle will only receive it if he is united to Christ. Not until we have formed Christ within ourselves will we find it easy to give Him to families and to societies. And therefore all those who take part in the apostolate must develop a solid piety." (p. 113)
"It is a terrible misfortune when there is not to be found one really interior soul among all those at the head of important Catholic projects." (p. 121)
"It is the same with a man of prayer. Once he is detached from creatures, a continuous flow is established between him and Christ, an uninterrupted current." (p. 122)
"The more a soul is united to Christ, the more it shares in the dominant quality of the Divine and Human Heart of the Redeemer — His kindness." (p. 127)
(quoting Fr. Faber) "Kindness is the overflow of self on others." (p. 128)
(quoting St. Bernard) "Persuasion, good example, loyalty to God are the only arms worthy of the children of the Gospel." (p. 136)
"Our Lord does not give His blessings to any enterprise in which men place trust in human means alone." (p. 192)
"I will give preference to a subject for meditation which has a connection with the liturgical period, or feast, or cycle." (p. 217)
"It was by the voice of Mary that the Precursor recognized the presence of Jesus, and leaped in the womb of his mother." (p. 287)
"The interior life is the life of the elect." (p. 21)
(quoting St. Thomas) "The end of human creatures is union with God; and in this their happiness consists." (p. 21)
"We must devote all our energies to keeping that heart fixed upon the invisible beauty of the virtues to be acquired, that we may imitate those of Christ." (p. 32)
"'To all your occupations...add half an hour of meditation every morning. Not only will you get through all your business, but you will find time for still more.'" (p. 33)
"If the priest is a saint...the people will be fervent; if the priest is fervent, the people will be pious; if the priest is pious, the people will at least be decent. But if the priest is only decent, the people will be godless." (p. 39)
"Preaching, teaching, works of every sort will come to an end at the threshold of eternity." (p. 50)
(the fruits of the interior life) "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." (p. 50)
"Our interior life ought to be the stem, filled with vigorous sap, of which our works are the flowers." (p. 51)
(quoting St. Bernard) "We have many channels in the Church today, but very few reservoirs." (p. 53)
"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." (p. 57)
(quoting Cardinal Lavigerie) "[F]or an apostle there is no halfway between total sanctity, at least faithfully and courageously desired and sought after, and absolute perversion." (p. 76)
"But where there is not an intense interior life, deliberate venial sin will abound, and there will be many venial sins that are not even recognized as such, although they will be imputed to the lax and careless soul which has ceased to 'watch and pray.'" (p. 76)
(quoting St. Alphonsus) "Short of a miracle, a man who does not practice mental prayer will end up in mortal sin." (p. 82)
(quoting the Cure of Ars) "The heart of an interior soul stands in the middle of humiliations and sufferings like a rock in the midst of the sea." (p. 104)
(quoting St. Pius X) "To restore all things in Christ by the apostolate of good works, we need divine grace, and the apostle will only receive it if he is united to Christ. Not until we have formed Christ within ourselves will we find it easy to give Him to families and to societies. And therefore all those who take part in the apostolate must develop a solid piety." (p. 113)
"It is a terrible misfortune when there is not to be found one really interior soul among all those at the head of important Catholic projects." (p. 121)
"It is the same with a man of prayer. Once he is detached from creatures, a continuous flow is established between him and Christ, an uninterrupted current." (p. 122)
"The more a soul is united to Christ, the more it shares in the dominant quality of the Divine and Human Heart of the Redeemer — His kindness." (p. 127)
(quoting Fr. Faber) "Kindness is the overflow of self on others." (p. 128)
(quoting St. Bernard) "Persuasion, good example, loyalty to God are the only arms worthy of the children of the Gospel." (p. 136)
"Our Lord does not give His blessings to any enterprise in which men place trust in human means alone." (p. 192)
"I will give preference to a subject for meditation which has a connection with the liturgical period, or feast, or cycle." (p. 217)
"It was by the voice of Mary that the Precursor recognized the presence of Jesus, and leaped in the womb of his mother." (p. 287)
March 14, 2012
This book changed my life. You will read it again from the start after having it :))
December 19, 2025
The perfect read to start my second year on mission! Very convicting and a much needed reminder that the interior life > everything else.
March 27, 2024
This book took me forever to read. However I realized it’s because this book is life altering. It’s one of those books that by looking at it you question if it’s worth the glance. Let me be the one to tell you IT IS. Someone I looked up to and respected as a missionary told me this was the book that changed his prayer and the way he viewed things. Now I understand what he meant. If you have any interest in the state of your soul and are striving to get to Heaven, this is the book for you!!
May 3, 2024
Best book on prayer I’ve ever read. Will do full outline and synopsis soon.
April 7, 2010
Great book about why and how we need to pray.
October 21, 2013
This book is so rich it must be read slowy and carefully, a paragraph at a time almost. I keep it next to my bed and am continually going back to reread a certain page or even sentence.
May 11, 2023
brb entering the seventh interior mansion and converting 1000 souls in the process
February 16, 2019
Jean-Baptiste Chautard (1858-1935) was a French Trappist monk and abbot, and an ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church. His book, The Soul of the Apostolate, is considered a classic of Catholic devotional literature. The "apostolate" in Catholic terminology doesn't refer to the original apostles but to the ministry of those, usually laity, who are "sent" into the world to evangelize and do good works. The "soul" of the apostolate, according to Chautard, is the interior life. The interior life is set in contrast with "exterior" works. The interior/exterior division would correspond roughly to what evangelicals or Protestants typically call "personal devotions" or "quiet times" (interior) and "ministry" or perhaps even "vocation" (exterior). Chautard's thesis is that the interior life is what gives life-transforming power to one's ministry. If you engage in all the outward activities of ministry without a strong interior life of contemplation, prayer, and communion with God, all the outward ministry will lose spiritual power and become ineffectual, a mere going through the motions of outward ritual or activity.
As a Protestant, I found some aspects of the book a bit uncongenial. There were a lot of references to 19th century Catholic figures. Aquinas, Bernard, and Bonaventure are quoted frequently. Chautard seemed to be particularly impressed with the piety of Pope Pius X (1903-1914), whom he quotes a lot. Said pope returned the favor and his warm recommendation is printed in the front pages of my edition of Chautard's book. In addition to heavily quoting Catholic writers, the book is clearly addressed to Catholics and describes the interior life in terms of Catholic practices and Catholic piety. All Scripture quotes are from the Vulgate. The emphasis on Marian devotion was particularly off-putting.
But all that is the external trappings of a Catholic body within which resides a truly Christian soul. In spite of those Trappist trappings, I found the book helpful to me as a Protestant who desires to develop a better interior or devotional life of prayer and communion with God. Here are some of the things I took away from the book that were helpful to me.
First, I liked Chautard's teaching on the life of Christ in us and the need to actively pursue a living relationship with Christ. He bases his whole book on the teaching of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). He refers frequently to the parable of the vine and the branches (John 15). He writes:
"I would deprive 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: especially to obtain that this presence be to me a living reality, penetrating 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 consolation, my joy, my love, in a word, my life, I shall acquire all virtues" (p. 16).
The Trappist monks were a reform of the Cistercians, and the Cistercians were a monastic reform movement led by Bernard of Clairvaux. It is not surprising then to hear echoes of Bernard in this Trappist monk.
Second, Chautard's emphasis on the importance of the Eucharist in shaping and informing one's personal devotional life was good. Of course, I don't hold to the Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation or the idea that the mass is a sacrifice or the idea that the priest is "another Christ" who says, "This is *my* body" (not "This is the body of Christ") - ideas which of course do come up in the book. Yet you don't have to agree with those specific Catholic doctrines to appreciate the basic idea that frequent communion ought to be the norm for the Christian, and that the more we come to receive Christ in the sacrament the more we will grow in our personal devotion to Christ and develop a living relationship with him. Chautard says, "The Eucharistic life is the life of our Lord in us" (p. 178). "The Liturgy is the School of the Presence of God, and of the Presence of God as He has shown it in the Incarnation! Or rather, the School of the Presence of Jesus and of Charity" (p. 241).
Third, Chautard describes the interior life as more than just the spiritual disciplines (use of the sacraments, prayer, Scripture reading, having a spiritual director, etc.). The spiritual disciplines are very important to maintaining the interior life, but the interior life itself is something deeper. The interior life is prayerfulness, but it is more than being prayerful. It is communion with the Triune God, focusing specifically on the soul's life with, in, and under Christ crucified and risen. It is a relationship with the living Christ. And it is communion with Christ with the aim of seeking greater conformity to Christ, or what we would call sanctification. Thus Chautard speaks at length about the importance of self-examination, searching out one's sins, repenting of them, and seeking to grow in holiness and virtue, not by doing anything in the first place but by talking to the Lord about it and seeking a changed heart that longs to do his will and be more holy just as he is holy.
Fourth, I like Chautard's teaching on the mystery of the cross. The interior life has to do with the affections and the will. Our affections must go out to Christ, in view of his love when he gave himself to us on the cross. Our wills must submit to Christ in order to endure suffering, to be conformed to him in his sufferings, and to learn the sweetness of submitting to God's will, just as Jesus who yielded to the Father, "Yet not my will, but thy will be done." Chautard writes: "The sole end of all interior life [is] to put to death the old man, so that Thou, O Jesus, mayest live and reign in his place" (p. 218).
As a Protestant, I found some aspects of the book a bit uncongenial. There were a lot of references to 19th century Catholic figures. Aquinas, Bernard, and Bonaventure are quoted frequently. Chautard seemed to be particularly impressed with the piety of Pope Pius X (1903-1914), whom he quotes a lot. Said pope returned the favor and his warm recommendation is printed in the front pages of my edition of Chautard's book. In addition to heavily quoting Catholic writers, the book is clearly addressed to Catholics and describes the interior life in terms of Catholic practices and Catholic piety. All Scripture quotes are from the Vulgate. The emphasis on Marian devotion was particularly off-putting.
But all that is the external trappings of a Catholic body within which resides a truly Christian soul. In spite of those Trappist trappings, I found the book helpful to me as a Protestant who desires to develop a better interior or devotional life of prayer and communion with God. Here are some of the things I took away from the book that were helpful to me.
First, I liked Chautard's teaching on the life of Christ in us and the need to actively pursue a living relationship with Christ. He bases his whole book on the teaching of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). He refers frequently to the parable of the vine and the branches (John 15). He writes:
"I would deprive 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: especially to obtain that this presence be to me a living reality, penetrating 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 consolation, my joy, my love, in a word, my life, I shall acquire all virtues" (p. 16).
The Trappist monks were a reform of the Cistercians, and the Cistercians were a monastic reform movement led by Bernard of Clairvaux. It is not surprising then to hear echoes of Bernard in this Trappist monk.
Second, Chautard's emphasis on the importance of the Eucharist in shaping and informing one's personal devotional life was good. Of course, I don't hold to the Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation or the idea that the mass is a sacrifice or the idea that the priest is "another Christ" who says, "This is *my* body" (not "This is the body of Christ") - ideas which of course do come up in the book. Yet you don't have to agree with those specific Catholic doctrines to appreciate the basic idea that frequent communion ought to be the norm for the Christian, and that the more we come to receive Christ in the sacrament the more we will grow in our personal devotion to Christ and develop a living relationship with him. Chautard says, "The Eucharistic life is the life of our Lord in us" (p. 178). "The Liturgy is the School of the Presence of God, and of the Presence of God as He has shown it in the Incarnation! Or rather, the School of the Presence of Jesus and of Charity" (p. 241).
Third, Chautard describes the interior life as more than just the spiritual disciplines (use of the sacraments, prayer, Scripture reading, having a spiritual director, etc.). The spiritual disciplines are very important to maintaining the interior life, but the interior life itself is something deeper. The interior life is prayerfulness, but it is more than being prayerful. It is communion with the Triune God, focusing specifically on the soul's life with, in, and under Christ crucified and risen. It is a relationship with the living Christ. And it is communion with Christ with the aim of seeking greater conformity to Christ, or what we would call sanctification. Thus Chautard speaks at length about the importance of self-examination, searching out one's sins, repenting of them, and seeking to grow in holiness and virtue, not by doing anything in the first place but by talking to the Lord about it and seeking a changed heart that longs to do his will and be more holy just as he is holy.
Fourth, I like Chautard's teaching on the mystery of the cross. The interior life has to do with the affections and the will. Our affections must go out to Christ, in view of his love when he gave himself to us on the cross. Our wills must submit to Christ in order to endure suffering, to be conformed to him in his sufferings, and to learn the sweetness of submitting to God's will, just as Jesus who yielded to the Father, "Yet not my will, but thy will be done." Chautard writes: "The sole end of all interior life [is] to put to death the old man, so that Thou, O Jesus, mayest live and reign in his place" (p. 218).
August 8, 2024
Read this book!!!!!
Written in such a way that it inspires and motivates as well as gives concrete and practical ways to develop an interior life. This book is for anyone living an active life/apostolate and wanting to love God more! I love the emphasis on the Cross and Our Lady 💙
Custody of heart…everything for God, because He is God and deserves it all!
Written in such a way that it inspires and motivates as well as gives concrete and practical ways to develop an interior life. This book is for anyone living an active life/apostolate and wanting to love God more! I love the emphasis on the Cross and Our Lady 💙
Custody of heart…everything for God, because He is God and deserves it all!
July 28, 2023
As we are all called to be missionary disciples, this book is an excellent in depth proposition that all ministry must flow from the interior life. There is no secret formula for a successful ministry other than one’s own interior.
December 5, 2023
A great book to read for anyone entering into ministry. Lots of great nuggets of wisdom on the interior life. It is an older book so it does wind on a bit longer than it needs to in my.opinion but lots of worthwhile things in there.
September 23, 2020
Love that book, especially the stories, example this one!!!
"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 secularization 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 favor 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, al-though exiled from her, than you would by staying
in your native land, though deprived of the treasure of your consecration to God.”
"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 secularization 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 favor 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, al-though exiled from her, than you would by staying
in your native land, though deprived of the treasure of your consecration to God.”
July 8, 2021
I have read this book twice, once in seminary and once eight years ordained. Not an introductory work on the spiritual life, but an essential work for anyone engaged in any kind of active apostolate, especially "full time"—whether clerical or lay.
April 27, 2015
Took me a while to read and soak this one in, but it's definitely worth it! Dom Chautard's own interior life shines through the words in his work, making it evident that to bear any fruit we must cling to the Vine Himself
February 22, 2017
This book has a lot of MEAT. More people should savour the juicy thickness of this meat. It takes you by the hand from technical comparisons between active work without interior life and active work imbued with interior life, to the contemplation of the core of the interior life itself.
May 22, 2022
A must read for any catholic especially those involved in the apostolate/evangelization.
The interior life always comes first.
The interior life always comes first.
April 14, 2025
Such a good book on prayer!! Emphasizes the importance of the interior life and how it relates to the active life, and gives practical tips for mental prayer. This book (esp second half) made me want to pray more than any other book ever has!
June 18, 2025
The content of the book is excellent and very much needed given the state of the Church. However I think a revised translation is needed.
December 23, 2025
Excellent book, but it becomes repetitive and tangential after the halfway point.
July 16, 2024
It is through men that men are to find out the way of salvation.
The truth is the principle on which our conduct ought to be based.
My outward acts become the manifestation of the life of Jesus in me.
When Jesus becomes my light, my ideal, my council, my support, my refuge, my strength, my healer, my consolation, my joy, my love, my life, I shall acquire all the virtues.
My interior life will be no better than my custody of the heart.
This custody of the heart is simply a habitual, or at least frequent anxiety to preserve all my acts, as they arise, from everything that might spoil their motive or execution.
Where am I going and why? What would Jesus do? How would he act in my place? What advice would he give me? What does he want from me at this moment? Such are the questions that spring up spontaneously in the soul that is hungry for interior life.
If I am willing to pray and become faithful to grace, Jesus offers me every means of returning to an inner life that will restore to me my intimacy with him, and will enable me to develop his life in myself. This life gains ground within me, my soul will not cease to possess joy, even in the thick of trials.
My efforts, by themselves are nothing. They will only be useful, and blessed by God, if by means of genuine interior life, are you them constantly to the life-giving actions of Jesus. Then they will become all powerful.
The end of human creatures is union with God; and in this their happiness consists.
Saint Bernard said regarding people who took scandal at the austerity of his life, “they see the cross, but do not see the consolations.”
Ever be mindful of God, and your mind will become his heaven. Saint Ephrem
From the interior life of the father and the son proceeds the Holy Ghost. The inner life that was communicated to the apostles in the upper room at once aroused them to zealous action.
The life of prayer is a source of activity beyond compare.
The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. This is applicable in a most special way to the life of prayer.
The interior life offers us the most satisfaction here on earth. It makes up not so much a man’s profession as the man himself.
To acquire an interior life, one must strive, under all circumstances, to keep united with Jesus and thus to keep his eye on the end he has in view.
We must devote all our energies to keeping the heart fixed up on the invisible beauty of the virtues to be acquired, that we may imitate those of Christ. We must endeavour to maintain even the smallest details of life and absolute confidence in Providence.
Be more avid for the God of consolations than for the consolations of God.
Like Pastor, like parish.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori said, “I love Jesus Christ, and that is why I am on fire with the desire to give him souls, first of all my own, and then and incalculable number of others.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, “the contemplative life is by its very nature better and more effective than the active life.”
Regarding the interior life, Saint Bernard said, “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.“
Good works, should be an overflow from the inner life.
By the sacraments, and especially by the Eucharist, Jesus Christ comes down to enrich us with his grace without measure.
Our interior life ought to be the stem, filled with a vigourous sap, of which our works are the flowers.
Saint Bernard said, “if you are wise, you will be reservoirs and not channels.“
A mother cannot suckle her child except in so far as she feeds herself. The interior life alone can transform divine truth and charity in us, to a truly life-giving nourishment for others.
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.
Action relies upon contemplation for its fruitfulness; and contemplation, as soon as it has reached a certain degree of intensity, pours out upon our active works some of its overflow.
In Saint Bernard, 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.
Saint Jane Chantal: “the greatest happiness here below is to be able to converse with God.“
The true apostolate consists of union of two lives: contemplative and active.
The proof of love is in works of self denial, and this proof of devotion is something God demands of all his workers.
Without an interior life, the active worker, inevitably slides into tepidity.
Saint Alphonsus said, short of a miracle, a man who does not practice mental prayer will end up in mortal sin.
The sacraments are vital energy.
Holiness is close union with the will of God.
Active work should be a means of sanctification.
Those who put up a fight against imperfections will see them become less and less serious and frequent as the soul learns to return, tirelessly, to Christ.
A man a prayer radiates hope. He has the conviction that happiness is to be found in God and in him alone.
The more of soul is United to Christ, the more it shares and his kindness.
St. Vincent de Paul said, we will never be any use in doing God‘s work until we become thoroughly convinced that, of ourselves, we are better fitted to ruin everything than to make a success of it. Humility breathes the sweet fragrance of dependence on God.
Saints copy their master.
For a soul of interior life teaching a catechism lesson is like a harp that sounds under the fingers of the divine musician. No human artistry, no matter how wonderful, can be compared to the action of Jesus on the soul.
No man is capable of being his own guide.
Points to be taken up in SPIRITUAL DIRECTION for beginners: 1. PEACE. Find out if the soul has genuine peace. 2. A HIGH IDEAL. Find out the best means of reviving its desire to live more seriously for Jesus Christ, and of breaking down the obstacles which hinder the development of Grace in it. Get the soul to aim higher and higher all the time. 3. PRAYER. Find out how the soul prays and, in particular, analyze its degree of fidelity to mental prayer. 4. SELF-DENIAL. Find out what manner of self denial is practised, whether through hatred of sin or love of God. How well is custody of the heart kept?
The efficacy of an apostate almost invariably corresponds to the degree of Eucharistic life acquired by a soul.
Saint Teresa of Avila said, the person who is fully determined to make a half hour mental prayer every morning, cost what it may, has already travelled half his journey.
The soul that pays attention to what is going on inside itself and is sensitive to the presence of the most holy Trinity within it, acquires an almost instinctive habit of turning to Jesus in every situation.
If I practice mental prayer, I am clad, as it were, in steel armour and am invulnerable to the shafts of the enemy. Without mental prayer, I will certainly be wounded.
Saint Teresa Ávila said, mental prayer is nothing but a friendly conversation in which the soul speaks heart to heart with the one who we know loves us.
Mental prayer is a loving conversation. A simple conversation. A practical conversation.
The whole success of mental prayer depends often enough on how attentively we consider the fact that the one to whom we speak is actually living and present before us.
A soul pestered by distractions, but who patiently comes back, each day, like a good child, to talk with God is making first-rate mental prayer.
“To make a lame man walk without a limp is less absurd than to try and succeed without thee, my savior.” Saint Augustine.
The sole end of the interior life is to put to death, the old man that Jesus may reign in his place.
Union with somebody else’s prayer can lead one to a high degree of prayer. Take the case of the peasant who offered to carry the baggage of Saint Ignatius and his companions. When he noticed that, as soon as they arrived at some inn, the fathers hastened to find some quiet spot and recollect themselves before God, he did as they did, and fell on his knees too. One day they asked him what he did when he thus recollected himself, and he answered: “all I do is say: “Lord, these men are saints, and I am their packhorse. Whatever they do, I want to be doing too’; and so that is what I offer up to God“.
The great prayer, and the favourite channel of Grace is liturgical prayer, the prayer of the church herself, more powerful than the prayer of a single individual.
In the liturgy, everything is done in common in the name of all, for the benefit of all. All the prayers are said in the plural.
In liturgical prayer, I’m not only sanctifying myself, I am also contributing to the increase of beauty and the working for sanctification of all the children of the church.
It is a greater work to make a just man out of a sinner, then to create heaven and earth. Saint Augustine.
I am a carefully chosen, living stone, polished by tribulations, by the blows of the life, giving chisel, by ceaseless, relentless work of the Masons hammer.
When you arrived at the age of reason, you accepted, as the expression of absolute truth, everything that mother told you. So must you also with the same simplicity and artlessness receive from your mother, the church all that she is about to give you to nourish your faith. The more I make myself the soul of a child the more I will profit by the riches of the liturgy, and will allow myself to be possessed by the poetry that lives in it. And that will be the measure of my progress in the liturgical spirit.
By my union with him, I shall learn to get profit out of the crosses of this mortal life.
How is purity of intention to be acquired? It is acquired by close attention to ourselves at the beginning and above all during the course of our actions.
My interior life will be what my custody of heart is.
Abiding me and I and you. That sums up the principles of the interior life.
Do what you are doing – that is to say: apply yourself totally to the matter at hand.
Happiness in this life depends on our union with Jesus and a blessed sacrament.
The truth is the principle on which our conduct ought to be based.
My outward acts become the manifestation of the life of Jesus in me.
When Jesus becomes my light, my ideal, my council, my support, my refuge, my strength, my healer, my consolation, my joy, my love, my life, I shall acquire all the virtues.
My interior life will be no better than my custody of the heart.
This custody of the heart is simply a habitual, or at least frequent anxiety to preserve all my acts, as they arise, from everything that might spoil their motive or execution.
Where am I going and why? What would Jesus do? How would he act in my place? What advice would he give me? What does he want from me at this moment? Such are the questions that spring up spontaneously in the soul that is hungry for interior life.
If I am willing to pray and become faithful to grace, Jesus offers me every means of returning to an inner life that will restore to me my intimacy with him, and will enable me to develop his life in myself. This life gains ground within me, my soul will not cease to possess joy, even in the thick of trials.
My efforts, by themselves are nothing. They will only be useful, and blessed by God, if by means of genuine interior life, are you them constantly to the life-giving actions of Jesus. Then they will become all powerful.
The end of human creatures is union with God; and in this their happiness consists.
Saint Bernard said regarding people who took scandal at the austerity of his life, “they see the cross, but do not see the consolations.”
Ever be mindful of God, and your mind will become his heaven. Saint Ephrem
From the interior life of the father and the son proceeds the Holy Ghost. The inner life that was communicated to the apostles in the upper room at once aroused them to zealous action.
The life of prayer is a source of activity beyond compare.
The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. This is applicable in a most special way to the life of prayer.
The interior life offers us the most satisfaction here on earth. It makes up not so much a man’s profession as the man himself.
To acquire an interior life, one must strive, under all circumstances, to keep united with Jesus and thus to keep his eye on the end he has in view.
We must devote all our energies to keeping the heart fixed up on the invisible beauty of the virtues to be acquired, that we may imitate those of Christ. We must endeavour to maintain even the smallest details of life and absolute confidence in Providence.
Be more avid for the God of consolations than for the consolations of God.
Like Pastor, like parish.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori said, “I love Jesus Christ, and that is why I am on fire with the desire to give him souls, first of all my own, and then and incalculable number of others.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, “the contemplative life is by its very nature better and more effective than the active life.”
Regarding the interior life, Saint Bernard said, “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.“
Good works, should be an overflow from the inner life.
By the sacraments, and especially by the Eucharist, Jesus Christ comes down to enrich us with his grace without measure.
Our interior life ought to be the stem, filled with a vigourous sap, of which our works are the flowers.
Saint Bernard said, “if you are wise, you will be reservoirs and not channels.“
A mother cannot suckle her child except in so far as she feeds herself. The interior life alone can transform divine truth and charity in us, to a truly life-giving nourishment for others.
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.
Action relies upon contemplation for its fruitfulness; and contemplation, as soon as it has reached a certain degree of intensity, pours out upon our active works some of its overflow.
In Saint Bernard, 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.
Saint Jane Chantal: “the greatest happiness here below is to be able to converse with God.“
The true apostolate consists of union of two lives: contemplative and active.
The proof of love is in works of self denial, and this proof of devotion is something God demands of all his workers.
Without an interior life, the active worker, inevitably slides into tepidity.
Saint Alphonsus said, short of a miracle, a man who does not practice mental prayer will end up in mortal sin.
The sacraments are vital energy.
Holiness is close union with the will of God.
Active work should be a means of sanctification.
Those who put up a fight against imperfections will see them become less and less serious and frequent as the soul learns to return, tirelessly, to Christ.
A man a prayer radiates hope. He has the conviction that happiness is to be found in God and in him alone.
The more of soul is United to Christ, the more it shares and his kindness.
St. Vincent de Paul said, we will never be any use in doing God‘s work until we become thoroughly convinced that, of ourselves, we are better fitted to ruin everything than to make a success of it. Humility breathes the sweet fragrance of dependence on God.
Saints copy their master.
For a soul of interior life teaching a catechism lesson is like a harp that sounds under the fingers of the divine musician. No human artistry, no matter how wonderful, can be compared to the action of Jesus on the soul.
No man is capable of being his own guide.
Points to be taken up in SPIRITUAL DIRECTION for beginners: 1. PEACE. Find out if the soul has genuine peace. 2. A HIGH IDEAL. Find out the best means of reviving its desire to live more seriously for Jesus Christ, and of breaking down the obstacles which hinder the development of Grace in it. Get the soul to aim higher and higher all the time. 3. PRAYER. Find out how the soul prays and, in particular, analyze its degree of fidelity to mental prayer. 4. SELF-DENIAL. Find out what manner of self denial is practised, whether through hatred of sin or love of God. How well is custody of the heart kept?
The efficacy of an apostate almost invariably corresponds to the degree of Eucharistic life acquired by a soul.
Saint Teresa of Avila said, the person who is fully determined to make a half hour mental prayer every morning, cost what it may, has already travelled half his journey.
The soul that pays attention to what is going on inside itself and is sensitive to the presence of the most holy Trinity within it, acquires an almost instinctive habit of turning to Jesus in every situation.
If I practice mental prayer, I am clad, as it were, in steel armour and am invulnerable to the shafts of the enemy. Without mental prayer, I will certainly be wounded.
Saint Teresa Ávila said, mental prayer is nothing but a friendly conversation in which the soul speaks heart to heart with the one who we know loves us.
Mental prayer is a loving conversation. A simple conversation. A practical conversation.
The whole success of mental prayer depends often enough on how attentively we consider the fact that the one to whom we speak is actually living and present before us.
A soul pestered by distractions, but who patiently comes back, each day, like a good child, to talk with God is making first-rate mental prayer.
“To make a lame man walk without a limp is less absurd than to try and succeed without thee, my savior.” Saint Augustine.
The sole end of the interior life is to put to death, the old man that Jesus may reign in his place.
Union with somebody else’s prayer can lead one to a high degree of prayer. Take the case of the peasant who offered to carry the baggage of Saint Ignatius and his companions. When he noticed that, as soon as they arrived at some inn, the fathers hastened to find some quiet spot and recollect themselves before God, he did as they did, and fell on his knees too. One day they asked him what he did when he thus recollected himself, and he answered: “all I do is say: “Lord, these men are saints, and I am their packhorse. Whatever they do, I want to be doing too’; and so that is what I offer up to God“.
The great prayer, and the favourite channel of Grace is liturgical prayer, the prayer of the church herself, more powerful than the prayer of a single individual.
In the liturgy, everything is done in common in the name of all, for the benefit of all. All the prayers are said in the plural.
In liturgical prayer, I’m not only sanctifying myself, I am also contributing to the increase of beauty and the working for sanctification of all the children of the church.
It is a greater work to make a just man out of a sinner, then to create heaven and earth. Saint Augustine.
I am a carefully chosen, living stone, polished by tribulations, by the blows of the life, giving chisel, by ceaseless, relentless work of the Masons hammer.
When you arrived at the age of reason, you accepted, as the expression of absolute truth, everything that mother told you. So must you also with the same simplicity and artlessness receive from your mother, the church all that she is about to give you to nourish your faith. The more I make myself the soul of a child the more I will profit by the riches of the liturgy, and will allow myself to be possessed by the poetry that lives in it. And that will be the measure of my progress in the liturgical spirit.
By my union with him, I shall learn to get profit out of the crosses of this mortal life.
How is purity of intention to be acquired? It is acquired by close attention to ourselves at the beginning and above all during the course of our actions.
My interior life will be what my custody of heart is.
Abiding me and I and you. That sums up the principles of the interior life.
Do what you are doing – that is to say: apply yourself totally to the matter at hand.
Happiness in this life depends on our union with Jesus and a blessed sacrament.
July 14, 2023
I’m a fraud and didn’t actually finish the book- didn’t love it so was hard to finish. (If I ever want to pick the book back go to 202)
July 2, 2014
"The Soul of the Apostolate" is a book that was written to remind us of something that should be obvious to us but is not - that there is nothing in this life that is more important to us than our relationship with God. The author, Dom Jean Baptiste Chautard, was a French Trappist monk from the turn of the 20th Century who was instrumental in saving his order from bankruptcy and persecution from the French government. In the process, he learned that hard work and determination, things that we often hold in high esteem, in fact are useless in the Christian life without a solid spiritual life.
Why would one say that the spiritual life is more important than hard work in the ministry? Consider the case of a man with a wife and small children who works 80 hours per week at various jobs in order to provide for them. While this is admirable, what good does it do if the man's family does not even know him any more because he is working so many hours? So it is with the spiritual life. A Christian can get caught up in this ministry and that cause and pour his heart and soul as well as hours and hours into it. But if he does not keep a good spiritual life, his cause will become meaningless and his work less than futile.
Chautard teaches us how to maintain a good spiritual life, how to remain enthusiastic in our faith, and how to answer critics who insist, today perhaps even more so than in Chautard's time, that prayer is a waste of time and that works are what is important. With so many prominent Christians who have fallen from grace and retired into obscurity, this lesson is even more important now than ever.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in deepening their spiritual life.
Why would one say that the spiritual life is more important than hard work in the ministry? Consider the case of a man with a wife and small children who works 80 hours per week at various jobs in order to provide for them. While this is admirable, what good does it do if the man's family does not even know him any more because he is working so many hours? So it is with the spiritual life. A Christian can get caught up in this ministry and that cause and pour his heart and soul as well as hours and hours into it. But if he does not keep a good spiritual life, his cause will become meaningless and his work less than futile.
Chautard teaches us how to maintain a good spiritual life, how to remain enthusiastic in our faith, and how to answer critics who insist, today perhaps even more so than in Chautard's time, that prayer is a waste of time and that works are what is important. With so many prominent Christians who have fallen from grace and retired into obscurity, this lesson is even more important now than ever.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in deepening their spiritual life.
March 4, 2014
"Let us repeat it once again, the active life can and must only be, in any soul, the overflow of the interior life." Do you want to make deep and lasting impact in ministry? Do you wish to be effective in bringing Christ to others? Read this book!
How many good Christians throw themselves into the busy work of the apostolate without recognising that the key to effectiveness in God's Kingdom is a deep and thriving interior life? Dom Chautard lays out the principles of the interior life and gives convincing arguments about its absolute necessity and priority in relation to the active apostolate.
This book should be read by every Christian who takes the Great Commission seriously (that ought to be every Christian!) and its message put into practice. I wish I could give it 6 stars!
How many good Christians throw themselves into the busy work of the apostolate without recognising that the key to effectiveness in God's Kingdom is a deep and thriving interior life? Dom Chautard lays out the principles of the interior life and gives convincing arguments about its absolute necessity and priority in relation to the active apostolate.
This book should be read by every Christian who takes the Great Commission seriously (that ought to be every Christian!) and its message put into practice. I wish I could give it 6 stars!
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