Sunday, June 16, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The SOUL of the APOSTOLATE By Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard, O.C.S.O.
Pope St. Pius X said, "If you desire that God should bless your apostolate and make it fruitful, undertake everything for His glory, saturate yourself and your devoted fellow-workers with the spirit of Jesus Christ, animating yourself and them with an intense interior life. To this end, I can offer you no better guide than The Soul of the Apostolate by Dom Chautard, Cistercian Abbot. I warmly recommend this book to you, as I value it very highly, and have myself made it my bedside book."
.pdf of The Soul of the Apostolate
"If there is one concept that is capable of summing up Dom Chautard’s spirituality, it is one which is sometimes seen written, most appropriately, over the doors of Cistercian monasteries: “GOD ALONE.” Not contemplation, not action, not works, not rest, not this or that particular thing, but God in everything, God in anything, God in His will, God in other men, God present in his own soul. To do whatever God willed, to suffer whatever He willed, that was enough for Dom Chautard, because all he asked was the opportunity to give himself, to give his will, utterly, without recall, to the infinite Wisdom and Love Who created and redeemed us all." ~ Biographical Note
by Thomas Merton
PART ONE ACTIVE WORKS AND THE INTERIOR LIFE: WHAT THEY MEAN
1. God Wants Good Works and, Therefore, He Wants Zealous Action
2. God Wills That the Life-Principle of Our Work Be Christ Himself
3. What Is the Interior Life? In this book the words life of prayer, contemplative life will be applied, as they are in the Imitation of Christ to the state of those souls who have dedicated themselves to a Christian life which is at the same time out of the common, and accessible to all, and, in substance, obligatory for all.
FIRST TRUTH. Supernatural life is the life of Jesus Christ Himself in my soul, by Faith, Hope, and Charity; for Jesus is the meritorious, exemplary, and final cause of sanctifying grace, and, as Word, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is its efficient cause in our souls
SECOND TRUTH. By this life, Jesus Christ imparts to me His Spirit. In this way, He becomes the principle of a superior activity which raises me up, provided I do not obstruct it, to think, judge, love, will, suffer, labor with Him, by Him, in Him, and like Him. My outward acts become the manifestations of this life of Jesus in me. And thus I tend to realize the ideal of the INTERIOR LIFE that was formulated by St. Paul when he said: “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
THIRD TRUTH. I would be depriving myself of one of the most effective means of
acquiring this interior life if I failed to strive after a precise and certain faith in the active
presence of Jesus within me, and if I did not try to make this presence within me, not
merely a living, but an extremely vital reality, and one which penetrated more and more into all the life of my faculties. When Jesus, in this manner, becomes my light, my ideal,
my counsel, my support, my refuge, my strength, my healer, my consolation, my joy, my
love, in a word, my life, I shall acquire all the virtues. Then alone will I be able to utter,
with sincerity, the wonderful prayer of St. Bonaventure which the Church gives me for
my thanksgiving after Mass: Transfige dulcissime Domine Jesu.
FOURTH TRUTH. In proportion to the intensity of my love for God, my
supernatural life may increase at every moment by a new infusion of the grace of the
active presence of Jesus in me; an infusion produced:
O my soul, at every instant Jesus presents Himself to you by the GRACE OF THE
PRESENT MOMENT — every time there is a prayer to say, a Mass to celebrate or to
hear, reading to be done, or acts of patience, of zeal, of renunciation, of struggle,
confidence, or love to be produced. Would you dare look the other way, or try to avoid
His gaze?
FIFTH TRUTH. The triple concupiscence caused by original sin and increased by
every one of my actual sins establishes elements of death that militate against the life of
Jesus in me. Now in exact proportion as these elements develop in me, they diminish the
exercise of that life. Alas! They may even go so far as to destroy it outright.
SIXTH TRUTH. If I am not faithful in the use of certain means, my intelligence will
become blind and my will too weak to cooperate with Jesus in the increase, or even in the
maintenance of His life in me. And the result will be a progressive diminution of that life:
I shall find myself slipping into tepidity of the will.10 Through dissipation, cowardice,
self-delusion, or blindness, I tend to compromise with venial sin. But therefore my whole
salvation is in danger, since I am paving the way to mortal sin
SEVENTH TRUTH. I must seriously fear that I do not have the degree of interior
life that Jesus demands of me
EIGHTH TRUTH. My interior life will be no better than my custody of my heart.
“Before all things keep a guard over thy heart, for from it springs forth ife.”
NINTH TRUTH. Jesus Christ reigns in a soul that aspires to imitate Him seriously,
wholly, lovingly.
TENTH TRUTH. No matter what my condition may be, if I am only 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.
ELEVENTH TRUTH. If God calls me to apply my activity not only to my own
sanctification, but also to good works, I must establish this firm conviction, before
everything else, in my mind: Jesus has got to be, and wishes to be, the life of these works.
4. Ignorance and Neglect of This Interior Life
St. Gregory the Great, who was as skillful an administrator and as zealous an apostle
as he was great in contemplation, sums up in two words, Secum vivebat (He lived with
himself), the state of soul of St. Benedict, when, at Subiaco, he was laying the foundation
for that Rule which was to become one of the most powerful apostolic instruments God
has ever used upon this earth.
5. Reply to a First Objection: Is the Interior Life Lazy?
This book is addressed to such active workers as are animated with a burning desire
to spend themselves, but who are liable to neglect the necessary measures to keep their
devoted work fruitful for souls, without wreaking havoc on their own inner life.
[and there is more!!!]
.pdf of The Soul of the Apostolate
by Thomas Merton
PART ONE ACTIVE WORKS AND THE INTERIOR LIFE: WHAT THEY MEAN
1. God Wants Good Works and, Therefore, He Wants Zealous Action
2. God Wills That the Life-Principle of Our Work Be Christ Himself
3. What Is the Interior Life? In this book the words life of prayer, contemplative life will be applied, as they are in the Imitation of Christ to the state of those souls who have dedicated themselves to a Christian life which is at the same time out of the common, and accessible to all, and, in substance, obligatory for all.
FIRST TRUTH. Supernatural life is the life of Jesus Christ Himself in my soul, by Faith, Hope, and Charity; for Jesus is the meritorious, exemplary, and final cause of sanctifying grace, and, as Word, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is its efficient cause in our souls
SECOND TRUTH. By this life, Jesus Christ imparts to me His Spirit. In this way, He becomes the principle of a superior activity which raises me up, provided I do not obstruct it, to think, judge, love, will, suffer, labor with Him, by Him, in Him, and like Him. My outward acts become the manifestations of this life of Jesus in me. And thus I tend to realize the ideal of the INTERIOR LIFE that was formulated by St. Paul when he said: “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
THIRD TRUTH. I would be depriving myself of one of the most effective means of
acquiring this interior life if I failed to strive after a precise and certain faith in the active
presence of Jesus within me, and if I did not try to make this presence within me, not
merely a living, but an extremely vital reality, and one which penetrated more and more into all the life of my faculties. When Jesus, in this manner, becomes my light, my ideal,
my counsel, my support, my refuge, my strength, my healer, my consolation, my joy, my
love, in a word, my life, I shall acquire all the virtues. Then alone will I be able to utter,
with sincerity, the wonderful prayer of St. Bonaventure which the Church gives me for
my thanksgiving after Mass: Transfige dulcissime Domine Jesu.
FOURTH TRUTH. In proportion to the intensity of my love for God, my
supernatural life may increase at every moment by a new infusion of the grace of the
active presence of Jesus in me; an infusion produced:
O my soul, at every instant Jesus presents Himself to you by the GRACE OF THE
PRESENT MOMENT — every time there is a prayer to say, a Mass to celebrate or to
hear, reading to be done, or acts of patience, of zeal, of renunciation, of struggle,
confidence, or love to be produced. Would you dare look the other way, or try to avoid
His gaze?
FIFTH TRUTH. The triple concupiscence caused by original sin and increased by
every one of my actual sins establishes elements of death that militate against the life of
Jesus in me. Now in exact proportion as these elements develop in me, they diminish the
exercise of that life. Alas! They may even go so far as to destroy it outright.
SIXTH TRUTH. If I am not faithful in the use of certain means, my intelligence will
become blind and my will too weak to cooperate with Jesus in the increase, or even in the
maintenance of His life in me. And the result will be a progressive diminution of that life:
I shall find myself slipping into tepidity of the will.10 Through dissipation, cowardice,
self-delusion, or blindness, I tend to compromise with venial sin. But therefore my whole
salvation is in danger, since I am paving the way to mortal sin
SEVENTH TRUTH. I must seriously fear that I do not have the degree of interior
life that Jesus demands of me
EIGHTH TRUTH. My interior life will be no better than my custody of my heart.
“Before all things keep a guard over thy heart, for from it springs forth ife.”
NINTH TRUTH. Jesus Christ reigns in a soul that aspires to imitate Him seriously,
wholly, lovingly.
TENTH TRUTH. No matter what my condition may be, if I am only 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.
ELEVENTH TRUTH. If God calls me to apply my activity not only to my own
sanctification, but also to good works, I must establish this firm conviction, before
everything else, in my mind: Jesus has got to be, and wishes to be, the life of these works.
4. Ignorance and Neglect of This Interior Life
St. Gregory the Great, who was as skillful an administrator and as zealous an apostle
as he was great in contemplation, sums up in two words, Secum vivebat (He lived with
himself), the state of soul of St. Benedict, when, at Subiaco, he was laying the foundation
for that Rule which was to become one of the most powerful apostolic instruments God
has ever used upon this earth.
5. Reply to a First Objection: Is the Interior Life Lazy?
This book is addressed to such active workers as are animated with a burning desire
to spend themselves, but who are liable to neglect the necessary measures to keep their
devoted work fruitful for souls, without wreaking havoc on their own inner life.
[and there is more!!!]
Monday, June 10, 2013
The Grace of the Present Moment
Being attentive to the grace of the present moment is an approach to life associated with Jean-Pierre de Caussade. The classic work attributed to him, Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, describes the practice in these terms:
What happens at each moment bears the imprint of the will of God and of his adorable name. How holy is that name! How just, then, to bless it, to treat it as a sacrament which hallows by its own power souls which place no obstacle to its action! Can we see what bears this august name without esteeming it infinitely? It is a divine manna which falls from heaven in order to give us a constant increase in grace.
~ Andrew Ryder
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