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JMJ
I have been reading The Soul of the Apostolate by Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard - OCSO, and it has struck me that one of the roots of the crisis of the Church (emphasis - one of ) is the lack of an interiour life in the members of the Church.
I think that the following words are very applicable to this age:
May these humble pages go out to the soldiers of Christ, who, consumed as they are with zeal and ardor for their noble mission, might be exposed, because of the very activity they display, to the danger of not being, above all, men of interior life! For such men, when the day comes for this deficiency in their lives, to be punished, by failures no one seems able to explain and by serious spiritual collapse, may well be tempted to give up the fight and retire, in discouragement, behind the lines. The thoughts developed in this book have helped us, ourselves, to fight against an excessive exteriorization through good works. May they help others, also, to escape such a mishap, and lead the stream of their courageous action into better channels. May they show that we must never leave the God of works, for the works of God, and that St. Paul’s: “Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel” does not entitle us to forget: “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?”With what appears to be a collapse of the missionary spirit, the Church of Christ resembles in many ways just another NGO operating to make people's lives 'better'.
So with the closing of the Second Vatican Council, what was hidden before simply became manifest: The emptiness of soul - resulting in a systemic 'serious spiritual collapse'.
What is the remedy?
Simple - to first foster an thriving interiour life - then to seek to impart this grace to others!
That is the core of how we the Church of Christ will help Her to emerge from this crisis.
P^3
I have posted a link to a pdf of Soul of the Apostolate here for your edification.
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