Spiritual Handbook for Catholic Evangelists by Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard

Author:Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard [Chautard, Dom Jean-Baptiste]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Published: 2014-10-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The apostle sanctifies others through his interior life

In the Sermon on the Mount, our divine Savior says to His Apostles, “You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.”103 We are the salt of the earth in proportion to our holiness; but “if the salt lose its savor,” of what use is it? It is only fit to be cast out into the way and trampled upon.

But the pious apostle is truly the salt of the earth, a real agent of preservation from the corruption of human society. He is a shining light in the night of error, for the brightness of his example, more than his preaching, will dispel the darkness accumulated by the spirit of the world, and cause the ideal of true happiness, which Jesus Christ traced in the Eight Beatitudes, to reign in the hearts of the objects of his labor. That which is most capable of inducing the faithful to lead a truly Christian life is precisely the virtue of him who has to teach it. On the other hand, his weaknesses turn men away from God. “Through you the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles.”104 Wherefore, the apostle should on every occasion show the lighted torch of his good example rather than regale men with fine speeches; that is, he should take great care to practice what he preaches.

It has been aptly remarked that a physician can take proper care of the health of his patients, and cure them, even if he is ill himself; but to succeed in curing souls, we should have a healthy soul, for in this matter, the spiritual physician must impart something of himself, at least by his example. Men have the right to be exacting from him who pretends to reform them, and they soon discern whether the reformer’s actions agree with his teaching, or if his preaching is only deceptive speech.

How powerful, for instance, is the priest’s preaching on prayer if the people often witness him communing with our divine Savior in the tabernacle! How persuasive he will be when preaching on avoiding idleness, on doing penance, if he is always usefully employed and mortified! And if he is ever kind, charitable to all, even to the poor and to children, as a true imitator of Jesus Christ, how deeply will his exhortations sink into the hearts of his hearers, “whose pattern he is”!105

The teacher who is not an interior man considers that he has done his duty if he merely hears and explains the lessons of his pupils. If he were an interior man, a saying escaping from his heart, an expressive gesture or look, his very demeanor, his very manner of making the Sign of the Cross, of reciting the prayers before and at the end of class or school, might produce as good an impression as a good sermon!

A Sister in a hospital or in another institution possesses a power and an efficacious means of doing

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