I haven't read it, but I would be glad for any info given.

I read that book twice. The most recent time was 4 years ago.

But I remember the main idea of that book --

When trying to do good works (especially to convert people), our efforts will be fruitless if we cut out things like meditation, prayer, spiritual reading.

The book uses the analogy of a channel and a reservoir. A channel does no good if it has used up its water supply. To be fruitful in our active works, they must be motivated by a strong interior life (which brings us close to God, the source of all good).

It is very convincing. Now that I think about it, I'm sure many of its ideas, examples, etc. have faded from my mind -- at least from the top of my memory, and I should probably read it again.

VERY good spiritual reading; it's one of those books that everyone should read.

http://www.chantcd.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/189/

Matthew

From The Soul of the Apostolate, by Dom Chautard, OCSO.  The CAPS and the italics are in the original.

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.

Without embarking upon a study of asceticism, let us at least remind the reader that EVERYONE is obliged to accept the following principles as absolutely certain, and base his inner life upon them.

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 Ghost, He is its efficient cause in our souls.

The presence of Our Lord by this supernatural life is not the real presence proper to Holy Communion, but a presence of vital action like that of the action of the head or heart upon the members of the body.  This action lies deep within us, and God ordinarily hides it from the soul in order to increase the merit of our faith.  And so, as a rule, my natural faculties have no feeling of this action going on within me, which, however, I am formally obliged to believe by faith.  This action is divine, yet it does not interfere with my free will, and makes use of all secondary causes, events, persons, and things, to teach me the will of God and to offer me an opportunity of acquiring or increasing my share in the divine life.

This life, begun in Baptism by the state of grace, perfected at Confirmation, recovered by Penance and enriched by the Holy Eucharist, is my Christian life.

Dom Chautard explains 11 truths central to the interior life.  I will get them all up, but it will (probably) take a couple of weeks.

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 becomes, in this manner, 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.

Firstly, I would like to give my sincere thanks to Gladius for posting these passages from The Soul of the Apostolate a book which has been one of my favorites ever since I was introduced to it at the seminary.  Secondly I in no way intend to steal Gladius' "thunder" but since I perhaps have a bit more time than he does and easier access to the internet I thought I would help out by providing/continuing the passages.  This is a book which every Catholic should read at least once in his lifetime but ideally should be a constant source of nourishment for one's soul.  Sometimes I believe too many Traditional Catholics dwell more on the problems of the Novus Ordo rather than developing an integrally Catholic life and The Soul of the Apostolate would certainly help in this sublime goal.  This is something I know I must be wary of since we can so easily become bitter because of this Crisis which inevitably prevents us from working effectively for the restoration of Christendom in our world.  

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:

1. By each meritorious act (virtue, work, suffering under all its varying forms, such as privation of creatures, physical or moral pain, humiliation, self-denial; prayer, Mass, acts of devotion to Our Lady, etc.).

2. By the Sacraments especially the Eucharist.
It is certain, then (and here is a consequence that overwhelms me with its sublimity and its depth, but above all, fills me with courage and with joy), it is certain that, by every event, person or thing, Thou, Jesus, Thou Thyself, dost present Thyself, objectively, to me, at every instant of the day. Thou dost hide Thy wisdom and Thy love beneath the appearances and dost request my co-operation to increase Thy life in myself.

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?

Thank you, Alex.  I got busy with sundry matters, and could not get on-line much.  Btw, I still intend to burn that talk on CD for you.  Gaudete!!!!  Christus natus est.