The Dangers of an Active Life without an Interior Life: Part Sixteen

Following on from yesterday's post, Dom Chautard provides some examples of people who woke up - on their deathbed - to their self-deception of using their apostolate to serve themselves humanly speaking, instead of towards their own salvation or fostering of their interior lives.

Far be it from us, of course, to include among these self-preaching apostles so zealous and powerful a missionary as was the famous Fr. Combalot. But surely it is not out of place at this point to quote what he said at the approach of death. The priest who had just administered the last Sacraments said to him: “Have confidence, dear friend. You have preserved all your priestly integrity, and your thousands of sermons will argue in your behalf before God, to excuse this lack of inner life of which you speak.” “My sermons!” cried the dying man, “Oh what a light I see them in now! My sermons! If Our Lord is not the first in bringing up the subject of them, you can be sure that I won’t mention it!” In the light of eternity, this venerable priest saw, in the very best of his good works, imperfections that filled his conscience with alarm, and which he attributed to a lack of interior life. 

Cardinal du Perron, at the hour of his death, expressed his sorrow at having been more devoted, during his life, to perfecting his intellect by science than his will by the exercises of the interior life.

May this never happen to us. 

We only have one shot at this. There are no do-overs. Start now, before it is too late. If you have already started, keep at it.