Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard, in his book The Soul of the Apostolate, pointed out that spiritual direction and love for the Holy Eucharist are very important for the formation of truly apostolic lay people.
Four points to be taken up in the beginning of spiritual direction are: peace, high idea, prayer, and self-denial.
Regarding peace, Dom Chautard wrote, “Find out if the soul has genuine peace, not simply the peace which the world gives, or the peace that results from absence of struggle. If it has none, try to give the soul a relative peace, in spite of all its difficulties. This is the foundation of all direction. Calmness, recollection, and confidence also come in here.”
After studying the character, temperament, strength and weakness of an individual, the director would adopt the best means to foster the desire of the directee to live more seriously for Christ. The director should help the directee to aim higher and higher all the time.
A director should find out how an individual prays and how faithful that person is to the practice of mental prayer. The methods and results of the different forms of piety and spiritual exercises in the life of the individual should be discussed in spiritual direction.
A director should also find out how self-denial is practised and how well the custody of the heart is kept throughout the day. Another aspect of self-denial is the daily practice of examination of conscience.
St. Josemaría Escrivá wrote, “You wouldn’t think of building a good house to live in here on earth without an architect. How can you ever hope, without a director, to build the castle of your sanctification in order to live forever in Heaven?”
According to Dom Chautard, the entire success of the apostolate depends on one thing: an interior life centered on the Blessed Eucharist. He wrote, “If our whole Redemption gravitates about Calvary, all the graces of the mystery flow down upon us from the Altar…. It was not without a profound purpose that Our Lord uttered the parable of the vine and the branches, right after the Last Supper, in order to bring out with emphasis and precision how useless it would be for men to attempt any active ministry without basing it upon the interior life. ‘As the branch cannot bear fruit itself … so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.’”
Dom Chautard explained: “The efficacy of an apostolate almost invariably corresponds to the degree of Eucharistic life acquired by a soul. Indeed, the sure sign of a successful apostolate is when it makes souls thirst for frequent and fruitful participation in the divine Banquet. And this result will never be obtained except in proportion as the apostle himself really makes Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament the source and center of his life.”
St. Josemaria Escriva wrote, “Be a eucharistic soul! If the centre around which your thoughts and hopes turn is the Tabernacle, then, my child, how abundant the fruits of your sanctity and apostolate will be!”
Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, in his book Divine Intimacy, gave the following advice: “If we truly hunger after Him we should feel an urgent need of keeping ourselves under the influence of the Eucharist; we should make use of all possible means to profit as much as we can from the grace of union with Christ, which has been offered to us in Holy Communion. By doing this, our sacramental Communion will be prolonged throughout the day by means of a continual spiritual Communion with Jesus.”
『做個聖體的靈魂』
若翰肖塔爾院牧在他的著作『使徒的靈魂』一書中，指出精神上的路向和熱愛聖體在建立真正平信徒使徒是十分重要的。
在精神路向開始的時候，有四點要做好的：平安，崇高的思想，祈禱和棄絕自己。
有關平安，肖塔爾院牧寫道：『找出靈魂是否真正的平安，不僅是現世的平安，或因沒有需要掙扎而來的平安。如果它沒有，儘管歷盡它一切的困難，嘗試給靈魂一個相對的平安。這是一切路向中的基礎。平靜，心神收斂和信心都由此而來。』
研究了個人的性格，氣質，優點和缺點，神師就能採用最好的方法去培養路向被指導者使能更認真地為基督而生活。神師要能幫助路向被指導者時常把目標放得更高。
神師應該找出被指導者是怎樣祈禱和在心禱中是怎樣忠信。在被指導者的生活中，不同的敬禮和神業的實踐方法和效果要在靈修指導中討論。
神師亦應該找出被指導者的克己是怎樣實行和一整天的內心監護能夠做到怎樣的好。棄絕自己的另一層面是每天實行的內心省察。
聖若瑟瑪利亞、施禮華寫道：『如果沒有建築師，你不會考慮在這地上建做一所好的房屋去居住。如果沒有一位神師，你怎能妄想去建造聖化自己的一個城堡，好能永遠活在天堂呢？』
根據肖塔爾院牧，使徒業務的完全成功依靠著一件事：一個以聖體為中心的內修生活。他寫道：『如果我們全部的救恩來自加爾瓦略，所有奧跡的恩寵由祭台流下給我們…它不是沒有深遠目的的，我主在最後晚餐後講了葡萄樹的比喻，用以強調和準確地帶出，如果人嘗試任何的使徒業務但卻沒有把它基於內修生活。「正如枝條憑自己不能結實…你們若不住在我內，也一無所能。」』
肖塔爾院牧解釋：『使徒業務的效能差不多無可避免地依靠著靈魂在聖體生命中得獲的程度。真確的，成功的使徒業務成功的標記就是當它驅使靈魂渴求經常的和富成效地參與聖宴。要達至這成果，使徒必愈發使聖事中的耶穌作為他生命的泉源和核心。』
聖若瑟瑪利亞、施禮華寫道：『做個聖體的靈魂！如果你思想和希望旋轉的中心是聖體櫃，這樣，我的兒子，你的聖化和使徒業務的果實會盡是豐盛的！
聖瑪利亞、瑪大肋納的佳播神父給了以下的建議：『如果我們真的渴求祂，我們應該感覺到一份急切的需求去讓我們自己受聖體聖事的影響；我們應該用上所有可能的方法去讓我們從與基督結合的恩賜得到最大可能的益處，這些恩賜是在聖體內給予我們。這樣，我們的實領聖體整天以不繼的神領聖體而延續。』
