Fr. Leo John Dehon often spoke about “the interior life.” He valued this interior life and often expressed in his personal diary the feeling that he did not practice it satisfactorily. The reason he gave was usually “being overcome with work.” It would be a mistake, however, to think that the interior life was something separate from his ministry or his ordinary, daily tasks.

What does Fr. Dehon mean by “the interior life”? In his Spiritual Directory, a guidebook for his Congregation, he wrote that the proper character of the interior life of the Priests of the Sacred Heart is union with the Heart of Jesus (cf. Spiritual Directory, p. 221). Jesus spoke about this union during the Last Supper.

“I am the vine,” Jesus told his disciples, “and you are the branches.” (John 15:5). Jesus explains this image and declares that those who live in him will bear much fruit. For Fr. Dehon, the interior life was the practice of being connected to the vine, who is Christ, and producing good works that continue to proclaim Jesus’ message of salvation. This is the Christian vocation. Fr. Dehon wrote, “Your destiny is to be united to our Lord in such an intimate and close way that, according to the word of his apostles, you become other Christs.” (The Life of Love, 30th Meditation, p. 206)

Uniting our prayer and our work to the Heart of Jesus will help us stay connected to the vine. Rather than keep these two areas of life separate, the more we can bring our work to our prayer, and then our prayer back to our work, the more our lives will be connected to Jesus.

To maintain union with Jesus was the lifetime spiritual goal of Fr. Dehon. Devotion to the Heart of Jesus encouraged him to be one with the thoughts and feelings and the words and actions of Jesus so that he would know how to live and love as Jesus does. Fr. Dehon was able to integrate prayer and ministry into a social apostolic ministry – ministry out in the world, among the people. While many of us are not in a formal ministry, all of our work can be a ministry if united with Jesus through prayer.

“From the beginning of His public life our Lord warns us against the illusion of faith without works. We should carry out all that faith requires of us in keeping with our vocation: all the duties of our state in life, the need for prayer, and the practice of Christian virtues and the works of mercy, which is a hallmark of a Christian way of life.”
— Fr. Leo John Dehon