Interior life (Catholic theology)
Interior life is a life which seeks God in everything, a life of prayer and the practice of living in the presence of God. It connotes intimate, friendly conversation with Him, and a determined focus on internal prayer versus external actions, while these latter are transformed into means of prayer. According to John Paul II, Jesus' statement "without me you can do nothing" (cf. Jn 15:5) is a truth that "constantly reminds us of the primacy of Christ and, in union with him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness." In his first encyclical  Deus caritas est, Benedict XVI emphasized that man "cannot always give, he must also receive," and pointed to the urgency and importance of experiencing in prayer that God is Love. He taught the Christian's dialogue with God "allows God to work" for God is "the only One who can make the world both good and happy." Biblical basis. This doctrine in Catholic theology is usually based on the Jesus's commendation of Mary of Bethany's contemplation over the anxious external worries of her sister Martha. Jesus told Martha that "one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the  best part" (Luke 10:42). Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, and considered as the greatest of all saints in the Catholic Church, is mentioned in the Bible that she "pondered these things in her heart," an expression of intense prayer and contemplation of the events that happened to her. The idea of "life" is present in the biblical distinction between two Greek terms for life: "bios" (biological life) and "zoe" (divine, supernatural life). "Zoe" is used in the bible in passages such as "That you may have life, and have it more abundantly". In Catholic theology, this life has been  understood as a participation in divine, intratrinitarian life introduced in the life of a Christian at baptism (Cf. "partakers of the divine nature" in 2 Pt 1:4), and which grows through further reception of the sacraments, channels of grace which in its essence is "divine life." This divine life also grows through constant communication with God. Thomas a Kempis: "Imitation of Christ". This doctrine is based on the writings of many Catholic spiritual writers through the centuries, of which the best known is the "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, one of the most widely read Christian spiritual books  in existence. The book taught: Garrigou-Lagrange: "Three Ages of the Interior Life". The most basic book about this topic is "The Three Ages of the Interior Life" by French theologian Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange. He compares the interior life to the usual interior conversation which each man has with himself. Fr. Garrigou says: Dom Chautard: "Soul of the Apostolate". Another classic on this topic is the book by Jean-Baptiste Chautard, "Soul of the Apostolate" where he says that the evangelization of people is but a result of one's inner life of union with God. He says: Josef Pieper . Commenting on Thomas Aquinas's words on contemplation, "It is requisite for the good of the human community that there should be persons who devote themselves to the life of contemplation," Josef Pieper said "For it is contemplation which preserves in the midst of human society the truth which is at one and the same time useless and the yardstick of every possible use; so it is also contemplation which keeps the true end in sight, gives meaning to every practical act of life." Josemaría Escrivá: "The Way". The founder of Opus Dei, St. Josemaría Escrivá took inspiration from previous  spiritual writers such as Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Ávila, Thomas à Kempis and Dom Chautard. Pedro Rodriguez who wrote the critical edition of Escriva's "The Way" said that Escrivá was inspired by the book of Dom Chautard when he wrote that the "apostolate is an overflow of the interior life." Thus, John Paul II said during Escrivá's canonization: For Escrivá, lay Christians are called to sanctity in the midst of their ordinary work and daily activities. The sanctification of work and society is achieved by converting this work into prayer by offering work done with: John Paul  II: "Novo Millennio Ineunte". At the beginning of the new millennium, John Paul II placed sanctity as the most important pastoral priority of the Catholic Church in his Apostolic Exhortation Novo Millennio Ineunte. And for this he emphasized the need for a training in the "art of prayer". He said that Catholic communities should become schools of prayer. A key paragraph is: Benedict XVI: "Deus caritas est". Benedict XVI also took up the theme in his first encyclical; being the first of his papacy, it is considered emblematic. In "Deus caritas est", the Pope-theologian explained the exact theological meaning  of what John Paul II preached. The essence of sanctity is love, and we become love by experiencing love, especially through contemplative prayer. He would later say "I am convinced" that humanity truly needs the "essential message" that God is love. Thus, he says with echoes of John Paul's pastoral planning for the entire church: "Everything must start from here and everything must lead to here, every pastoral action, every theological treatise. As St Paul said, "If I ... have not love I gain nothing" (cf. I Cor 13:3)." Pope Benedict explained that God is love, and that man is  made in God's image and is therefore made for love. This love grows to the extent that man receives God's love: "we have to receive for us to give". Thus he stressed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work." He used the word "urgent" only once and in reference to the need for prayer: "Prayer, as a means of drawing ever new strength from Christ, is concretely and urgently needed." He even mentioned Blessed Mother Teresa three times to stress that the roots of  effective Christian service and charity is in prayer: On explaining one of the main themes, realization of true love via the union of "agape" and "eros", he stresses that man "cannot always give, he must also receive." To further stress this way of contemplation, his Lenten message for 2007 was titled "They shall look on him whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:37). There he invited everyone: He thus emphasizes that God's way of giving himself to us (agape) is by showing us that he wants us for himself (eros). Benedict's point on the importance of "receiving love  as a gift" is in line with his teaching in "Introduction to Christianity" on the primacy of receptivity or acceptance. The Christian's role is to "allow God to work" in us and through us, since God is "only one who can make the world both good and happy." We allow God to work, he says, when we "speak to God as a friend speaks to a friend."