Apostleship of Prayer History of the Apostleship of Prayer

John L. Vessels, SJ

Part Eleven

        On one of Ramiere's frequent trips to Rome in the late 1880s, one of the suggestions that he made was to bring this prayer campaign into close co-ordination with the works of the Propagation of the Faith: there had not always been successful harmony between the Roman Office that directed missions around the world and Jesuit Missionaries. Sometimes the Jesuit ideas were a little bit too visionary for the rather staid positions of the men who were running things back in Rome. Ramiere recognized that this prayer program was nothing but a Church effort that had been approved by the Popes. And consequently Ramiere, recognizing on the one hand the missionary character of this prayer campaign and on the other hand the need to or rather the desirability of making sure it was well integrated and harmonized with the work of the Church as such,  did what he could to integrate its efforts with those of the Propagation of the Faith which directed the far-flung missions of the Church.
        So that on an occasion he was in Rome he suggested to the cardinal prefect of this congregation that, since there were these monthly intentions which were concerned with the Missionary activities of the Church, that no o ne was better prepared to prepare the list of mission intentions for this campaign than the cardinal prefect of the congregation. The cardinal prefect very happily conceded to thin invitation and began to draw up the list of mission intentions himself.
        A few years later (it was 1890 or 1891) when it was called to Leo XIII's attention that the cardinal prefect was drawing up these intentions he said, "No, I want to draw up these intentions. No one knows better than the pope what the world needs its millions to be praying for. If we are going to be praying for specific intentions each month, then I want to draw up that list", and so he did. So ever since, the popes have in one fashion or another been the ones to draw up and approve the prayer intentions, the monthly prayer intentions of the Apostleship of Prayer. So people all around the world are joined together in praying these intentions.
        Again we must notice that it is not a prayer that suggests that he perform a miracle. Perhaps he will - every grace of God is a miracle in one sense or another, but his ordinary graces and even his extraordinary graces presume the co-operation of his human instrument. So the millions of people who pray each month, whether it is for peace or whether it is for Christian families have their hearts and minds open when they are praying for an intention. These minds and hearts are open not only just in prayer but also in the willingness and the desire to be instruments of God's grace and indeed they are.
        We do not just pray for peace: anyone who prays for peace works for peace and if he does not work for peace then there is nothing authentic about his prayer for peace. If this prayer is to be a prayer of the will then it means "Lord, use me, I WANT peace!" Everybody in the world that has a good heart wants peace. Everybody in the world that wants peace sincerely and authentically is working for peace is a peacemaker that knows he cannot or she cannot achieve peace unless it is the working of God's grace. God is the only one that can really bring the hearts of mankind to live in peace with each other.
        And so with this sense of universal and local Church, community and family participation in the building up of the kingdom, this missionary attitude developed and so grew in the hearts of people around the world. Slowly the anti-clericalism that existed in the Catholic Church during the nineteenth century was changed. Men in parishes began to participate in the life of the Church and slowly joined the feminine element and the children of the parish in standing up for Christ and being counted. Thus the simple prayer of the Apostleship of prayer strengthened the Church and the Church again grew.

 To be continued Return to Home Page

For more information contact The Director