Apostles of Prayer

and the

Priesthood

Of the Faithful

Joseph F. Hogan, S.J.



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CAREFULLY-THEN BECOME

AN APOSTLE OF PRAYER

THE LAITY

"A HOLY PRIESTHOOD"
You are not accustomed to hear yourself

called a “Priest of the Lord”. Yet, it is an

inspiring fact that you are. This does not

mean that you receive the Sacrament of

Holy Orders, but it does mean, definitely

and dogmatically, that you share in the

priesthood of Christ.

This doctrine of the Priesthood of the

Faithful is not a liturgical innovation or

something new just out of Vatican II. Long

before the Vatican Council, Pius XII wrote

in his Encyclical “Mediator Dei”: “Let the

Faithful learn to what a high degree they

have been raised. By virtue of Baptism, as

by a common title, Christians are made

members of Christ the Priest. By the char-

acter which is imprinted on their souls they

are appointed to the worship of God. Thus

they participate, according to their condi-

tion, in the Priesthood of Christ.” (88) And

centuries before, St. Peter wrote in his first

Encyclical Letter to the first Christians:

“You are a royal priesthood.” (1 Peter 2:

9-10) He said it again for emphasis and

develops the idea further: “Be yourself . .

.

a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacri-

fices acceptable to God through Jesus

Christ.” (1 Peter 2: 5-6)

Today, Vatican II, on almost every page

describing the role of the laity, stresses or

develops this inspiring doctrine with its

practical application to daily Christian liv-

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ing. For example, the Constitution on the

Church says: “Besides linking them to his

life and mission, Christ also gave them a

sharing in his priestly function of offering

spiritual worship for the glory of God and
the salvation of souls.”

The Council even speaks of your priestly
“consecration”. Recall that at Baptism and

Confirmation you were anointed with Holy

Chrism and there was a laying on of hands

(somewhat like at ordination). A priestly
character was imprinted on your soul and

the Holy Spirit was given to you in a spe-

cial way. You were consecrated and made

holy to the Lord. Here’s the way Vatican II

describes it: “The laity, incorporated into

Christ’s Mystical Body through Baptism

and strengthened by the power of the Holy

Spirit through Confirmation, are assigned

to the apostolate by the Lord Himself, and

are consecrated for the royal priesthood.”

YOUR PRIESTLY VOCATION
So the answer to the question “Are all

the Faithful priests?”, is an emphatic and

dogmatic “Yes”! And “are you commis-

sioned to the Apostolate by the Lord Him-

self?” “Definitely!” So yours is a real priest-

hood with apostolic responsibilities and

privileges. At Baptism and Confirmation

the Holy Spirit invested you with a new

quality that produces in you the priestly

dignity of Jesus Himself, in a limited but

real way. Consequently, you have the com-

mission and the capacity to offer sacrifice,

“through Christ, with Him and in Him”,

in a manner pleasing and acceptable to

God. With complete confidence, therefore,

in your “royal priesthood” you can and



should respond wholeheartedly to the cele-

brant’s request at Mass, “Brethren, pray

that my sacrifice and yours may be accept-

able to God the Father almighty.”

Obviously, this is not a complete treatise

on the dignity of the Priesthood of the

Faithful. However, it is sufficient for our

purpose to show how the Apostles of Prayer

program helps us to fulfill our priestly and

apostolic vocation in a realistic and inspir-

ing way. Let’s see how!

TO OFFER SACRIFICE
The Apostleship of Prayer centers your

life on offering and living the Mass. This

must be, since the liturgy is a sacred action

surpassing all others, and no other action

of the Church can equal its efficacy. “It is

the summit toward which the activity of

the Church is directed, at the same time it

is the font from which all her power flows.”

Further, it is the Mass that teaches us to

love God and man with some of the

“breadth, and length and height, and

depth” of love as found in the heart of

Christ. “The renewal in the Eucharist of

the covenant between the Lord and man

draws the faithful into the compelling love

of Christ and sets them on fire.” (Const, on

the Liturgy, n. 10) Naturally then, the

Church and the Apostles of Prayer desire

that all should participate frequently, ac-

tively, and fully in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

And the reason? We should take our share
in the priesthood of Christ seriously! “Such

participation by the Christian people, ‘A

chosen race, a holy priesthood’ is their

right and duty by reason of their Baptism.”

An essential element of “full participa-
tion” in the Mass is that in union with

Christ we offer ourselves to the Father, re-

sponding to God’s request, “My son, give
me your heart.” Like Christ we are priest
and victim, the offered and the one offer-

ing. The Constitution on the Liturgy

(n. 48) emphasizes this basic truth, “The

Church earnestly desires that Christ’s faith-

ful, when present at this mystery of faith

. . . and offering the Immaculate Victim

. . . should learn to offer themselves too.”

Obviously, a sincere giving of self does not

end with “The Mass is ended.” That’s

when it really begins. We actualize this
offering in our daily life. We live the Mass!
And to help us keep our Mass-commitment
in the foreground of consciousness and live

it out, the Apostleship of Prayer recom-

mends as basic:

A DAILY PRIESTLY OFFERING OF SELF
“1 offer You my prayers, works, joys, sufferings of
this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the

Mass” —The Morning Offering

The Constitution on the Church strongly

recommends such a daily offering as one

of our priestly duties and privileges:

“Christ gives them a share in his priestly

function of offering spiritual worship for

the glory of God and the salvation of men
... For all their works, prayers, and apos-

tolic endeavors, their ordinary married and

family life, their daily labor, their mental

and physical relaxation . . . and even the

hardships of life, if patiently borne, all

these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable

to God through Jesus Christ . . . And thus

the laity consecrates the world itself to

God.” (n. 34)



In this statement the Council is empha-

sizing that our priestly worship of God does
not end with the Mass. Work and worship
are not to be separated. They are the two

sides of the same golden coin of our priestly

service. It is not a case of “Now, I worship

God at Sunday Mass and the rest of the
week I settle down to my secular occupa-
tions.” That is spiritual schizophrenia. The

Council and the Apostleship of Prayer put

unity, coherence and emphasis into our

whole life and all its details with this spiri-

tual directive: (Apostolate of the Laity,

n. 4) “They do not separate union with

Christ from their life. Rather by perform-

ing their work according to God’s will they

can grow in that union. In this way must

the laity make progress in holiness . . .

Neither family concerns nor other secular

affairs should be excluded from their reli-

gious program of life. As the Apostle states:

‘Whatever you do in word or work, do all

in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giv-

ing thanks to God the Father through

Him.’” (Col. 3:17)

APOSTLES AT WORK AND WORSHIP
The Council goes further and stresses

that this offering of our “prayers, works,

joys and sufferings” has an apostolic di-

mension. Here again it is not a case of “I’m

an apostle when I’m engaged in Catholic

action; I’m a secularist when I am working

at my job.” We are full-time apostles! The
Church says: “Let each one remember that

he can have an impact on all men and con-

tribute to the salvation of the whole world

by public worship and prayer as well as by

penance and the voluntary acceptance of



the labors and hardships of life. By such

means does the Church grow in likeness to

the suffering Christ/’ In fact, the Church

regards this as the soul of the apostolate

and gives it the impressive title of “spiri-

tual ecumenism”. “Holiness of life, along

with the public and private prayer for the

unity of Christians, should be regarded as

the soul of the whole ecumenical move-

ment, and can rightly be called “Spiritual

Ecumenism”. (Decree on Ecumenism, n. 8)

PERFECT CHRISTIAN LIVING
The Popes have described this priestly

and apostolic way of life of the Apostleship

of Prayer as a “perfect form of Christian

living” and “a perfect form of devotion to

the Heart of Christ.” What do you think?

If you agree with the Popes, then, when

you make and live your daily priestly offer-

ing, recall that it is LITURGICALLY
oriented—it is centered on the Mass, leads

you to the Mass and is really living the

Mass. It is APOSTOLIC—“for the salva-
tion of souls.” It is ECUMENICAL—“for
the reunion of all Christians.” IT THINKS
WITH THE CHURCH—“for the inten-
tions of our Bishops . . . and our Holy

Father.” The Morning Offering is love—

a

personal daily commitment to the Sacred

Heart. If made seriously and lived out, it

is a perfect fulfillment of your priestly

function.

To Become a Member:

Enroll, say your Daily Offering and

sincerely try to live it.



THE DAILY OFFERING

of an

APOSTLE OF PRAYER
O Jesus

,
through the Immaculate Heart

of Mary , I offer You my prayers, works

,

joys and sufferings of this day in union

with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass through-

out the world. I offer them for all the in-

tentions of your Sacred Heart: the salva-

tion of souls, reparation for sin, the reunion

of all Christians. I offer them for the inten-

tions of our Bishops and of all Apostles of

Prayer, and in particular for those recom-

mended by our Holy Father this month

.

All these become Spiritual Sacrifices

acceptable to God. Thus, we consecrate

the world itself to God.

with ecclesiastical approbation

APOSTLES OF PRAYER
211 E. 87th Street, New York, N. Y. 10028