About what used to be
the ‘Apostleship of Prayer’
Translated from
November 13, 2017
The Barnabites
[Fr. Scalese is a Barnabite] are inextricably linked to the Apostleship of Prayer. The movement began in France in 1844 with the Jesuit priests Gautrelet and Ramiere but in Italy, it was disseminated by the Barnabites starting in 1864 – under the direction first of Fr. Antonio Maresca (1831-1891) and then Fr. Giovanni Battista Vitale (1849-1916). It was they who were responsible for the Italian
Messaggero del Sacro Cuore.
We also owe Fr. Maresca the initiative of constructing a shrine to the Sacred Heart in Rome (the present Basilica of Sacro Cuore near Rome’s main train terminal), an initiative that initially floundered for lack of funds but which was completed thanks to the intervention of the later St. Don Bosco. But after the death of Fr. Vitale in 1916, the direction of the Italian Apostleship for Prayer passed to the hands of the Jesuits.
Thus, it is not pleasant to witness the progreesive decline of a spiritual movement that gave so much to the Churhch in the 19th and 20th centuries. The work of ‘updating’ the Apostleship began atthe time of Vatican-II (when it seemed that everything in the Church had to be subject to revision following the new canons). Initially, the changes were limited to some modifications in the Daily Offering Prayer (such as inserting new terms like “Mother of the Church”, “joys”, “in the grace of the Holy Spirit”) – which was not a problem, as the prayer was enriched wthout losing any of its content.
More recently (I cannot date the year exactly) an alternative formulation for the Daily Offering was provided:
God, our Father, I offer you my entire day. I offer you my prayers, thoughts, words, actions, joys and sufferings, in union with the Heart of your Son Jesus Christ who continues to offer himself to you in the Eucharist for the salvation of the world. May the Holy Spirit who guided Jesus be my guide and my strength today, so that I may be a witness to his love. With Mary, Mother of the Lord and of the Church, I pray specially for the intentions that the Holy Father recommends all faithful to pray for this mont.
It appears – and it is – a beautiful prayer with solid theological foundation. But I do not know if you noted that
any reference to reparation has been omitted, though this is one of the characteristic elements of Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart.
But the work of overhauling the Apostleship of Prayer has not ended. Recently (this year perhaps, because in the Apostleship's booklet for 2016, we do not find it), a new name for the Apostolate has come up – “Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network" – in some cases, with the old name included, in others, completely replacing it. Was this really necessary? I like the expression Apostleship for Prayer very much, because it tells us that prayer, too, is a form of apostolate; in some cases (for example, for monks and cloistered religious, or for us who live and work in Islamic countries), it is the only form of apostolate.
So why replace such a significant term with a generic name like ‘Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network’?
[Because the new name converts the initiative into a vanity enterprise in behalf of the pope – and who but the Jesuits would do that? I can almost bet it was done with the advice of Fr. Spadaro, fully concurred in by Pope Francis, of course.]
Before 2017, the Apostleship proposed two prayer intentions for the Pope – one general, one missionary. Since January 2017, however, there is only one now. On alternate months, the intention is either ‘universal’ (replacing the old term ‘general’), or ‘for evangelization’ (replacing the term ‘missionary’).
Leaving aside the new terms, which can be argued, the fact of proposing just one intention would appear to be a practical move, given the tendency of bishops, religious institutions and movements to add their own specific intentions (the Italian bishops conference, for example, has added its own monthly intentions for some years now).
But beyond these modifications in form,
what most ‘perplexes’ veteran followers of the Apostleship is the content of the prayer intentions which have gradually assumed a prevalently social character. It’s not that we shouldn’t also pray about social problems, but when these seem to have become the only concern of those drawing up the prayer intentions, it cannot fail to raise questions.
And now, doubts of a doctrinal character are also raised. Let us read the ‘intention for evangelization’ proposed for the month of November:
For the Christians in Asia, so that, bearing witness to the Gospel in words and acts, they may favor dialog, peace and reciprocal understanding, above all, with those who belong to other religions.
Of course, I am happy that everyone is asked to pray for the Christians in Asia, among whom are my own small flock
[Fr. Scalese is the ecclesiastical superior of the Roman Catholic Mission of Afghanistan]. But I must confess that since Nov. 1, I have felt uneasy reciting the intention. Let us re-read it carefully. It asks for two things: 1) that the Christians in Asia bear witness to the Gospel; and 2) that they favor dialog, peace and reciprocal understanding.
Of course, both things are good in themselves. But about #2? It’s not as if the Christians in Asia, who for the most part live in non-Christian societies, would desire enmity, discord and conflict in their respective countries! Beyond any other considerations one might make of #2, I can only cite what the prophet Jeremiah wrote in his letter to the Jews who had been exiled to Babylon:
“Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the LORD, for upon its welfare your own depends.” (Jer 29,7).
The problem is that the two propositions contained in the prayer intention are not coordinated ('bearing witness' and 'they may favor'), but the first is subordinated to the second because it is used as a gerund, which means that the first action is functional to the second, i.e., by bearing witness to the Gospel, one favors dialog, etc. Meaning that the purpose of bearing witness to the Gospel is to favor dialog, etc.
To me, that does not seem right at all. Even if dialog, peace and reciprocal understanding are in themselves important values, they cannot be considered absolute values, and
the Gospel cannot be reduced to an instrument to achieve such purposes. [The Gospel, as indeed, the entire message and mission of Jesus Christ, is to save souls, but this does not seem to be a primary concern at all for this pope and his followers.]
St. Paul reminds us that
the Gospel "is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith” (Rom 1,16-17).
Bearing witness to the Gospel is all about faith, because only in faith can man find salvation. It is obvious that
if bearing witness to the Gospel served only to favor dialog, peace and reciprocal understanding, then the Gospel becomes something else completely – a simple code of ethics which, if followed, could realize those secular values.
But notwithstanding the incorrect formulation of the prayer intention, I have tried to give it the right interpretation (by first coordinating, as I said earlier, the two propositions) and have tried to excuse those who framed the intention, thinking they may have involuntarily expressed improperly an intention that is valid in itself.
But then I saw the videoclip of the pope illustrating this prayer intention, and I had to backtrack: the intention must be understood exactly as it is expressed. Watch it (it only lasts a minute):
Not only does it say clearly that we must pray
in order that “Christians may favor dialog, peace and reciprocal understanding, especially with the members of other religions” – confirming that this is the true prayer intention, but
the video also omits any reference to “bearing witness to the Gospel”. [Not the first time that these pope-videos have failed to mention anything spiritual beyond their usually social/sociological concerns.]
From a certain perspective, perhaps it is better this way, because then one avoids subordinating ones’s testimony to the Gospel to dialog, etc. But it leaves a bitter taste because it would appear that
the pope himself does not ask of us to pray that the Christians in Asia may bear witness to the Gospel. By leaving it out, it would seem that bearing witness to the Gospel is merely optional to this prayer intention [For those who have read the written intention, but for those who see only this video, the intention would seem to be purely secular and have nothing to do with the faith.]
The fact is that everyone is free – and cannot be impeded by anyone – from praying that the Christians in Asia may bear witness to the Gospel for what it truly is, while at the same time, “favor dialog, peace and reciprocal understanding.
Which is what Christians have been doing for the past 2000-plus years.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/11/2017 04:03]