By Leon Bent –
The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is a pontifical work, its mission is to pray and encounter the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church that concern the Holy Father, expressed in his monthly intentions. His intentions are keys for our prayer and mission.
The Apostleship of Prayer is a worldwide association of Catholics and other Christians who strive to make their ordinary, everyday lives apostolically effective. Through the Apostleship of Prayer, the Pope gives his monthly prayer intentions to the entire Church. For this reason, the Apostleship came to be known as “the Pope’s own Prayer Group.”
Pope John Paul II, on the occasion of its 150th anniversary in 1994, wrote: “As the dawn of the third millennium approaches a world in which many sectors have become quite pagan, it is obvious how urgent it is for members of the Apostleship of Prayer to be involved in the service of the new evangelization. For Christ has come to preach the Good News to the poor, and the Apostleship of Prayer has always considered itself a form of popular piety for the masses. As such it has performed an important service during the past hundred and fifty years by giving new life to people’s awareness of how valuable their lives are to God for the building up of His Kingdom.”
The Apostleship of Prayer was set up in 1844 by a group of Jesuit seminarians at Vals-près-le-Puy, France. Because they knew missionary work lay before them, they were frustrated and impatient. Eager to join the missions in India and America, they failed to see how their dull study routines would make them better missionaries. In response, their spiritual director, Father Francois-Xavier Gautrelet, S.J., held a conference. He emphasized that the salvation of souls was a supernatural goal and could therefore be achieved most effectively through supernatural means. Addressing his younger Jesuit brothers, he said, “Be apostles now, apostles of prayer! Offer everything you are doing each day in union with the Heart of our Lord for what he wishes: the spread of the Kingdom for the salvation of souls.”
In 1861 the first Messenger of the Sacred Heart was published. Also, in 1861, the Reverend Henri Ramière, S.J., adapted the organization for parishes and various Catholic institutions, and made it known by his book “The Apostleship of Prayer”, which has been translated into many languages. In 1879 the association received its first statutes, approved by Pius IX, and in 1896 these were revised and approved by Leo XIII.
The Apostleship of Prayer has always operated under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. The morning offering and prayers are the basic membership requirements, and in many countries the apostleship has no registration, no groups, no fees, and no special meetings.
The statutes of the Apostleship of Prayer were revised in 2018 and it is now also known as The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.
Pope Francis has recently entrusted his 2020 prayer intentions to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. They represent a wide array of challenges facing humanity and are the result of much prayer and discernment over the past several months. Areas in need of prayer in 2020 will include: the Way of the Heart, listening to migrant’s cries, freedom from addiction, respect for the planet’s resources and artificial intelligence to name a few.
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit (Luke 10:1).
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him (John 4,23).
Pope Francis on Thursday released a video message accompanying his prayer intention for January 2020, which this month is “Promotion of World Peace”.
In his prayer intention for the month of January, Pope Francis calls us to pray that Christians, followers of other religions, and all people of goodwill may promote together peace and justice in the world.
It has become the custom of Pope Francis to release a video message detailing his prayer intention for each month. The full text of his intention is below:
In a divided and fragmented world, I want to invite all believers, and also all people of good will, to reconciliation and fraternity. Our faith leads us to spread the values of peace and mutual understanding, of the common good. We pray that Christians, followers of other religions, and all people of goodwill may promote together peace and justice in the world.
By the year 2000 the Apostleship of Prayer had over 40 million members, 50 different Messengers of the Sacred Heart, and 40 other periodicals.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.