Apostolic Prayer

Mary:

My child, do you realize that in whatever circumstances you may be you have at your disposal a most efficacious weapon for apostolic action: prayer? You believe doubtless that the salvation of souls can be advanced by prayer as well as by preaching. You admit that prayer is a consoling substitute for action in the case of old folks, the sick and all those who cannot engage in exterior works of zeal. But how far you are from understanding the power that prayer has in the apostolate!

2. Prayer is not a substitute for direct action: it is an apostolic weapon whose effectiveness far surpasses that of any exterior activity. Jesus preached during three years, but He first prayed for thirty years. During those three years of exterior apostolate He not only passed whole nights in prayer, but while His lips were busy instructing the children of men, He also constantly communed with His Heavenly Father in His innermost soul. I co-operated with Him in the work of Redemption. I never preached; I never directed the Church; I never worked miracles; but I did pray and I did suffer. And Joseph, like myself, prayed and suffered. Without uttering so much as one word which has been recorded in a book, he accomplished more for the conversion of mankind than did St. John, St. Paul, and St. Peter. Examine the lives of men devoted to the apostolate: all those who had extraordinary success in converting souls, were also extraordinarily given to prayer.

3. Woe to the apostle who does not pray! He is but sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal; he spends himself and wearies himself and perhaps loses his own soul without doing any good to the souls of others. If his activity seems nevertheless to produce fruits of salvation, these fruits are due to the earnest prayers of some soul unknown to him and unaware of the good it is accomplishing, and therefore he himself will receive no reward for it.

4. Could it be otherwise? To convert, sanctity, and save a soul is a supernatural work. Can anything supernatural be accomplished by merely natural means? Supernatural achievements are the fruit of grace and grace is the fruit of prayer. The more you pray, the more supernatural work you will achieve.

5. God wants exterior works wherever they are possible, just as He wants the sensible sign in order to produce sacramental grace. But just as a whole ocean of water is, of itself, powerless to cleanse the soul of a babe, so all exterior actions are powerless to convert or to sanctity a single man. The word of the priest must accompany the pouring of the water upon the infant’s brow; the prayer of the apostle must accompany his exterior action. Prayer can even completely replace action wherever action is impossible, just as baptism of desire may replace baptism by water when the latter is impossible.

6. Is not God almighty? Has He not infinite means of sending the grace of salvation to souls? He can endow a single word with marvelous effectiveness. He can arrange that a word which is heard or read and perhaps misunderstood in a moment of sudden misfortune or in some commonplace occurrence will be the lesson needed to enlighten and touch the heart and turn it to God. He can even make use of His enemies to have His merciful plans realized. The prophet Balaam was sent to curse Israel, but he ended by pronouncing a blessing instead.
What is lacking in our apostolate is not so much external deeds as apostolic prayer.

7. Have you grasped this lesson, my child? If so, do you endeavor to be an apostle more by prayer than by exterior action? Do you think of praying every day with an apostolic aim in view? When you wish to win a soul, you think over the steps to be taken and the things to be said—and you do well. But do you apply yourself to prayer with even greater earnestness? Do you base your hope of success on God to whom you pray, rather than on your own skill and persuasive power?

8. Pray! Pray! and learn to pray more and more for the conversion and sanctification of souls! To each of your daily prayers and communions, add an apostolic intention. Transform your actions and sufferings into prayers by offering them to God through my hands for some special purpose according to my intentions. Offer up too, all the Masses said and all the Rosaries prayed throughout the world during the day. Apply to monasteries and convents of contemplatives and to all the humble, confident souls that can help you by their supplications, and ask for prayers. Above all, get the co-operation of the sick and of souls that suffer: their prayers and sacrifices have an almost sacramental power.

9. Pray for your parents and for all those who are dear to you.
Pray for the Church, for the Pope, for the bishops and priests, and for all missionaries and apostles. Pray in particular for those who like yourself have assembled under my banner to hasten the advent of the kingdom of Jesus by hastening the advent of mine. Pray for those to whom you have sought to do good, that this good may remain. Pray for those to whom you should have done good, that your prayer may repair your negligence. Pray for those whom you will meet in the course of the day, so that you may do them all the good which God wants you to do them.

10. Pray before taking action, so that God grants it the success which He desires. Pray when action looms up difficult before you, so that your prayer compensates for your weakness. Pray when all seems easy, lest, relying on your natural skill, you should produce no supernatural results. Pray during your activities, so that God continues to act through you. Pray after your actions to thank God if you have succeeded, or to beg Him to accomplish His work nevertheless if you seem to have failed, knowing that the more God compels you to pray, the more success He wishes to give you. Pray, and never stop praying! Then you will accomplish marvels through me and for me.

The Faithful Soul:
O you, whose life was a ceaseless prayer for the glory of the Father, the mission of the Son, and the salvation of your children, teach me how to pray.