This prayer group commits themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by a daily offering of all their prayers, works, joys and sufferings for their own salvation and that of all humankind.
We meet in the chapel at 11:15a.m.-12p.m. followed by an Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 12p.m.-1p.m. in the church on the First Thursday of each month starting in September.
Please contact: Kathryn Giandoreggio (631) 491-3735
The Apostleship of Prayer is a worldwide association of Catholics and other Christians who strive to make their ordinary, everyday lives apostolically effective. They do this by offering themselves and everything they do each day in union with Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass. They thereby cooperate with Jesus in His mission of bring salvation to everyone.
The members of the Apostleship of Prayer promote devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They do this by following the five-point program of spirituality and also by supplying a variety of prayer cards, pamphlets, pictures, badges, etc. to assist individuals in increasing their own devotion and that of others. Part of their work also consists in promoting the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the home by providing the necessary materials.
The particular objects for which the organization is formed are missionary purposes under the direction of Catholic clergymen for the moral improvement of men and women: to promote among Catholics and other Christians the practice of united daily prayers, of good works, of mutual assistance in the cultivation of virtue; to publish and distribute books, periodicals, pamphlets and leaflets in furtherance of these objects; and to provide suitable places for the carrying on of such works.
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The Origin and History of the Apostleship of Prayer
The Apostleship of Prayer was born in 1844 among a group of Jesuit seminarians at Vals, France. These young men, destined for the missions in America and India, were impatient with the dull routine of study, and eager to begin with missionary work. Their spiritual director, Fr. François Xavier Gautrelet, in conference with them, pointed out that the end they desired – the salvation of souls – was a supernatural end and that supernatural means were the best and quickest way to accomplish that end. Thus, their prayer, their study, their work, their recreation, even their headaches, offered in union with Christ’s Sacrifice, which is made present again daily in the Mass, would advance the work of the missions as much as their direct work in the field.
This conference inspired man,; and thus an apostolic spirit of prayer and study grew up. This was soon formalized into what we know as the Morning Offering (also called the Daily Offering), a prayer to unite oneself and everything in one’s daily life with the sacrificial oblation of Jesus Christ for the intentions of His Sacred Heart.
Shortly after the organization was formed, Fr. Henri Ramière, S. J., the great apostle of devotion to the Heart of Christ, was placed in charge. He immediately saw the Apostleship of Prayer as something perfectly conformed to the devotion to the Heart of Christ. Devotion to the Sacred Heart leads us to an intimate knowledge of and sharing in the interior life of Christ as well as a participation in the spread of His Church. Thus, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is essentially apostolic and perfectly in accord with the original ideals of the Apostleship of Prayer.
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The Daily Offering
“O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and suffering of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sins, the reunion of all Christians; I offer them for the intentions of our Bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.”