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The Apostleship of Prayer began in France in 1844. At that time Fr. Francis X. Gautrelet told a group of Jesuit seminarians who were eager to work on the missions: "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. Besides promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, this periodical also tried to develop in its readers an awareness of the needs of the Universal Church. In time the Pope himself proposed a particular monthly intention and since 1929 a specific mission intention has also been proposed to the faithful for their prayerful attention.

On its 100th anniversary in 1944, Pope Pius XII gave thanks to God for the Apostleship of Prayer, calling it "one of the most efficacious means for the salvation of souls, since it concerns prayer and prayer in common." He commended the organization for its goal: " to pray assiduously for the needs of the Church and to try to satisfy them through daily offering."

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."

Truly the Apostleship of Prayer is the Pope's own "prayer group." It is, as Pope John Paul II wrote in 1985, "a precious treasure from the Pope's heart and the Heart of Christ."

By the year 2000, the Apostleship of Prayer had over 40 million members, 50 different Messengers of the Sacred Heart, and 40 other periodicals.

About the Morning Offering

At the center of the Apostleship of Prayer is the Morning or Daily Offering. In this simple prayer, we offer every moment of our day to God. We strive to take seriously the call we received in baptism to be "a royal priesthood" (see 1 Peter 2: 9).

The Second Vatican Council's document on the nature of the Church, Lumen Gentium #34, puts it this way:

"To those whom He intimately joins to His life and mission, He also gives a share in His priestly office, to offer spiritual worship for the glory of the Father and the salvation of man. Hence the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them. For all their work, prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit-indeed even the hardships of life if patiently borne-all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Peter 2: 5). In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the Body of the Lord. And so, worshiping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God."

This is why Pope John Paul II once said that the practice of praying the Morning Offering is "of fundamental importance in the life of each and every one of the faithful." It is a daily reminder to make our entire day, our whole life "a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Romans 12: 1).

In 2005 the Synod of Bishops urged in Proposition 43 "Eucharistic Spirituality and Sanctification of the World" through daily participation in Holy Mass. The Proposition goes on to mention the Apostleship of Prayer by name: "The daily offering (taught, for example, in the Apostleship of Prayer, practiced by millions of Catholics worldwide) can help each one to become a 'Eucharistic figure,' following the example of Mary, uniting one's own life to that of Christ, who offers himself for humanity."