To communicate in the mystery of the Apostolic Church is to communicate…in the dispositions which fitted the souls of the apostles in face of the mission which Christ was confiding to them. Today as formerly, it is the same mission: “As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.” That mission is unchanged: it consists of bringing to mankind the same message of salvation and the same life. What one first remarks as characterizing the reaction of the apostles when told of this mission, is a conquering, irresistible, indomitable enthusiasm in the midst of heaped-up opposition, blindness, and threats. Again, we notice their unwavering conviction that the message of Christ, in itself and without the least addition, contains the whole secret of the world’s salvation: one only Master, one Savior, one Truth, one only Life-His Life. Finally, the reaction of the apostles to the announcement of their mission is characterized by a respect full of veneration and of loyalty, for this astonishing and sublime message which Jesus was commanding them to preach to the whole world, despite their ignorance and the poverty of the means at their disposal. They understood that this treasure of truth and of life did not belong as of right to themselves; that they must keep it unchanged and intact; and that their mission was to announce this message whole and entire, to all nations. O Jesus, Our Head, grant unto all the members of your Mystical Body an understanding of the apostolicity of the Church, so that they may firmly resolve to participate in her apostolic mission. Make them understand that it is you who create the apostolicity of the Church…Your chosen ones tremble at the realization of their own personal powerlessness, but they courageously place all the supernatural confidence of their souls in this, your tremendous promise. Grant, O Lord, that your faithful may know the full meaning of all this.
Archbishop Emile Maurice Guerry
Archbishop Guerry (1969) was the archbishop of Cambrai, France, and a spiritual author