The Apostolate

by Juan Taylor

"Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance; That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

This, rather is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;

Then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails." - Isaiah 58:5-11


Without the apostolate, a person does not know who they are within the body of Christ. Without a personal apostolate, a Christian has no identity, but instead lives in the world. A Christian without an apostolate is a sinner who has the title of Christian.

There is not such thing as solely a day of prayer and fasting, for a day of prayer and fasting must be united with the apostolate. And yet, out of prayer and fasting comes the Apostolate. Without prayer and fasting, there is no supernatural apostolate, and inasmuch as there is prayer and fasting, inasmuch will be the apostolate. In fasting is the hope of living a Christian life, and in the Apostolate is the Christian life Lived.

Prayer, Fasting and finally the Apostolate takes the church from fable to reality, from worldly institution to a link between heaven and earth, from the mundane to the revolution. From the Church in a box, to the church crucified and risen for the salvation of the world.

The Apostolate defines the church. While the church in this hour becomes a country club erecting walls to keep out the undesirables, in the hearts of those who pray and fast, a universal church arises where the wounds of humanity are opportunities to witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They become not threats to the country club but opportunities for the spreading of the Gospel upon a humanity that has strayed.

Isaiah 58:12
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
"Repairer of the breach," they shall call you,
"Restorer of ruined homesteads."