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access to The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
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APOSTOLIC MINISTRY AND
APOSTOLIC PRAYER*
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480 The Catholic Biblical Quarterly [Vol. 33
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1971] Apostolic Ministry and Prayer 481
turn upon the worship of Israel time and again,9 have published far
on this subject than their NT colleagues.
Yet I would argue that the concern of Israel for her prayer, the f
priority given to worship, is nothing less than the concern of the Lo
Israel and the first priority of the Lord of the Church. What this means
apostleship and the sacramental sharing in apostolic ministry provides
than a little for us to learn today.
Centuries before the birth of Jesus, Rabbi Simeon the Righteous is
to have declared that the world (that is, all of human society) was b
upon three things, the torah, worship, and the "imparting of kindnesses.
The torah, of course, is the word that discloses God and his good wil
plan for his people. Everything stands in function of that revelation, wh
begins the Shema, "Hear, O Israel: the lord our God is one lord"
6:4). The prayer of Israel takes its origin from and is defined by the fait
Israel in the one God who has intervened by word and act in her his
The response to that intervention is absolute loyalty and exclusive adhere
to Yah weh, a recognition in the very core of one's being of total depende
upon him. This is the response that Rabbi Simeon designated as "wor
(' ãbõdâ ) and what Deuteronomist meant by joining to the confe
of faith the command, "And you shall love the lord your God with al
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Dt 6:5). "To
(' ãhab ) is "to worship" ( (ãbad ), according to the Deuteronomist him
for, when he paraphrases the Shema in 10:12, he writes, "And now,
what does the lord, your God require of you . . . but to love him, to
the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul."11 This
viction that the worship-service of God is a manifestation of the tota
of God found expression in the LXX translation of these passages in
Kaleö (K. L. Schmidt for epikaleõ), Kra2õ (W. Grundmann), Latreuõ (H. Str
mann), Leitourgeõ (H. Strathmann), Homologeõ (O. Michel), Proskuneõ
Greeven), Tug chanõ (O. Bauernfeind, for entugchanõ and enteuxis : only in TW
0 Thus studies and commentaries on Pss appear in abundance. H. H. Row
Worship in Ancient Israel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967), with its abundant ci
of the literature to that date and remarkably sensitive handling of the OT
represents the very best scholarship of the English tradition.
10 Pirkë Aboth 1.2. Cf. T. W. Manson, Ethics and the Gospel (London: SC
1960) 34-42, for a memorable treatment of this saying.
11 Dt 11:13 employs the same parallelism between 'ãhab and 'ūbad. Is 56:
particularly striking as it describes "the foreigners who join themselves to the
to minister ( lesãretô ) to him, to love ( leahãbâ ) the name of the lord, and
his servants ( la'âbâdîtn )" and whose offerings will be acceptable in the temple
my house shall be called a house of prayer ( tepilla : LXX proseuchēs) for all pe
(56:7).
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482 The Catholic Biblical Quarterly [Vol. 33
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1971] Apostolic Ministry and Prayer 483
The good will ( eudokia )17 and hidden plan ( mysterion )18 o
of Israel for his people and for all the nations was disclose
acts and words of Jesus and, if ever there was a question a
that revealed uncompromisingly where he stood in relati
religion of Israel, it was that of the scribe who asked, "Which
is the first of all?" (Mk 12:28). Jesus replied with the Sh
30). The whole life of Israel must stand in function of the
one and only Lord, and that life-response is a total and exc
faithful adoration and worship - of God.19
The second commandment (Mk 12:31) is from the very h
manual of ceremonies, Lev 19:18, "But you shall love you
yourself."20 According to Jesus, the privileged expression and
of the love of God alone,21 a parable22 of it for those who
and ears to hear, is kindness and faithfulness, care and co
man whom God loves and that is every man. The love of n
a sign of love of God, an expression of the worship of an u
Perhaps no saying of Jesus illustrates this more dramatical
includes enemies as the objects of this love. "But I say to
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless t
you, pray for those who abuse you" (Luke 6:27-28 = Mt 5
to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecu
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484 The Catholic Biblical Quarterly [Vol. 33
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1971] Apostolic Ministry and Prayer 485
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486 The Catholic Biblical Quarterly [Vol. 33
33 Note that Paul's exposition contrasts the written Tor ah with the Spi
and Israel are servants of "the letter" in contrast to those who are diakonoi of a
"new testament ... in the Spirit." The "letter" of the OT is obviously not being
contrasted with the "letter" of the books that came to be called the NT; for, as
Aquinas once remarked ". . . etiam liti er a Evangelii occident, nisi adesset interius
gratia fidei sanans" ( S.T. , I-II, 106, 2: cf. Lyonnet [ut cit., fn. 32] 162-164). The
"new testament" here (as in the only other use of the phrase in Paul, 1 Cor 11:25)
is the new covenant relationship established in the death of Christ "for our sins"
(cf. fn. 26).
84 For a survey of the question, see R. E. Brown, Priest and Bishop: Biblical
Reflections (New York: Paulist Press, 1970). For further literature, the citations
in J. D. Quinn, "Ministry in the NT," Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue IV:
Eucharist and Ministry (Washington: USCC, 1970) 69-100 will at least furnish a
path into the flourishing thicket of studies around this subject. A survey of the question
from the point of view of Acts has been produced by Jean Daniélou, L'Église des
Apôtres (Paris: Seuil, 1970).
35 To the mind of the author of Heb, there is as little (or as great) a problem
in applying the title "apostle" to a man like Paul as later christian generations have
found in designating its ministers as hiereis. The real problem is precisely how can
Jesus be apostolos (not the multiplication of apostoloi) , how can he be ( arch -)
hiereus (not the multiplication of hiereis ). The existence of a unique high priest
among christians is in fact no more opposed to the existence of other hiereis than the
existence of one high priest in Israel excluded the existence of other hiereis .
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1971] Apostolic Ministry and Prayer 487
by the fact that Jesus was sent by the Father, that he is the proto
paradigm of apostleship.36 And according to Heb he was sent to
life in sacrificial worship of the Father (cf. 10: 5-8). 87 The only
historical Jesus apart from his death that this author mentions
the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications ( dees
hiketērias), with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save h
death, and he was heard for his godly fear" (5:7). After his
exaltation his priesthood continues precisely because "he alway
make intercession for those ( eis to entugchanein hyper autõnss
salvation (7:25). Thus for Heb, Jesus is apostolos because he is ar
and he is high priest because of the worship that he gave and co
give to the Father alone. That this understanding of the priesthood
is in perfect continuity with the Deuteronomic command to lo
exclusively and totally is not surprising. That he was sent, that
tolos for the same reason that he is archiereus, to give a uniqu
worship, to offer his life in prayer, to the God of Israel, deserves
tice.
Moreover, I would defend this as central to the understanding that the
author of Lk-Acts brought to the notion of apostleship. It is commonplace
to note that the third gospel ends with the Eleven "continually in the temple
blessing God" (Lk 24:53) and that Acts time and again depicts them and
the Jerusalem church as persevering in prayer, both with Israel and as a
separate community (1:14; 2:42,46-47 ; 3:1; 4:24-31, etc.). It is note-
worthy that when another man is to be chosen to fill the place of the traitor
and to "become with us a witness to his resurrection" (1:22), that the
candidate for "this ministry and apostleship" (1:25) is sought by prayer
(1:24). Later, when the Twelve describe their duties as they prepare to
share them, they declare, "But we will devote ourselves to prayer (he
proseuchē )89 and to the ministry of the word" (6:4). The first work of the
apostolic witness to the resurrection, his first service to the Gospel, is his
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488 The Catholic Biblical Quarterly [Vol. 33
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1971] Apostolic Ministry and Prayer 489
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490 The Catholic Biblical Quarterly [Vol. 33
but only in the sense that to believe always, to hope always, to love
hyperbolic. The exegesis of these passages (not to mention our
their imperatives) has tended to be "hypobolic" (if I may coin
and to that extent we have not really seen the heart of Paul th
totally concerned with "the Lord's affairs" (1 Cor 7:32) and
for all the churches (2 Cor 11 :28) .ß0
Secondly, I find instructive all those passages in which the apo
moned the churches to pray with him as well as to intercede for
Rom 15:30-32; Phil 1:19; Col 4:3; 2 Thes 3:1-2). The whol
shares in the central task of the apostle, and his concerns and goals
give definition and direction to the prayer of the Church. The word
the Gospel, which came to believers through the apostle, must also c
to form them through the apostle, to join them to that apostolic pr
what ultimately only God can give, his rule and kingdom.
If, as we noted, apostleship is a gift and grace of the Holy Sp
must also be remarked that the prayer of the apostle, as of all chris
empowered and sustained by the Spirit (Rom 8:26-27) . It is, in th
analysis, the Spirit who confers holiness on that offering of th
which Paul as the worshipping minister ( leitourgon ) of Christ Jesu
performing a priestly task of worship, brings to the Father (Rom 1
The apostolic minister of Jesus is simultaneously the apostolic m
the Spirit who leads the Church in its principal work of total s
total love of, the Word of God.
The Western Catholic Church today has had its worship enri
rejuvenated with an abundance of public reading of the Scriptur
I venture to say, the historian will rank second only to the intro
the vernacular languages for its profound, long-term effects up
newal of the whole people of God. The response to that word, th
exclusive love of God which it demands, the primacy of prayer and
which it implies, are as drastic a challenge to our generation as they
the apostolic churches and that apostolic ministry which formed and
them.
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1971] Apostolic Ministry and Prayer 491
Jerome D. Quinn
The Saint Paul Seminary
St. Paul, Minnesota
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