This is what this painting depicts. It shows the disciples locked in the Cenacle around Mary. There, they remembered Jesus, awaiting His Spirit. As they look up to heaven, the Holy Spirit descends upon them in the form of a dove and tongues of fire. Immediately filled with this power, some of them set off to proclaim the Gospel.
Pentecost, oil on wood, 2×2 m, painting by the Laxou community, now on display at the Cenacle in Versailles (France).
A stage place in spiritual life
The symbols of dwelling, of a place of encounter, of the center that is both the heart and the passageway are intrinsic to the image of the Cenacle. The Christ of the time of the Cenacle is presented as being in transit, in the pasch, that is, the passing over, and we are invited to go with him […].
The creativity of Therese Couderc has joined together retreat and pilgrimage. It thus revealed for the rest of our history the circle formed by our apostolic means: retreats, catechesis and other forms of spiritual ministry, all of which are aids in experiencing God and his Christ. Experience is to be heard in broader and more exact way – it is the knowing acquired through the journey – knowing in the biblical sense, of being life-producing. No one can gain this knowledge without undertaking the journey.
The Cenacle itself, in its deepest reality, is only a stop on the way; the upper room is a place to pass through, a place to stay when journeying on: “until you have been clothed with power from on high”. Our Congregation was born on the route of the pilgrims to La Louvesc! We were born to accompany pilgrims. The Cenacle – it could be a house, it will always be a community of the Cenacle – is truly a maze of “going forths”, of turning points, of surprises, of fervors, and sometimes of miles. It is a stage on the route to a greater desire and to the dwelling of Him who calls himself the Way.
The Cenacle is a place where people are sent in mission at the service of our contemporaries
Movement, passage, pasch or passover identify Christ the King and those whom he calls to be “with him”: “whoever wishes to come with me must labor with me, so that through following me in the pain, he or she may follow me also in the glory” (Spi. Ex. 95). He is known and revealed only to those who, dwelling with him, let themselves be sent with him out into the whole universe, seeking “to aid all persons” find true life and their truth in humility (Spi. Ex. 146). […]
If we want to follow Jesus Christ we must, like Him, “go out to” all humanity at the same time as going to the Father.
“Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own… he loved them to the end.” (Jn. 13:1). He goes to the Father in going to us. “[Y]ou will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:8-9). He goes to us in going to God. Through the mystery of the Cenacle we are led to where he dwells. In this double and unique “conversion” or turning to humanity and to God, Christ is not inviting us to a resting place but to an essential pilgrimage. We can be in no other place than He, and He can be no other place than on this forward journey. Thus all of our lives, all of our history, all of this world can become places that “can reveal the face of Christ to be contemplated and his love to be given and received” (Const. 25).
The gathering of the men and women of the upper room exists so that the powers of each one may be gathered in a way that is totally directed toward beginning the work and beginning the journey of entering into Christ’s passionate longing for the completion of the world, for men and women in accord with his heart. This gathering thrusts us out onto the roads of humanity.
Ghislaine Côté r.c., The Cenacle: Its Christological Foundations and Its Spirituality. Paris: Beauchesne, p. 390-393
