Spirituality of the Cenacle
THE BIRTH OF THE CHARISM
The Influence of Ignatian Spirituality
The Spiritual Experiences of Our Foundress
With Mary in the Cenacle...
Listening to the Holy Spirit
The Cenacle in Art
Feast of the Cenacle
The Birth of the Charism
Something new happened when the Holy Spirit brought them together:
- a man, Stephen Terme, a missionary priest, roaming a region of France, the Upper Ardèche, still marked by the French Revolution,
- and a woman, Thérèse Couderc, burning with love for Christ, and who had “only one desire: to make him known and loved,” especially to women and the most disadvantaged.
From this man and woman of fire and the very strong need to re-evangelize the region, the Spirit gave birth to a new congregation.
It was 1826, in a village called La Louvesc in the Upper Ardèche. Crowds were flocking on pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Jean François Régis, a Jesuit who had died there in 1640. These pilgrims came to draw meaning for their lives from the inspiration of this energetic missionary from the Ardèche. This “pilgrim” dimension, of being always on the move, was at the heart of Stephen and Thérèse, who dared to say: “My heart is as big as the world” which subsequently led the sisters to the five continents.
“I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!”
Luke 12:49 (Words written on the back of our crosses)
The Influence of Ignatian Spirituality
The work of the Spirit continued with another encounter: in 1829, while making his own retreat, Father Terme discovered the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. He was immediately won over and asked the Sisters to use them in their lives and apostolate, bringing the Congregation into Ignatian Spirituality.
The Ignatian approach consists of following Christ step by step, contemplating each stage of Jesus’ life, and allowing oneself to be shaped by Him, by the Word, to the point of “loving and embracing what Jesus Christ Himself loved and embraced” (Const. 3).
It is also about living our lives with an attitude of discernment, both personal and communal, so that we can perceive which spirit animates our words, actions, behavior, decisions, choices and those of the world, so that we can discern in the calls of the world and the Church those to which the Spirit invites us to respond freely.
The Spiritual Experiences of Our Foundress
We want to put Christ Jesus at the centre of our lives, in his humanity, in his actions and in his Word, as Father Terme learned from the spirituality of his time: the French School and then in the Spiritual Exercises.
Nous cherchons à avancer peu à peu sur un chemin de vraie liberté, dans “that spirit of detachment that holds to nothing… to surrender oneself, no longer seeking anything… but only God’s good pleasure”, according to the experience shared with us by Thérèse Couderc. Discovering how to follow Christ, poor, chaste and obedient to the Father, leads us to this freedom of the children of God.
Passionately loving this world, seeking and finding God in everything: people, situations, and events is the interior attitude we adopt as Cenacle Sisters. Thérèse shares with us how she herself was seized by the Goodness of God, present in everything and everywhere: “I saw this word Goodness written, as if in letters of gold, on all creatures, animate and inanimate, rational or not, all bore this name of Goodness… I understood that all these creatures have of good… is a benefit that we owe to the goodness of our God, who has communicated to them something of his infinite goodness so that we might meet it in everything and everywhere.” It is the very gaze of God the creator that Thérèse invites us to cast on everything and everyone, a gaze that gives or restores life, a gaze that creates.
With Mary in the Cenacle
The Congregation gradually became aware that it was living the spirit and mission of the first Church gathered around Mary in the retreat of the Cenacle, the Upper Room in Jerusalem.
It is, therefore, quite natural that this mystery of the first Assembly of the nascent Church should give its name to the Congregation of the “Sisters of Our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacle.”
In the Cenacle, we and all those whom we welcome or to whom we are sent experience what that very first assembly experienced: we remember with Mary the deeds and actions, the words and silences of Jesus and we let them enlighten and give meaning to what we are living, to what the Church is living, to what the world is living. It is from this listening to the Spirit that the calls addressed to us arise.
“In the Upper Room… all these, with one heart, devoted themselves to prayer, together with Mary, the mother of Jesus”
Acts 1:13-14
Listening to the Holy Spirit
Mary, “God’s woman partner” (2), is always the one who allows herself to be invaded by the Spirit, from the Annunciation to Pentecost, the one who gives birth to the Word and makes the Church fruitful. With her and like her, with St. Thérèse Couderc “unreservedly surrendered to the action of the Holy Spirit,” we are called to let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit to allow the Word to take flesh in our lives. This is what enables us to accompany many women and men, of all ages, from all walks and conditions of life, in all countries, in their vocation as baptized Christians. In this, we are women of the Word.
“The mystery of the Cenacle… is the mystery of prayerful expectation and waiting in retreat, with Mary, directed to that outpouring of the Spirit which sent the apostles to the ends of the earth”
Const. 2
This mystery of the first assembly of the nascent Church also marks our lives with a particular community dimension, in which each of us is invited to “commit ourselves deeply, having been called, gathered, and united for the same mission.” (Const. 67)
(2) Sr Ghislaine Côté, Cenacle sister, extract from her book “The Cenacle. Its Christological Foundations and Its Spirituality.”
The Cenacle in Art
Deepening the mystery of the Cenacle
With a few works of art coupled with texts, let’s go deeper into understanding the rich mystery of the Cenacle, a representation of Pentecost with the figure of Mary at the center of the waiting, the outpouring of the Spirit and the departure on mission.
Feast of the Cenacle
Our Lady of the Cenacle is the patronal feast of the Congregation. It is celebrated on the Saturday following the Feast of the Ascension.
It commemorates the first assembly of the nascent Church described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1, 12-14): those close to Jesus, gathered with Mary, awaited and prayed for the coming of the Spirit, who would send the Apostles to the ends of the earth.
It was from this first Church community that the sisters of the Cenacle learned how to live and unite very intimately the three dimensions of their life and mission: apostolate, prayer, and community life.
The title of Our Lady of the Cenacle given to Mary, and the Mass and Office associated with it, were approved by the Church at the end of the 19th century at the request of the Congregation.
Every year, the Mass of Our Lady of the Cenacle is celebrated by the communities of the Congregation in different countries, and on this day, we renew our vows.
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