The spirituality of the Sisters of the Cenacle
« To live in the Cenacle is to live with Mary in the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and to share in her giving of Christ to others ».
Constitutions of the Cenacle Sisters
The Acts of the Apostles open up the understanding of Mary’s role after the death and resurrection of Jesus and especially between his ascension to heaven and the gift of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The 11 apostles locked themselves in the Cenacle with other men and women who followed Jesus.
Mary, the one who believed in the fulfilment of the Word, remained standing. She accompanied all those who were in the Cenacle so that they could trust in the words that Jesus had said to them: ‘I will send you the Holy Spirit’. Mary helps us to remain in expectation of the Spirit, to believe that death has been overcome and that the Life of her Son will reign. How did she do it? In the Cenacle, they remembered Jesus and his words, deeds and promises, and persevered with one heart in prayer. The fulfilment of the Cenacle mystery is the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit within the Cenacle. On the day of...
« To live in the Cenacle is to live with Mary in the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and to share in her giving of Christ to others ».
Constitutions of the Cenacle Sisters
The Acts of the Apostles open up the understanding of Mary’s role after the death and resurrection of Jesus and especially between his ascension to heaven and the gift of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The 11 apostles locked themselves in the Cenacle with other men and women who followed Jesus.
Mary, the one who believed in the fulfilment of the Word, remained standing. She accompanied all those who were in the Cenacle so that they could trust in the words that Jesus had said to them: ‘I will send you the Holy Spirit’. Mary helps us to remain in expectation of the Spirit, to believe that death has been overcome and that the Life of her Son will reign. How did she do it? In the Cenacle, they remembered Jesus and his words, deeds and promises, and persevered with one heart in prayer. The fulfilment of the Cenacle mystery is the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit within the Cenacle. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit transformed the Apostles into burning witnesses and messengers of Jesus Christ. Today we live this same dynamic: we remain in expectation of the Holy Spirit and, transformed by it into burning apostles, we announce by our lives and words that life is in Jesus Christ. This experience which animates the sisters in their daily life and work, is also lived by those who, through the ministry of the Cenacle Sisters, enter into this dynamic of life and faith.
« The mystery of the Cenacle expresses our mission in the Church and the significance of Mary in our spirituality. It is the mystery of prayerful expectation and waiting in retreat by the first assembly of the Church, with Mary, directed to that outpouring of the Spirit which sent the apostles to the ends of the earth “clothed with power from on high ».
Constitutions des sœurs du Cénacle
It is not easy to explain a spirituality born five hundred years ago and yet so relevant to today’s way of life and which nourishes us every day! Ignatian spirituality is based on the spiritual experience of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It is transmitted to us in his Life Story and in the Spiritual Exercises.
Some main features :
- a positive outlook towards the human person and all creation. Ignatian spirituality takes into consideration the whole person (body, mind, soul, affectivity, will, intelligence, …) and accompanies them in their relationship with the Creator, the God of life who wants good for all people.
- A particular face of God, the One who draws close to us, who gives without counting the cost, who, in Jesus Christ, makes Himself a companion on the road. A God who communicates himself to the human heart, who believes in us, who wants us to be free and who respects our freedom.
- A way of finding God in the ordinariness of life. Through a contemplative gaze and the ability to recognise God’s action in one’s life and in the world, the person learns to find God in all things and to become a “contemplative in...
It is not easy to explain a spirituality born five hundred years ago and yet so relevant to today’s way of life and which nourishes us every day! Ignatian spirituality is based on the spiritual experience of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It is transmitted to us in his Life Story and in the Spiritual Exercises.
Some main features :
- a positive outlook towards the human person and all creation. Ignatian spirituality takes into consideration the whole person (body, mind, soul, affectivity, will, intelligence, …) and accompanies them in their relationship with the Creator, the God of life who wants good for all people.
- A particular face of God, the One who draws close to us, who gives without counting the cost, who, in Jesus Christ, makes Himself a companion on the road. A God who communicates himself to the human heart, who believes in us, who wants us to be free and who respects our freedom.
- A way of finding God in the ordinariness of life. Through a contemplative gaze and the ability to recognise God’s action in one’s life and in the world, the person learns to find God in all things and to become a “contemplative in action”.
A way to live and promote justice. In the certainty that God is already at work in the heart of all people and in the world, Ignatian spirituality helps us to commit ourselves to the service of others in society, the Church and the world.
These are the means that Ignatian spirituality gives us to become contemplative men and women in action:
– The experience of the Spiritual Exercises which aims to put one’s life in order, in order to orient it towards God and make decisions according to the Gospel;
– Prayer in very varied but always incarnated forms. Praying with the Word of God, contemplating the life of Jesus, his way of living, loving and giving of himself; but also prayer with one’s life, prayer of the heart, prayer with one’s senses….
– Spiritual accompaniment which, through spiritual discernment and reflection allows one to recognise in one’s life, the joys and struggles, the presence of the Lord.
Father Stephen Terme, throughout his short and intense life, was inhabited by a burning love for Christ which gave him the audacity of the missionary and the creativity of the founder.
“It is not enough to want to serve God, one must want to serve him in the way he himself wants to serve him.” In this expression there is something of Ignatian spirituality. In fact, the discovery of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius gives a direction to his desire to make Jesus known and loved and a privileged means to realise it. Father Terme had the great intuition that the sisters he gathered in Lalouvesc, including Thérèse Couderc, would give the Spiritual Exercises to women. To Mary, the mother of Jesus, Father Terme consecrated the little nascent congregation. This act was taken up by Thérèse Couderc who, in the middle of the ordeal that the very young congregation went through at the death of Father Terme, consecrated herself and also all those who would be part of this congregation. Thérèse put under the protection of Mary all those who would come to practice the Spiritual Exercises in the Cenacle. To Mary she asked for the grace to...
Father Stephen Terme, throughout his short and intense life, was inhabited by a burning love for Christ which gave him the audacity of the missionary and the creativity of the founder.
“It is not enough to want to serve God, one must want to serve him in the way he himself wants to serve him.” In this expression there is something of Ignatian spirituality. In fact, the discovery of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius gives a direction to his desire to make Jesus known and loved and a privileged means to realise it. Father Terme had the great intuition that the sisters he gathered in Lalouvesc, including Thérèse Couderc, would give the Spiritual Exercises to women. To Mary, the mother of Jesus, Father Terme consecrated the little nascent congregation. This act was taken up by Thérèse Couderc who, in the middle of the ordeal that the very young congregation went through at the death of Father Terme, consecrated herself and also all those who would be part of this congregation. Thérèse put under the protection of Mary all those who would come to practice the Spiritual Exercises in the Cenacle. To Mary she asked for the grace to be always animated by the spirit of Jesus Christ. By these acts, the two founders of the Cenacle Sisters gave Mary a very special place. Mary’s place would lead us to recognise the mystery of the Cenacle in the way we live.
Throughout her life, Thérèse Couderc experienced a God of goodness who can be trusted. She would say: “God is good; he is more than good, he is Goodness, I don’t want to forget it!” In her life she learned to surrender herself to the action of the Holy Spirit and in a text where she shares a mystical experience, she reveals her secret: “The great way to enter the path of perfection and holiness is to SURRENDER OURSELVES to our good God”.
