WHAT IS A CENACLE?
“For where two or three gather together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20
Cenacle is a place that is directly linked to some biblical passages that refer mainly to the episode of the Last Supper. In the Gospels of Mark (14:15) and Luke (22:12) the word cenacle appears in some translations, and also in the text in the book of Acts of the Apostles that narrates the meeting of the disciples "in the upper room".
The Cenacle, therefore, is a place of encounter, exchange and inclusion. A place of prayer, intimacy, friendship, confrontation in love, and transformation. A place where the group grows stronger and learns to be “Body”.
It is no wonder that John Paul II asked for Missionary Cenacles! And he ends in the 1998 Catechesis:
"Finally, the Spirit accompanies and encourages the Church to evangelize in unity, building unity. Pentecost took place when the disciples “were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1) and “were devoting ourselves to prayer” (ibid., 1:14). After receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter delivers his first address to the crowd, “standing with the Eleven” (ibid., 2:14): this is the icon of a unified proclamation, which must remain so even when the preachers are dispersed throughout the world. Proclaiming Christ under the impulse of the one Spirit, on the threshold of the third millennium, implies for all Christians a concrete and generous effort towards full communion."
HOW DO WE DO THE CENACLE AT THE OCM?
The process of implementing prayer groups is as follows:
OCM members contact the dioceses and arrange a meeting with the Bishop.
In this meeting they explain the purpose of the Work, which is to create prayer groups called cenacles .
These groups meet once a month and pray the holy rosary, making intentions for each continent.
After the holy rosary, the bulletin is read with news from the church and the Work of the Missionary Cenacles, which contains testimonies from the missionaries and the groups. This bulletin can be sent by email or downloaded here . It is a prayerful reading that ends with an offertory song and the collection.
