Dear Friends,
Welcome to this new website, this new endeavor, which we are proud to share with you! We hope that it is pleasing to you, inviting and easy to navigate.
Transformation is in the air; it is not relegated to a few. This past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought our whole world to a posture of awe and astonishment, to that threshold all humans face after birth, what we customarily refer to as death. Yet, in light of the Gospel, the power of the resurrected Christ and the fulfilled promise of Spring’s new life, we believe that death is not an end, but a doorway into eternal life. This microscopic virus has catapulted the human family into a new reality faster than we could have imagined. It is not that we are unaware of the Great Turning occurring at this moment of time. It is that this strange attractor has forced us to be awake and alert, to examine our lives more closely now; tomorrow would be too late.
Like many religious communities of women in North America, we have been re-examining our lives and taking into account those perennial questions: Who are we at this time of our life? What is our purpose now? To what is God calling us now? We are committed to this transformative journey knowing that the process of transformation is carrying us over and through the various terrains of our soul and physical life. We trust in the Paschal Mystery ever operative in our lives and all Creation.
There are many signs of our recent conversion, especially for those of you who know us; too many to name here now. However, one piece of evidence that we are making different and hopefully life-giving choices is this website, newly designed and intentionally unfinished.
For a lifetime, we have been privileged to accompany you, perhaps, and other people on their spiritual journeys. Now, we are inviting you to join us on our spiritual journey as a province, a member of our international body, the Sisters of the Cenacle across several continents. This is a journey into the deeper regions of our congregational heart and soul by tending to and navigating the vicissitudes of life with integrity, fidelity to our original call, generosity to the Spirit now at work within us, and in solidarity with all who are standing in the midst of a recreative process for the sake of new life.
Just as life unfolds, so, too, will this next chapter of our life, expressed here at this website. We invite you to stay close as the story recounts what has always been and reveals what is to come; as our Good God continues to lure us into a dynamic web of love and life, into a more resilient contemplative presence being visible and accessible, for “we must ourselves by caught up by the love of Jesus Christ since our lives, far more than our words, must speak clearly of Christ.” (CONSTITUTIONS #2)
Be here with us, actively engaged in the Cenacle mission of prayer, community and service. Let us be caught up by the love of Jesus Christ. Help us develop a program for you that satisfies, challenges and encourages your spiritual needs at this time. Share your wisdom with Cenacle friends through our “Journal”. Hold that contemplative space with us in the face of a frenetic world. Pray with us for the needs of our human family. Let us expand our arms and open our hearts to embrace the entire Creation, the Body of Christ. Then, joined together, we can respond whole-heartedly to the Reign of God present among us now.
In Jesus name and prayerful communion,
Your Cenacle Sisters in North America