About Prayer Cenacles

Flame of Love Prayer Cenacles are a powerful way for us to come together and pray as community. One does NOT need to join a prayer cenacle to receive Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; that is a gift given to bring us into deep union with Jesus and help us love more than ever before. However, for those with the time to do so, praying in community is a powerful way to drive out the influence of Satan.

Types of Prayer Cenacles

It is important that we meet, that we drive out Satan’s influence, on many different levels.

In Our Families

The most important type of cenacle is a Family Cenacle – strengthening the Flame of Love in our families and blinding Satan in our homes. Our Blessed Mother asked for Family Holy Hours the very day the Flame of Love was first given on April 13, 1962: “My daughter, I ask you to particularly offer reparation to my Son on Thursdays and Fridays. The reparation should take place within families.”

In Our Communities

When possible, we should pray together as a Community to take back our Communities from Satan’s influence. Let us care about and pray for our neighborhoods.

Ideally this should happen within our parish churches but only with the permission of the Pastor or Parish Priest. Jesus asked for such prayer cenacles on February 2, 1981: “Prayer groups must be organized with full enthusiasm and will in every parish!”

If we do not have permission from the Pastor or Parish Priest or if it is not practical to meet in the church, we can gather in our homes to pray for our communities. If that is not possible, we can pray in a community center, a park, a town square, or on-line together.

In Our Countries

The Movements in our countries are encouraged to come together occasionally to pray as the entire country for the country and to fill our countries with the presence of Jesus and the love of our Blessed Mother’s own Immaculate Heart as the effect of grace to drive out Satan’s influence from our countries. Most of the time, these will be virtual prayer cenacles because of the the need to cover the entire country. You can contact the Flame of Love in your country to find if and when there is a National Cenacle. In larger countries, there may even be regional prayer cenacles.

In Our World

On occasion, the entire Flame of Love Movement joins in an International Cenacle so that joined together from around the world, we drive out Satan’s influence together.

Structure & Content

We are not given any instructions in the Diary regarding how to conduct a prayer cenacle and only a minimal outline for Family Holy Hours. For those, our Blessed Mother directed:

May the hour you devote to reparation begin with spiritual reading, a devotion filled with spiritual recollection, the Rosary or some other form of prayer.

Make reparation by twos or threes. Where two or three of you gather, there is my Holy Son.

At His request, start with five Signs of the Cross, during which you offer yourselves to the Eternal Father through my Son’s Holy Wounds. End the prayer service of reparation the same way. (The Spiritual Diary – April 13, 1962)

We have provided a general outline which many be used but this is a guideline. It may be adapted to local culture and circumstances. For example, we have prayer cenacles that meet between Masses on Sundays and they only have 45 minutes; all they do is pray a Rosary. Other have praise and worship, adoration, a meal, and go on for many hours. Various countries have published more extensive prayer cenacle guides; you are encouraged to contact the Flame of Love in your country. Please do not feel that you cannot have a Flame of Love cenacle because you do not have time to pray the entire outline; gather in community and pray; that is the important thing! There is no one “right” way to pray a cenacle.

We recommend that there be four components to each prayer cenacle if possible:

1. Fellowship – it is important to build our love for each other. Satan hates this Movement that brings about the end of his influence and he will do anything to stop it. He will try to divide us and the shield of humility and the love we build in shared prayer and fellowship through grace will render his attacks futile.
2. Formation – typically a reading from or the use of a study tool for the Diary
3. Prayer – typically the Rosary
4. Adoration

Finally, a word about content. If this is personal prayer or a personal prayer group, one is free to pray whatever one wants. However, if you wish to conduct a Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary prayer cenacle, it is important that it stay focused on the Flame of Love and not the personal spirituality of the leaders. The Statutes of our Association of the Faithful prohibit mixing in other spiritualities and this is also discouraged by Canon Law. There are two reasons for this

1. When people come to a Flame of Love prayer cenacle, they are expecting to learn and experience the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and not something else as beautiful and uplifting as that something else may be.
2. That something else is someone else’s job in the Church. This is why there are different Apostolates each with its own area of expertise and responsibility. We should not be usurping someone else’s role.

However, we must not be so rigid as to be unreasonable and counterproductive. It is not inappropriate to occasionally weave something else into the cenacle, e.g., in rhythm with the Church’s liturgical calendar, e.g., Sacred Heart, Divine Mercy, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saint Therese of Lisieux. This is an excellent way to introduce people to the many beautiful dimensions of spirituality in the Church in union with the Church’s calendar but they should never overshadow the Flame of Love.

Physical or Virtual?

Should cenacles be physical, i.e., in one place such as a church or home, or virtual, i.e., on-line? Each has their place and, overall in the Flame of Love Movement, it is important that we have a blend. We can liken virtual and physical cenacles to the way grass grows.

Virtual cenacles are like the seed that scatters the grass far and wide. They know no borders and, if you permit them to join, can have attendees from all over the country – indeed the world. The advantage is that they are available to anyone with a connection and so provide an opportunity to attend a cenacle for those who do not have a physical cenacle nearby, are home bound, live in areas where it may be dangerous to travel, or cannot attend a local physical cenacle because it does not meet at a convenient time. Virtual cenacles can help the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary spread throughout an entire country precisely because they have no borders.

Where it is feasible, we suggest that a video conference platform be used for virtual cenacles and that cameras be enabled. Seeing each other dramatically enhances the power of our fellowship and helps humanize the dehumanizing nature of virtual conferences. One can use any technology that works for you. Jitsi Meet is a free video conferencing service. Others use Zoom or Google Meet. There is no “official” platform. However, video is not always feasible where the cost of doing video on the Internet is too expensive or the infrastructure insufficient. If you do choose a virtual cenacle, you may wish to review these guidelines for virtual cenacle etiquette.

Physical cenacles are like the shoots of grass that grow underground and allow the grass to grow in density. They have many advantages over virtual cenacles. They are more intimate – more human. It is a great blessing if they can be in a church in the real presence of our Lord either in the tabernacle or exposed in Adoration. They are more inviting. Someone is more likely to come if we say, “we have a problem in our family (or our community); come to my house and we’ll have some coffee and cake and we’ll pray together” than if we say, “come pray with us on-line”. Physical cenacles build a local identity. Finally, when physical cenacles are in a church (with the Priest’s permission), it is our first level of engagement with the Church hierarchy to seek their official blessing and commendation.

Physical prayer cenacles are generally preferable to virtual prayer cenacles but they are not always practical. This may even be true for family cenacles when the family is scattered. Ultimately, what type of prayer cenacle you choose is up to you. We do encourage our National Leaders to have at least one virtual cenacle in their countries so that anyone in the country can have the ability to pray and learn about the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary even if there is no physical cenacle available to them. We also encourage them to host a virtual National Prayer Cenacle on occasion so that we build a national identify for the Flame of Love and come together to pray for our countries and answer our Blessed Mother’s call to help her save our countries. You can contact your country for more information about National Prayer Cenacles.

Cenacle Growth

God willing, our prayer cenacles will experience great growth. What do we do as they grow? As they do, we should encourage cenacle members to break off and start their own cenacles. This can be difficult for both good and bad reasons.

We must resist the sometimes unconscious pull to make “our” prayer cenacle our personal platform. We may be actively participating but, as cenacles grow large, they tend to be dominated by a few people while others fade into the background and share very little. By keeping cenacles smaller, greater participation can be encouraged. How large that number is may vary by personalities and culture. We must also resist the sometimes unconscious pull to control. It is not our prayer cenacle; it is our Lady’s prayer cenacle. Let her begin working through others.

Perhaps the greatest hurdle to branching off new cenacles is the love we build for one another. Our cenacles should be places of great love, sharing, and bonding. It is hard to split them up; we miss each other. But we must remember that there is a strong evangelical dimension to the Flame of Love; it must be spread. Where would we be if the Apostles decided they enjoyed each other’s company so much that they all stayed in the Upper Room and did not scatter to the world? Spawning new cenacles not only helps spread the Flame of Love but it provides opportunities to build new leaders who, in turn, can help bring others leaders along. In this way, we allow our Blessed Mother to continually strengthen her Movement.

One thing we can do to preserve those beautiful bonds of love and fellowship is to have occasional reunions – physical or virtual. Let us not lose the love built between us but also remember that the Flame of Love is not about our happiness and our fulfillment. It is to go from heart to heart to spread throughout the world.

What is a Cenacle?

Finally, some may be unfamiliar with the term “cenacle”. What is a cenacle? The Cenacle (from Latin cēnāculum “dining room”), also known as the “Upper Room” (from Koine Greek anagaion and hyperōion, both meaning “upper room”) was traditionally held to be the site of the Last Supper. In many languages, the word for “dinner” still reflects this Latin root. In Christian tradition, the room was not only the site of the Last Supper (i.e. the Cenacle), but the room in which the Holy Spirit alighted upon the eleven apostles after Easter. It is sometimes thought to be the place where the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. Consequently, it has come to mean a gathering where people come together to pray, fellowship, and learn – in our case, about the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Important Reminder

Thank you for your interest in prayer cenacles for the Flame of Love. It is important to remember that Prayer Cenacles do not define or measure the Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is not about a new prayer devotion or new prayer groups; it is a miracle in the depth of hearts – a gift our Blessed Mother wants to share with everyone – those with lit lamps, extinguished lamps, and even no lamps. Who and how is to receive the Flame of Love is not our business but rather is up to our Blessed Mother. It is not measured by the number of people attending cenacles nor does one need to attend a cenacle to receive and live the Flame of Love.

Flame of Love Prayer cenacles are a tool and not the goal. They are a match and not the fire. Nonetheless, they are powerful, important, and effective and drive Satan away from our parishes and communities. By starting one in your family, parish, or community, you will open the door to great blessings and graces. May our Lord and Lady greatly bless your prayer cenacle and make it a blessing to others!