The missionary thought, the missionary idea, the missionary spirit should be dominant in our

Missionary Cenacles. We meet the pressing needs of our day by undertaking works that the Church wants, that are good and necessary, and that have a note of abandonment about them. In all our apostolic commitments, we recognize the authority of the bishops and their special role as signs of unity and as pastors in the local churches.

The Cenacle spirit is a Catholic spirit, a living, burning, operating love of God and neighbor. We are to share this spirit by promoting and supporting the ministries of the laity in the mission of the Church. We acknowledge "different gifts but the same Spirit, different ministries but the same Lord" (1 Cor 12:24).

SPIRITUAL LIFE

The Cenacle spirit is a Christlike spirit of "faith working through love" (Gal 5:6). We are

to confess in our hearts the mysteries of faith: the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. We aspire to a devotional knowledge of these mysteries, that is, a deeply personal and interior faith that is restless until it finds expression in good works; our good works, in turn, nourish our life of faith and bear fruit in apostolic holiness.

We are to have a personal love of God our Father, of his Son Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit who abides with us. In a particular way we cherish in our prayer and labor the naked, abandoned Jesus on Calvary. We express our love through personal service to his poor and abandoned members.

We are to make the Holy Spirit better known and loved. By steadfast prayer in our Cenacles we seek to attract the Holy Spirit so that our own hearts may be enkindled with God's love and that we may spread this fire to others. We ask to be filled with the gifts of the Spirit, wisdom and fortitude especially.

The Cenacle spirit is a Gospel spirit. In order to follow Jesus more closely, as set forth in the Gospels, we profess by public vows the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience as a fuller expression of our baptismal consecration. The uncompromising message of the Gospels calls us to exercise our prophetic role as witnesses to truth.

Vowed life in community unites us, in our respective Institutes, in faith, hope and love. We strive to emulate the early Christians who had one heart and one mind and were nourished by the teaching of the apostles, and the breaking of the bread and the common prayers (Acts 2:4 2; 4:3 2).

We shall hold the Word of God in high esteem. We cherish the Gospels in particular because they depict Jesus showing by word and example the way to the Father. By reflection on the providence of everyday life in the light of the Gospels we come to a devotional knowledge of the mysteries of faith and a deeper understanding of our own experience. Each shall have a copy of the Sacred Scriptures and make frequent use of them in prayer and proclamation.

The Eucharist is the center and sun of our apostolic lives. We are to worship God in the daily celebration of the Eucharist, our sacramental participation in the mystery of Jesus' death and resurrection. We should so prepare and celebrate the Eucharistic Liturgy that it will be a genuine expression of community and source of apostolic vitality. We are to have reverence for the sacramental presence of the Lord Jesus and for all that is related to the Eucharist, especially the priesthood.

Because of our need for God"s mercy in our brokenness, we are to approach the Sacrament of Penance frequently for reconciliation and healing. By our experience of sacramental forgiveness, we grow in mercy and compassion towards others.

The Cenacle spirit is a prayerful spirit. We recognize that only a spiritual person can lead an apostolic life, and that we cannot be spiritual without prayer. Great value, then, shall be placed upon periods of prayerful silence and recollection. We are to devote suitable time each day to personal prayer, meditation and spiritual reading. Our reading should include Missionary cenacle writings and, in keeping with our maxim, sentire cum ecclesia, we are to reflect prayerfully on the documents of the Church.

Periodically we shall seek extended times of prayer and recollection. We are each to make an annual retreat. In order that we may be more attentive to the lights and impulses of the Holy Spirit in our following of Christ, we are encouraged to seek personal spiritual direction.

We are to glorify the Triune God through common prayer, especially the Liturgy of the Hours. We pray together to promote greater zeal in the apostolate, more supportive community life and stronger bonds within the Missionary Cenacle Family. We shall encourage others to share our prayer.

Our prayer should not be narrow, personal prayer; it should reach the throne of God only after having touched the farthest bounds of God's creation and mourned in every human misery and rejoiced in Gods goodness. We are to pray, therefore, for the needs of the entire Church, especially for the Holy Father, for bishops and for priests; we pray for youth and for those who are sick, suffering or abandoned. We have a special obligation to pray for our living and deceased relatives, friends, benefactors and members of the Missionary Cenacle Family.

In our religious family we have a special devotion to Mary, Queen of the Missionary Cenacle, to Joseph, an unfailing and powerful friend, to the Apostles, ardent followers of Jesus, and to Vincent de Paul, patron of charity and humility.

The Cenacle spirit is an apostolic spirit which finds its perfection in zeal, the white heat of charity. We are to become perfect in the spirit and virtues of the Cenacle, to live and die simple,

prudent, humble, charitable men and women; men and women of sacrifice, of patience, of selfdenial whose lives are spent and consecrated to the service of God the Father, Son and Holy

Spirit.