“Through this Movement, I am calling all my children to consecrate themselves to my Heart, and to spread everywhere cenacles of prayer." (473 i: May 13, 1992)
Spiritual Benefits of Cenacles
Throughout her messages to Fr. Gobbi, Our Lady repeatedly asks for the formation of cenacles. Why are they so important to her? The answer is simple. It is because of their many spiritual benefits, and because they are the key that unlocks her tremendous power of intercession.
1. Cenacles are a powerful tool in Our Lady’s hands to lead many to salvation
The offering of our prayer in the cenacle gives Our Lady the means to bring more and more souls to Jesus. She says that through us she will be able to call everyone to enter as quickly as possible into the Ark of the New Covenant and of salvation, which her Immaculate Heart has prepared for us in view of these times of chastisement. (cf. 328i) God wants to extend the period of mercy so that all of his children will come back into his arms. With our help she will work great prodigies to bring as many souls as possible to salvation:
“My soul is pierced by many souls who are being lost and going each day into hell. Help me to save them. Help me with prayer, with suffering, with your love, with your faithfulness. For this reason I am asking you to multiply your cenacles of prayer, in the conclusive time of the great tribulation. In this way, you help me to save many of my poor children, who are walking toward their eternal perdition.” (527j)
“Multiply your cenacles of prayer. Multiply your rosaries, recited well and in union with me… Offer me also your suffering and your penance… I ask for your prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners, that even my most rebellious and most distant children may return to God, who awaits them with the merciful eagerness of a Father… Thus my motherly and supreme intervention can be extended everywhere, for the salvation of all who have gone astray.” (192p-t)
“With these cenacles, you are able to obtain the grace of conversion for many poor sinners, especially for those most in need of divine mercy” (594g), and form “a great net of salvation” (375g), “a great net of love that will envelop and save the whole world! (192s)
2.The cenacle allows her to prepare us spiritually for our Lord’s second coming
The time is fast approaching when each of us will have to give an account of our lives. Will we find ourselves ready when Jesus comes? Will we be spiritually prepared? Now is the time to arise from our slumber and be watchful. The illumination of consciences (judgment in miniature) will not be easy for any of us – every minute detail of our souls and consciences will be scrutinised by God’s light, and nothing will go unnoticed.
“He will come suddenly, and the world will not be ready for his coming. He will come for a judgment for which man will find himself unprepared. He will come to establish his kingdom in the world, after having defeated and annihilated his enemies.” (166h)
Our Blessed Mother, knowing the great pain that this will cause us, her children, has come to prepare us.
By exhorting us to live our consecration – following the commandments; receiving the sacraments, especially that of confession; living chaste and moral lives; being charitable to our neighbour, etc. – she is trying to cleanse each of us and to make us realise what it is that we need to rectify in our lives.
And in the cenacle, she prepares us by leading us along the way of conversion and of return to the Lord. “I desire to give you the grace of a change of heart and of life. I help you to free yourselves from sin, to fight against the passions, to conquer evil; and I lead you to full reconciliation with the Lord your God. It is necessary that this general reconciliation come about quickly, to prepare you thus for the great trial which awaits you, for the complete purification of all humanity.” (536i)
“When the Son of Man returns…if indeed his return is close at hand, then my motherly action becomes more concerned and vigorous, in order to assist all my children to remain ever in the truth of the faith. This is why I have asked you to consecrate yourselves to my Immaculate Heart. This is why, in these times of yours, I have spread everywhere my Marian Movement of Priests: to form the little flock, reunited in the prayer of the cenacles and watchful in expectation – the flock gathered together and formed by me to ever preserve the true faith. Thus, when the Son of Man returns, He will still find the faith on earth in all those who will have consecrated themselves to me, allowing themselves to be gathered together in the heavenly garden of my Immaculate Heart.” (420hij)
3. Cenacles bring security, peace, consolation and hope
“… I want you to be all gathered together in my Immaculate Heart because today, more than ever, you have need of being consoled and encouraged. ” (121h)
“In the cenacles, you will be aware of my extraordinary presence. In the cenacles, you will experience the security and peace which your heavenly Mother gives you.” (509hi)
“Mine is the task of washing you from every stain, of consoling you in every sorrow, of bringing trust to you in your great discouragement, and strong hope to you in your loneliness. I assist you to be in the world without being of the world, because I desire that all of you belong solely and always to my Son Jesus.” (560n)
“To this end, gather souls together ever more and more in cenacles of intense prayer, of deep prayer, so that I may be able to give them peace of heart. At a time when peace is departing ever further and further from men, from families, from nations, and from humanity, the sign of my motherly triumph is peace, which even now I want to bring into the hearts of all my children: of those who listen to me, follow me, and consecrate themselves to my Immaculate Heart. For this, I am again asking you to continue in your cenacles of prayer because, through the grace which springs from my Heart and which brings you to a fullness of love for my Son Jesus, I wish to give my children, today, the precious gift of peace of heart.” (311f)
“Spread these cenacles everywhere like rays of light which come down to lighten up the earth, in these days of great darkness.” (434f)
4. Cenacles protect us from confusion and apostasy
Another important role of the cenacles is to prepare us for the days of confusion when it will be difficult to discern lies from the truth. Because of the confusion both in the Church and in the world, Satan knows he can tempt us by appealing to our vain curiosity. That is why we are tempted to believe every rumour of reported apparitions, mystical experiences, and miraculous occurrences, all the while forgetting that which is most important – our faith and our spiritual readiness. Satan is having a field day in seeing how many go in search of the many false mystics whom he uses to bring people away from the truth and from God. Our Lady says: “There are also speaking today false prophets, who announce the Gospel by betraying it, and these are listened to and followed! And they bring disorder and confusion among the most faithful children of my Church.” (58e)
Our Lady will not allow her chosen ones who have remained faithful to her to be seduced by the charms of him who will set himself against Christ – yet another important reason not to abandon our cenacles! We will be guarded in the depths of her Immaculate Heart and she will give us the vision to see which path to follow.
“The times of the general confusion and of the greatest agitation of spirits has come. Confusion has entered into the souls and the lives of many of my children. This great apostasy is spreading more and more, even through the interior of the Catholic Church. Errors are being taught and spread about, while the fundamental truths of the faith, which the authentic Magisterium of the Church has always taught and energetically defended against any heretical deviation whatsoever, are being denied with impunity.
The episcopates are maintaining a strange silence and are no longer reacting. When my Pope speaks with courage and reaffirms with force the truths of the Catholic faith, he is no longer listened to and is even publicly criticised and derided. There is a subtle and diabolical tactic, woven in secrecy by Masonry, which is used today against the Holy Father in order to bring ridicule upon his person and his work and to neutralise his Magisterium. Victims of the great apostasy are those children of mine who, often unknowingly, allow themselves to be carried along by this wave of errors and of evil. Victims of the great apostasy are many bishops, priests, religious and faithful.
In these times, in the Catholic Church, there will remain a little remnant who will be faithful to Christ, to the Gospel, and to its entire truth. The little remnant will form a little flock, all guarded in the depths of my Immaculate Heart. This little flock will be made up of those bishops, priests, religious and faithful who will remain strongly united to the Pope, all gathered together in the cenacle of my Immaculate Heart, in an act of unceasing prayer, of continual immolation, of total offering to prepare the painful way for the second and glorious coming of my Son Jesus.
On this feast of mine in this Marian Year, I address to all those who wish to become part of the little flock the motherly invitation to consecrate themselves to my Heart, to live in intimacy of life with me, to become my courageous apostles in these last times, because the moment when my Immaculate Heart must be glorified before all the Church and before all humanity has come.” (384d-j)A
5. Cenacles protect us from the evils threatening the families today
Our Lady, “the Mother of Life and the Queen of the Family” (cf. 560l), stresses the great need for families to gather together in cenacles of prayer to save them from the evils which are threatening the life of the Christian families.
“Multiply, in every part of the world, the cenacles of prayer which I have asked of you, like torches lit in the night, like sure points of reference, like shelters needed and sought for. Above all, I ask that family cenacles be multiplied more and more, in order to provide you with a safe dwelling place in the great trial which is now awaiting you.” (417k)
“Above all, spread all about you family cenacles, which are desired by me as a remedy for the great evils which are today threatening the life of Christian families, through the legitimising of abortion, of divorce, and of all the methods which prevent life.” (392f)
“These are the powerful means which my Immaculate Heart gives you to defend the Christian family from the dangers which threaten it, such as infidelity, divisions, separations, recourse to the means of preventing life and those cursed abortions which are being permitted by civil laws but which cry for vengeance in the sight of God.” (555h)
“…This response has been made to me by the families who consecrate themselves to my Heart and who gather together in family cenacles, desired by me and which I have asked of you several times. Thus families consecrated to me resist the grave malady of division and of divorce and are preserved from the contagion of the terrible cancer of abortion and of recourse to all the means of impeding life.” (418d)
6. Cenacles protect us from the chastisement (cf. 495j)
On May 13, 1992, she says: “… through my Marian Movement of Priests, I am calling all my children to consecrate themselves to my Heart, and to spread everywhere cenacles of prayer: among priests, the faithful, children, youth, and in families… In this way I am able to obtain a great force of intercession and reparation, and I am able to intervene in order to change the hearts of my poor sinful children; in this way I am bringing about each day the triumph of my Immaculate Heart… The more this motherly triumph of mine comes about in the hearts and souls of my children in ever increasing numbers, the more the chastisement is put off by you, and the more Jesus can pour out upon the world the torrents of his divine mercy.” (473ijk)
“Multiply everywhere cenacles of prayer to compel the mercy of God to descend, as a dew, on the immense desert of this world.” (219h)
“… it is through the great response of prayer and penance, on the part of so many of my children, that I have been able to obtain from Divine Justice the setting aside once again of a great chastisement which ought to have struck all humanity,” (386gh), and … “intervened many times, in an extraordinary way, to shorten the painful time of the great purifying trial.” (594h)
7. Cenacles will be our safe-havens in the hour of the great trial
“…Multiply everywhere the cenacles of prayer which I have asked of you, as safe places, as refuges in which you take shelter in the tremendous storm which awaits you… In the cenacles you will be preserved from evil and defended from the great dangers which threaten you.” (509g,j), and “I promise to intervene to save you in the hour of the great trial. (529r)
“Without an extraordinary intervention of my motherly love, you would not be able to support the pain of the great trial which has now come for all.” (536k)
8. In the cenacles, we will come to understand “the whole and entire truth”
“You have now entered into the times of the second Pentecost. For this reason, it is necessary that these cenacles be multiplied in every part of the world. I ask that all the Church be gathered together in the spiritual cenacle of my Immaculate Heart. Then the Holy Spirit will bring you to the understanding of the whole and entire truth… He will bring you into the secret of the word of God and will give you the light of wisdom to understand all the Gospel and whatever is described in it concerning the times through which you are living. The Holy Spirit will make you understand the signs of your time. They are the times foretold by Holy Scripture as those of the great apostasy and of the coming of the Antichrist. They are times of great tribulation and of innumerable sufferings for all, which will bring you to live through these final events in preparation for the second coming of Jesus in glory.” (450cd)
9. Cenacles prepare us to become “apostles of these last times”
Just as for the Apostles, the Cenacle of Jerusalem preceded the fullness of their mission, so also will it be for us. In the cenacles, Our Lady prepares us spiritually to be the “apostles of these last times,” to go out and evangelise and bring souls back to Jesus. “As in the Cenacle of Jerusalem I opened the door so that the Apostles could go out and preach the Gospel, initiating the first evangelisation, so also, in this cenacle of yours, I am calling you all to be apostles of this second evangelisation.” (468c)
“I have great designs on you. Respond, each and all, with generosity! In this extraordinary cenacle, I have obtained for you from the Father, through Jesus, the gift of the Holy Spirit. He will transform you into ‘apostles of these last times… Give me your prayer, your suffering and your trust. Do not be afraid if my Adversary attacks you with terrible snares, to lead you to discouragement… You are my very little children, my beloved sons, my apostles. Your light will increase day by day, and you will be a source of guidance and safety at the time of the great tribulation.” (236fgh)
10. Children’s cenacles, in particular, give great spiritual power to Our Lady
Our Lady especially needs the “crusade of innocent prayer of the little ones,” which gives her an ever greater power of intercession and reparation.
“…The generous response on the part of little children gives such joy to my Immaculate Heart and forms a great force of intercession and of reparation before the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. I ask that children’s cenacles be multiplied, in every part of the world, because I am calling them to a crusade of prayer and of consecration for the salvation of the world.” (418b)
“Let children come together in cenacles, because their innocent prayer, united to mine, has today a great power of intercession and reparation. From how many evils you have already been spared, because of the prayer of these little children of mine!” (496f)
11. Cenacles are the spiritual force which, in the end, will release in Our Lady the power given her by Jesus to crush the head of Satan
“… multiply your cenacles of prayer and fraternity; consecrate yourselves to my Immaculate Heart; frequently recite the holy rosary! Then the powerful Red Dragon will be shackled by this chain, and his margin of action will become ever more restricted. In the end he will be left impotent and harmless.” (275s)
“…Sufferings never before experienced are awaiting you, because the moment of a universal renewal is drawing close. Satan will be defeated; the power of evil will be destroyed; Jesus will restore his glorious reign among you, and in this way the new heavens and the new earth will be formed.” (536k)
“… in these last times of the battle between me, the Woman Clothed with the Sun, and the great Dragon, I am asking you to multiply everywhere the cenacles of prayer, with the recitation of the holy rosary, meditation on my word, and your consecration to my Immaculate Heart… With these, you make it possible for your heavenly Mother to take action in binding Satan, so that I may thus carry out my mission of crushing his head, that is to say, of defeating him once and for all … The humble and fragile cord of the holy rosary forms the strong chain with which I will take as my prisoner the dark ruler of the world, the enemy of God and of his faithful servants. Thus the pride of Satan will once again be defeated by the power of the little, the humble and the poor… I announce to you today that this, my great victory, is near at hand, the victory which will bring you to your assured liberation…” (479rstu)
12. In the cenacles, the Holy Spirit will come down to lead us to the second Pentecost
“With my Marian Movement of Priests, I am today inviting all the children of the Church to gather together in a continuous cenacle of prayer with me, your heavenly Mother…”
“My Immaculate Heart is the place of this new, spiritual and universal cenacle. You must enter into it through your act of consecration, which commits you to me forever, so that I may unite my voice to yours in calling down upon the Church and upon all humanity the gift of a second Pentecost… Only the Spirit of the Lord can bring back humanity to the perfect glorification of God. Only the Spirit of the Lord can renew the Church with the splendour of its unity and its sanctity. Only the Spirit of the Lord can overcome the power and the victorious force of the huge Red Dragon, which, in this century of yours, has broken loose everywhere, in a formidable way, to seduce and ensnare all humanity.” (404b-d)
“The whole Church must now enter into the cenacle of my Immaculate Heart: all the bishops, the priests, the religious and the faithful must enter. In the Cenacle of Jerusalem, upon the Apostles gathered in prayer with me, there descended the Holy Spirit, and there took place the miracle of the first Pentecost. Thus, only in the cenacle of my Immaculate Heart, when the whole Church will have entered in, will the great prodigy of the second Pentecost take place. It will be a divine fire of purification and of sanctification which will renew all the face of the earth.” (355b)
“My Immaculate Heart must now become the new and spiritual cenacle, in which you must all gather together, to obtain the gift of the second Pentecost. The purification of the world will come about through the work of the Spirit of Love, who will pour out from heaven his blazing fire to renew the face of the earth.” (536j)
“In this way you are preparing the time of the second Pentecost for the Church and for all the world. With the second Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will render his perfect witness to the Son and will bring upon the earth his glorious reign of love, that Jesus Christ may be loved, adored and glorified by a completely renewed humanity… Only then will my Immaculate Heart have its triumph.” (427klm)
“…above all, the gift of my Immaculate Heart will be the new Pentecost. Just as in the Cenacle of Jerusalem the Apostles, reunited with me in prayer, prepared for the moment of the first Pentecost, so also, in the cenacle of my Immaculate Heart – and consequently in the cenacles where you are gathered in prayer – you apostles of these last times can, with your heavenly Mother, obtain a new effusion of the Holy Spirit.” (284p)
“The second Pentecost will come because, even now, there are spread about in every part of the world the cenacles of prayer which I have asked of you many times and with greater and greater insistence…” (428c) …Recollect yourselves in prayer in the cenacle of my Immaculate Heart, and then you will be able to see, with your own eyes, the wonder of the second Pentecost.” (496e)
“And so, in cenacle with me, you are preparing the second Pentecost which is about to come so that, through the irresistible power of the Spirit of Love, the Church may be healed and the whole world renewed.” (294p)