This nine-step journey that began in the Upper Room has led us to perhaps re-discover the essential elements that make up the authentic Christian life. I have endeavoured to outline, explain and explicate those truths of the faith that have come to us through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, accompanied, translated, interpreted and taught by the Church’s Magisterium. To live for Christ and in Christ requires that we surrender our hearts to him – and we are able to do so better by understanding more deeply who he is and the discipleship to which we are called. I have attempted to unearth those fundamentals of our life as disciples of the Teacher and Lord[1] and which mark our personal and ecclesial existence in answer to the universal call to holiness. The saintly Fr. Olier put it succinctly: “To live supremely for God in Christ Jesus our Lord, so much so that the inner life of His only Son should penetrate to the inmost depths of our heart and to such an extent that everyone should be able to say ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’”.[2]

This reflection on the Upper Room provides the opportunity to take a long, honest look at our walk with the Lord and to seriously consider the quality of our relationship with him. Hopefully, the illustrated characteristics of the Christian life, and life in community, have reminded us of the victory of Christ over sin and death and the Holy Spirit’s divine animation and vivification of our life. We have received the new life of the Resurrected Lord and live daily in the hope of eternal life once we will have made our contribution to spreading his Kingdom while on earth. The Catechism summarizes it brilliantly: “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.”[3]

In the Upper Room, we gather to encounter Christ and it becomes the due north on our internal, spiritual compass. Though a physical place in the Land of Our Lord, the Cenacle has taken on a spiritual and ecclesial metaphor that elucidates a significant spiritual reality for us. We are called to enter our Upper Room daily and experience the freshness and novelty of living for the Lord and witnessing to his truth and love, his dream for us, his compassion for all. We venerate the presence of the Lord in the Upper Room and in each of its above-numerated nine dimensions. I am convinced that it is time to rediscover the importance of the Upper Room in our spiritual walk, to appreciate its meaning for us today. I pray that you may invest some time and effort in reading and pondering upon these reflections, alone or with others, at home or in community. Be inventive and creative in using this resource as you deem it most profitable for your walk of faith and your growth in Christlikeness.

Let us conclude with the inspiring, consoling and compelling words of Pope Leo XIV, his very first address shortly after his election to the See of St. Peter: “God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail! All of us are in God’s hands. So, let us move forward, without fear, together, hand in hand with God and with one another! We are followers of Christ. Christ goes before us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as the bridge that can lead us to God and his love. Help us, one and all, to build bridges through dialogue and encounter, joining together as one people, always at peace.”[4] 

[1] Cf. John 13:13

[2] Father Jean-Jacques Olier, founder of the Society of St. Sulpice

[3] CCC, 1

[4] Pope Leo XIV’s Greetings to Rome and to the world, 8 May 2025