DELRAY BEACH | On March 6, 2024, the first Cenacles of Love: Jesus and Mary prayer conference at Emmanuel Parish in Delray Beach featured parishioner and group founder Patti Schwartz, former national Hispanic director of the Flame of Love nationwide prayer group, who is presently a Catholic radio host evangelizing through media.
Since 2020, Schwartz has been broadcasting her Cenacles of Love prayer group seven days a week on Zoom at 5 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., and on Radio Maria 91.9 FM in Spanish Fridays at 4:20 p.m. Her radio show is titled “Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
The conference began with Mass, a light breakfast and social time. Schwartz welcomed those in attendance who pray nightly with her on Zoom. Some attendees came from New York, Maryland and Massachusetts.
The faithful were led in prayer, honoring the Passion of Jesus by holding a crucifix and kissing each of his five wounds.
“When we think about our Lord’s five wounds, blessing ourselves five times, our minds and our hearts open up,” she said. “Think of our Lord and think of the terrible hours of his Passion. And when you do that, Jesus comes immediately into your mind and into your heart, and it is such a powerful prayer.”
There was a display of relics for veneration. Lisa Vargas, former president of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish’s Legion of Mary, said, “My family were Third Order Franciscans, and we had some relics of the saints. One of them is St. Thérèse. She teaches us that through small little things, when we pray and do acts of mercy, they become great.”
Emmanuel parishioner Nanci Mesa Parra brought her two daughters, Sophie and Nathalie, with her to the conference. “I homeschool my children in the Kolbe program and bring them to Mass with me. I want them to see the saints’ relics.”
Father John Jairo Posada Gomez, of the Order of the Servants of the Holy Spirit from Medellín, Colombia, was a guest at the conference. He was in Florida to give a three-day Hispanic Lenten mission at St. Peter Parish in Jupiter. He
“The word of God says, before God created the world, I had you in my heart, each one of you,” he said. “You are not an accident. You are chosen and you are created by God, like jewels, precious jewels, in a crown.”
A conference highlight was when Schwartz asked everyone to write on a piece of paper which of the 10 evangelical virtues of Our Lady that they follow and which ones they need to work on.
“To be like Our Lady, we must practice the 10 evangelical virtues of purity, prudence, humility, faith, devotion, obedience, poverty, patience, mercy and sorrow for sin,” she said, “so we can be a jewel in Our Lady’s crown.”
Schwartz makes it abundantly clear that the work she does is not for herself, but “for the glory of God” on her mission to evangelize.
A former New York public school teacher for 24 years, married and mother of two adult children, Schwartz began spreading the faith by taking a traveling image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to various New York parishes, providing Marian presentations.
“Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I started the Cenacles of Love: Jesus and Mary in 2020 to help save souls,” she said. “I have a deep devotion and love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph.”
For more information on the Cenacles of Love: Jesus and Mary prayer group, email Schwartz at PSchwartz63@gmail.com or call 518-796-3111. To see a listing of Diocese of Palm Beach events, visit www.diocesepb.org/news/.
