The Easter Tree, Bonnevaux
Holy Thursday
Today’s liturgy recalls the Last Supper Jesus celebrated with his disciples. It was a religious ceremony but also a family event and time for friendship. At this particular meal Jesus spoke the words that echo down the millennia and connect each Eucharist with this moment – This is my Body. This is my blood. The gift of this sacred meal for nourishing our spiritual journey is deeply meaningful to many.
For everyone, the other event at the Last Supper is profoundly moving and a universal teaching: the washing of the feet. During the Bonnevaux liturgy, we do this to and for each other. If you are with others as you are online for the liturgy, we invite you to do the same. Prepare a bowl of water, a couple of towels and when the time comes remove shoes and socks and carefully, lovingly wash and dry each other’s feet. ‘If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet (Jn13:17). The third powerful element of the liturgy is the recall of the last great tecahings of Jesus before his departure which plumb the greatest depths of his union with God and love for humanity. As usual with a Bonnevaux Eucharist each reading is followed by a short commentary and Fr Laurence expands on the Gospel and a meditation period follows communion before the final blessing.
Good Friday
The day of Jesus’ Passion and death. A day of silence. Fasting. No Mass. No frills. The mood is captured by a second century Christian author:
Something strange is happening — there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. God has fallen asleep in the flesh and has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. He has gone to search for our first parent, to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve,
Out of love for you and your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in Hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I in you; together we form one person and cannot be separated.
In the Liturgy, at 3pm we read the account of the last hours of his life and reflect on how this dying of one man becomes the dying of all men and women, just as his rising touches human nature universally. Fr Laurence will comment on the power of this narrative for our own self-understanding. At the heart of the ceremony is the veneration of the Cross when people freely come forward in silence to kiss or touch the Cross in the centre of the sacred place, a sign of the intimate union between the disciple and Jesus.
Easter Vigil, Bonnevaux
Holy Saturday
The long silence of Saturday ends with a succession of powerful ancient symbols in the Vigil service which begins with the lighting of the Easter Fire under the Easter Tree in the valley of Bonnevaux. There is a procession with the Paschal candle up the valley to the barn where the other rituals will be celebrated: the singing of the Exultet, the blessing of the candle and selected biblical readings that summarise the journey from creation to its new creation in the resurrection of Christ. The spirit of the liturgy is deep and quiet but also joyful as the music and mood of the participants will show. We look forward to celebrating it with you. At dawn the Sunday we gather to stand before the rising sun as the sign of the risen Christ inclusively illuminating all humanity and creation.
Easter Sunday Midday Eucharist
The daytime mass at 12PM follows the usual style and length of the Bonnevaux Sunday Eucharist but filled with the symbols and energy of Easter day. If you couldn’t come to the Vigil, you will be welcome to celebrate Easter with us at Bonnevaux today and sing the great Alleuia.
Christos Anesti (Χριστός Ανέστη) – “Christ is Risen.”
Alithos Anesti (Aληθώς ανέστη!) – “Truly, He is Risen.”
Retreat Schedule (French time)
Holy Thurs
- 10:00 – 11:00 — welcome and talk (Laurence Freeman)
- 11:00 – 11:40 — small groups
break
- 12:15 — midday prayer & meditation
break
- 18:00 — contemplative Eucharist
Good Friday
- 7:00 — meditation optional (not online)
- 7:45 — morning prayer & meditation
break
- 10:00 – 11:00 — talk (Laurence Freeman)
- 11:00 – 11:40 — Q&A
break
- 12:15 — midday prayer & meditation
break
- 15:00 — veneration of the cross and liturgy of the Passion
Holy Saturday
- 7:00 — meditation optional (not online)
- 7:45 — morning prayer & meditation
break
- 10:00 – 11:00 — talk (Laurence Freeman)
- 11:00 – 11:40 — small groups
break
- 12:15 — midday prayer & meditation
break
- 18:00 — evening prayer & meditation
break
- 21:30 — Easter Vigil
Easter Sunday
- 7:00 — meditation optional (not online)
- 7:45 — morning prayer & meditation
break
- 10:00 – 11:00 — talk (Laurence Freeman)
- 11:00 – 11:40 — Q&A
break
- 12:00 — Contemplative Eucharist
To reap the full benefits the retreat offers, we recommend that you meditate 2-3 times per day.
How to Create Your Own Retreat
This online retreat is designed to be flexible around your daily life and time zone. Please visit here where we provide support on creating a rhythm and structure to your retreat: how much silence you would like, meditation times, reading of sacred texts, practicing yoga and more, plus other suggestions to help you embody the retreat and stay off-line as much as possible.