International Oblate Retreat
The Oblate Path: What's Monastic Wisdom Today?
The Christian mystery – the Way – is about passing through death into a new life in which we break out of the cycle of death and rebirth: Resurrection. This is at the heart of the light-vision of the Rule:
If we wish to dwell in the tent of his kingdom, we will never arrive unless we run there by doing good deeds. (Prol.22)
We can first taste what this means by simplifying our life, living in the spirit of the Rule and developing the daily run of meditation. This is monastic wisdom and the Oblate Path lives and loves it daily. It is the kind of wisdom that our confused and over-active world can be greatly helped and healed by. The Oblate is someone who knows that wisdom has to be distilled from the ordinary. It has to be experienced personally before it can be shared with others as a source of hope, vision and imagination for the construction of a new way of life.
Monastic wisdom offers strong guidance in dealing with daily problems and the disruptions of the pandemic, building a healthy lifestyle, showing respect and kindness to others. It generates light in us and this light reflects – without pressure – on the paths of others.
Laurence Freeman OSB
In this online Retreat for WCCM Oblates Father Laurence will reflect on how this ancient source of wisdom nourishes both us and the world today and how it can be shared with others in the spirit of ‘hospitality’ .
The WCCM Oblate Retreat will take place after a 24-hour meditation led by oblates across the globe, reminding us of our commitment to sharing the light. The Oblate Community at Bonnevaux will host the retreat.
These days of retreat will be a pilgrimage of silence, sharing thought and experience together.We will run along the path with the Liturgy of the Hours combined with meditation, as in the Bonnevaux daily schedule, with gentle physical movement sessions, teachings and discussion groups about our experience of the Oblate path. Each day will close peacefully with a contemplative Eucharist and meditation
NOTE
If you are a seeker, but not yet on the oblate path, please contact your national oblate
Coordinator for details on whether you are eligible to participate.
Schedule (French Time)
Friday 9th July
10.00 – 11.00 – Talk (Father Laurence)
11.15 -11.45 – Yoga (Giovanni)
12.15 – Midday Prayer and Meditation
Receiving of Postulants (Father Laurence)
15.40 – 17.00 – John Main’s Teaching (cell groups)
18.00 – Evening Prayer and Meditation
Saturday 10th July
7.45 – Morning Prayer and Meditation
10.00 – 11.00 – Talk (Father Laurence)
11.30 -12.00 – Receiving of Novices (Father Laurence)
12.15 – Midday Prayer and Meditation
15.00 – 15.30 – Chi Kung (Tauno)
15.40 – 17.00 – Oblate Path (cell groups)
18.00 – Contemplative Eucharist
Receiving of Oblates (Father Laurence)
Sunday 11th July
7.45 – 8.25 – Morning Prayer and Meditation
10.00 – 11.00 – Q&A (Father Laurence)
12.00 – Bonnevaux Mass – welcoming of new Oblates and Renewal of vows.