The Beginning is Faith, the end is Love – Advent Retreat
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Start
03/12/2024
All-day Event -
End
08/12/2024
All-day Event -
Bonnevaux
86370 Marçay, France
Advent teaches us that time is a womb. What is conceived there is pure mystery even as it is born and begins to grows into infinite fullness. Waiting is part of the growth process. In our culture we imagine nature can be fast-forwarded. In Advent we remember how to let nature takes it course. The Spirit of God is patient, as it brings us to endless birth, to new universes of being, ever more Godlike incarnations. Beyond the mythical level of the story we tell at Christmas is this unfolding of this re-creation in each of us.
This retreat is both for the beginning and ongoing meditators. There will be four periods of meditation a day to accommodate your level of practice. Mornings will be in silence through breakfast and lunch, with the afternoon opening to times of rest and solitude and a convivial dinner where you can get to know your neighbour.
This event takes place at Bonnevaux and offers an opportunity to discover the rich cultural and historical French and European heritage of the 12th-century Abbaye de Bonnevaux, as well as to explore the varied and natural beauty of the land which we cultivate as a model of ecological responsibility.
Laurence Freeman
Fr Laurence is a Benedictine monk of the Monastery of Sta Maria di Pilastrello, Lendinara, in the Benedictine Congregation of Monte Oliveto. He is Director of Bonnevaux and of The World Community for Christian Meditation.