TIME OUT – INDIVIDUAL SELF-GUIDED RETREAT
12th-18th August – FULL (wait list)
9th-12th December
minimum 2 nights
Spend a few days at Worth Abbey enjoying the rhythm of the monastic prayer and liturgy, time in reflection and the peace of the Sussex countryside. No set programme other than an optional daily Lectio Divina session, the usual monastic timetable of divine office and liturgy and the opportunity for a 1:1 meeting with a member of the monastic community.
Meal times: Breakfast 8-9am, Lunch 1:15pm and Supper 7:15pm. Worth Abbey Church Liturgy and prayer
COST: £90 per person, per night
If the dates above are not convenient, please contact us to check availability for your preferred dates as we may be able accommodate you.
FINDING STILLNESS
2nd-5th September – FULL (wait list)
‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46). Come to Worth Abbey and encounter the power of stillness. Through the Benedictine tradition, discover how stillness can be part of your everyday life and how transformative it can be. The retreat will include teachings in Lectio Divina and stilling the mind as well as an opportunity to have a 1:1 meeting with a member of the monastic community.
COST: £330 per person, single occupancy (3 nights)
TAI CHI & CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
9th-12th September – FULL (wait list)
Fr Peter Williams OSB
This retreat uses some practises from Tai Chi to explore the concept of balance and energy and how they relate to prayer in the form of stillness and mediation. A truly mind/body/spirit retreat, Fr Peter uses the insights gained from 30 years of practise to guide you in how the body as ‘a temple of the Holy Spirit’ is very central to having a healthy prayer life. No previous experience of Tai Chi is necessary.
Limited number of places available.
Cost: £330 per person
WRITING FROM THE WELL WITHIN
13th-15th September
Led by Kate Green (Artist & Spiritual Director)
Composing your own prayer-poem using words and art materials and gently working in a small concertina sketchbook, we will listen to the well of living water within us, combining colour and line with words, as the Holy Spirit leads. With time to wander in Worth’s grounds or sitting privately to compose, art and prayer can become one when we are still enough to listen. Our creative time will be punctuated by joining with the monastic prayer in the Abbey.
Basic materials needed will be provided and you are invited to bring additional bits to use or add to your concertina prayer-poem journey! No technical skills needed but simply a willingness to listen, experiment & explore.
“Come, see the man who told me everything I ever did.” (John 4:29)
Cost: £220 per person
JESUS MEETS THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AT THE WELL (John 4:1–42)
Tuesday 24th September &
Tuesday 1st October
Icons have been used for centuries to offer a way of engaging with a bible story through prayer, stillness and contemplation – practices that lie at the heart of our retreats.
We are delighted to welcome the Retreat Association Icon to Worth. The icon depicts the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4: v.1–42). Created for the Retreat Association by Iconographer John Coleman, who produced icons for over 200 churches worldwide including York Minster, Exeter & Truro Cathedrals and Sherborne Abbey, it was hallowed at The Retreat Association Conference in 2018 and has already been displayed at over 25 retreat centres, 9 churches and cathedrals across the UK. We are offering two day retreats.
10am-4pm
COST: £50 per person (includes refreshments and 2 course lunch) !! £45 per person, if you book before 31st July !!
BENEDICTINE INDIVIDUALLY GUIDED RETREAT:
7th-13th October
An IGR is an individual guided retreat and an opportunity to participate in a contemplative retreat. The Benedictine IGR takes the general concept of an IGR and adapts it for a Benedictine setting. It offers a contemplative Benedictine environment as a place of discernment – where you follow the monastic rhythm of the day but also meet up daily with a spiritual guide to reflect on what God might be saying to you at this time.
With a maximum of 10 participants, the retreat is largely held in silence and will also follow the daily rhythm of the monastic office.
COST: £110 per person, per night (minimum 3 nights)
LIVING WITH LOSS
11th-14th November
Fr Peter Williams OSB
Simon Holland Brown Dip.Couns MBACP
For anyone struggling with bereavement, Fr Peter Williams and Simon Holland-Brown (an experienced bereavement counsellor) offer spiritual space for healing and reconciliation. The retreat uses the Benedictine monastic framework of prayer to provide a spiritual and healing space where the effects of dealing with bereavement and grief can be discussed in a safe and open way. It will offer both a group context to discuss experiences more generally, time for 1:1 accompaniment and also space for silence, prayer and reflection. Bereavement can never fully dealt with finally, but this offers a way forward within a spiritual and healing context.
Cost: £330 per person
ADVENT RETREAT
3rd-5th December
Cost: £220 per person
Further information to follow