St Benedict Week - Awaken!
Awaken!- the first step towards the Benedictine Jubilee
Awaken! is our Community’s response during St Benedict Week to the first year of preparation for the Benedictine Jubilee of 2029 - a shared Benedictine journey.
Awakening to hope
In 2029, Benedictines across the world will mark 1500 years since the foundation of Montecassino. This Jubilee is not a single celebration but a journey of renewal. Its theme, “Places of Hope since 529”, invites us first to awaken: to notice where hope is already being lived. Awaken! names this turning of attention: towards God, towards one another, and towards the places that form us.
A monastery without walls
A monastery is always a place, never an abstract idea. For the Lay Community, this means that, whenever we gather, whether in person or online, we understand ourselves to be meeting in a monastery: a place shaped by listening, hospitality, prayer and care for one another.
The Jubilee theme invites reflection on how such monasteries, such places of hope, might be created and sustained in everyday life: in homes, workplaces, and communities.
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St Benedict week
St Benedict Week this year takes its theme from this wider Jubilee journey. Celebrating St Benedict through Awaken! draws us back to the opening words of his Rule: “Listen carefully…” Awakening begins with attentiveness.
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An open invitation
You do not need to belong to the Lay Community to engage with Awaken!. It is an open invitation to anyone curious about Benedictine spirituality and its relevance in a changing world. You are welcome. Join us in prayer, come along to our talks, join us when we gather. As we begin the journey towards 2029, Awaken! marks the first step.
