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Naming What We Long For: A Benedictine Advent
A Talk by Abbot Mark Barrett, Saturday 28th November – Unity Room, Worth Abbey
Advent is the Church’s season of waiting. And beneath all waiting lies desire: the heart's reaching out for what it does not yet possess. We will explore how the Benedictine tradition does not silence our longings but schools them, turning scattered and restless wanting into a single deep desire for God. Drawing on Scripture, the 'Great O Antiphons' of the Advent liturgy, and the witness of those who have learned to long well, this talk invites us to discover what our deepest desire is really for, and to let Advent teach us, with the whole Church, to cry 'O come.'
Learning to long, so that we may want the One who is coming.
Abbot Mark Barrett OSB is the seventh Abbot of Worth Abbey, having been elected in 2021. A monk of Worth Abbey since 1979, he is a respected teacher and author on Christian spirituality. As Abbot, he leads the monastic community of Worth Abbey, seeking to share the wisdom of the Benedictine tradition with the wider world.
Programme
10.30am – Refreshments in the Narthex
11.00am – Talk and Q&A
12.00pm – Optional Light Lunch
1.00pm – Midday Prayer
All are warmly welcome to join us.
