Arrive Monday afternoon, depart Friday after breakfast.
The written word is no longer confined to the printed page. Now we can text and e-mail, tweet and blog and have become used to the availability of both instant and constant communication.
Whether you find this a blessing or a curse, or a strange combination of both, this week is an opportunity to step aside from 24/7 media exposure and experience words – read, spoken and sung – in a different time-frame and at a different pace … in your own reading and reflection; in joining in with the prayer of the Community and in those silent spaces where God speaks, that are the special gift of this place – including our spacious grounds with woodland walks, where the colours are glorious in autumn.
As well as being able to immerse yourself in the books of your choice, the week will include:
- A guided tour of our huge library, taking in some of our special collections;
- Conversations with Brothers about books and the significance of a monastic library;
- A chance to browse and borrow from our shelves;
- A Book Club evening to share your current / favourite reading;
- Daily Lectio Divina (Reading scripture the Benedictine way.)
Feedback from someone on the 2023 Reading Retreat:
“Surprise yourself and go on a Mirfield reading retreat. If you have never stayed in a monastic community, that will be the first surprise and after that it will be about the preconceptions that come with you. They will be turned upside down.
There is a rose garden and pond with hungry Koi carp, a kitchen garden with raspberries and nasturtiums, a partly mown field to wander in, and a small cemetery where long gone brothers rest.
From the outside the church looks like a fortress, a closed mystery that turns out to have a shining heart, that waits for you in grace.
Whatever it was you thought you were going to read, whatever it was, you will find yourself being read. And if you pause, you will hear quite clearly what the Lord asks of you.”
Cost: £306 in a standard Retreat House room with shared bathrooms; £342 in an en-suite room.