ACTIVITIES
TERESIAN PRAYER GROUP
No one ever took God for his friend that was not amply rewarded; for mental prayer is, in my opinion, nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing alone with Him, who, we know, loves us.” St Teresa of Avila
The aim of the Group is for its members to grow in prayer following the teachings of St Teresa of Avila. The Group is organised by the London Secular Carmelites under the direction of Fr Matt Blake OCD.
Monthly meetings have a talk by a distinguished Carmelite speaker, followed by a time of quiet prayer and small group discussion and sharing about the talk and our experience of prayer. Membership of the Group is open to all and is free.
The meetings in the next programme, which will run from October 2022 to May 2023, will follow the journey of prayer as described in St Teresa’s Way of Perfection.
The talks are recorded in advance and members can choose to attend the monthly meetings at three different locations:
- At Kensington Priory on a Saturday morning, – usually the third Saturday of the month – from 10.45 am to 12 noon.
- At Notting Hill Carmelite Monastery on the second Sunday of the month from 11.00 am to 12.30 pm
- At Holy Innocent’s Church, Orpington on a Tuesday evening at 8.00 pm.
The recorded talks will be made available to members at the beginning of the month via a private YouTube channel. Everyone attending the sessions at Kensington or at Orpington will be assumed to have watched it at home in advance of the meeting, which will start with a brief recapitulation and ‘Question and Answer’ session on the talk, following which there will be a short period of silent prayer and small group discussion. At the longer Sunday morning session at Notting Hill, the recorded talk will be shown on a big screen followed by silent prayer and discussion. Because of space constraints, numbers at Notting Hill might have to be limited.
Those interested in joining the 2022-23 programme can register in advance with Mark Courtney at the contact below, or they can come to one of the introductory sessions in September to learn more about the Teresian Prayer Group Programme with the opportunity to register then:
- Kensington Priory on Saturday 24 September at 11.00 am
- Notting Hill Carmelite Monastery on Sunday 11 September at 11.00 am
- Holy Innocent’s Church, Orpington on Tuesday 27 September at 8.00 pm
It will also be possible to attend one of the first scheduled sessions in October and register then: but registration later than that will not normally be possible
Registration for the 2022-23 programme has now closed. Information about the 2023-24 programme should appear on this website before the end of May 2023.
Contact: mark.courtney@oxon.