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Living Prayer Lecture Series

Simplicity and Contemplative Discernment – Fr Yamai Bature, OCD

Saturday 12th March 2022 – 10am- 12 noon – in person lecture Boarshill

“Oh, how fortunate are the pure in heart for they shall see God!“

Matthew 5:8

“O living flame of love that tenderly wounds my soul.“

St. John of the Cross

For this weekend, the theme will explore the dynamics of spiritual transformation. Carmelite spirituality as articulated in the teaching of St. John of the Cross has made an important contribution towards an understanding of this process which can be confounding. As growth in the spiritual life corresponds to simplicity of life or in biblical language, purity of heart; a necessary stripping off and purification from all in all for the soul, understanding the process is vital as it could lead to discouragement due to the experience of God’s ‘Absence’ – suffering, dryness and confusion – that does accompany it. The important theme of freedom at night time in the scriptures will also be explored.

This weekend’s theme will help towards a deeper appreciation of the imagery of the ‘Night’ or ‘darkness’ which symbolizes this process of freeing the soul for God alone; an understood of the importance of detachment in the spiritual life; a greater awareness of the process involved in the Carmelite teaching about the ‘Dark Night’; and an understanding of the nature and rules of Contemplative discernment.

Registration includes:

• two hours of live presentation.
• a month’s access after the live-presentation of the recorded video.

Fr Yamai Bature, OCD

Fr Yamai Bature, OCD is a Carmelite priest and he holds degrees in both Philosophy and Theology from The Dominican Institute, Ibadan.
He has also completed a course in Spiritual Theology at the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation.