Join Dr Susan Muto and the Carmelite Friars in Oxford for our online Carmelite Reading Circle of Enter the Narrow Gate: Saint Benedict’s Steps to Christian Maturity.

Over a one-year period, for twelve months, starting in January of 2024, we will become companions on a journey of profound faith deepening. On this journey we will draw for guidance upon Chapter 7 of the Rule of Saint Benedict in which he traces the twelve steps of humility. Each of them merits our awe-filled attention as we appraise their wisdom and allow it by the grace of God to take root in our heart. Join us for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bypass the road to perdition and follow Jesus to new life (Matthew 7:13-14).

Let yourself be guided through 2024 by the classical Christian insights of Saint Benedict of Nursia and the guidance of your facilitators, Dr. Susan Muto author of Enter the Narrow Gate, and the Carmelite friars of Oxford. Together let us learn what it means to evade the seductive claims of the wide road and enter the way described by Jesus as the path to heaven. 

Schedule

Upon registration you’ll receive an introductory email to the programme.

Then we meet on Zoom every last Tuesday of the month in 2024. All sessions will be recorded so no one misses anything.

Time: 7pm UK time

Dates for monthly sessions

January 30th (start)

February 27th

March 26th

April 30th

May 28th

June 25th

July 30th

August 27th

September 24th

October 29th

November 26th

December 30th (conclusion)

At the beginning of each month, you’ll receive, a guided reading programme on one of the twelve steps of humility as proposed by St. Benedict and which our author calls the Twelve Steps to Heaven!

Accompanying each step will be questions for reflection. You may want to respond to them, perhaps by dialoguing with them in a meditative reading journal, kept over the year.

At the end of each month, we will assemble virtually on Zoom to respond to further questions people may have, sharing our thoughts.

Each session will be a time for friendship and prayer.

Susan Muto, Ph. D., is executive director of the Epiphany Association and dean of the Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality. She holds a doctorate in English literature from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Muto has been teaching the literature of ancient, medieval, and modern spirituality for over forty years.