Abbey Retreats St. Augustine's

At the conclusion of the St. Augustine High School Spring Series of Day Retreats 29 May 2008 we added some pictures of the final bus party.

ST AUGUSTINE'S HIGH SCHOOL Edinburgh

We have been happy to welcome groups of pupils for Day Retreats.
The following is a description of the experience which now features in the School Calendar.

In the course of the morning there is a quick fire Q&A session. Today being the feast of Saint Augustine (Canterbury), the Question arose as which Augustine is the named Patron of St. Augustine’s High School? It became that it was not Augustine the Apostle of the English. The Scots were Christian before the Anglo Saxons. The School takes its inspiration from St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the Church’s greatest theologians.

“St Augustine has been given the title ‘Doctor’ in recognition of the great quality of his teaching. As the business of this school is teaching it is very apt that St Augustine has been chosen
as our patron”. (School Web)

RETREATS TO NUNRAW ABBEY

The rule of St Benedict starts with a prologue which says: "Listen, my son to the precepts of the master and incline the ear of thy heart." It is at this time of the year that the third year pupils of St Augustine's, eagerly await the annual retreats to Nunraw Abbey. The retreats themselves are specifically designed to foster a spirit of recollection, where each pupil is encouraged to listen to the stirrings of their own heart. Nunraw Abbey is buried deep within the beautiful countryside of the Lammerrmuirs, just outside Garvald, the other side of Haddington, and about an hour away. The old baronial guesthouse with its pink coloured stone is a welcoming and impressive site as the eager retreatants pile out the bus and enter another world. It belongs to the order of Cistercians or Trappists, who are perhaps world famous for their silence and their beer making. The nick name Trappist comes from a reform movement that started in the 17th century at a French monastery, La Trappe, in Normandy. When a visitor writing in 1817 spoke of coming to La Trappe he was filled with awe about the mystery and austerity of the place. "Perhaps there never was anything in the whole universe better calculated to inspire religious awe than the first view of this monastery. It was imposing even to breathlessness,"

Part of the guesthouse at Nunraw, goes back to the 16th century and the walls are reputedly five feet thick in places. The house is perfect for a day's study, with workshops which help our pupils decide about what path God may be calling them on in their own life journey. We also walk up to the new monastery , through farm and woods, share a meal in the refectory, and, then there is a game of football in the grounds or a visit to the : shop where monastic chocolate abounds, and other religious gifts and mementoes. The day concludes with a celebration of Mass in the lovely historic chapel, the ceiling rich with frescoes painted in the 17th century of beasts and birds; one of which is the Pelican, the ancient Christian symbol for the Eucharist. At Mass one of the readings is taken from the story in Genesis (28: 12-17) where Jacob rests for the night and taking one of the stones uses it as a pillow where, "he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on earth, and the top reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.» Jacob wakes up and realises that, unknown to himself, he had mistakenly been in a holy place without even realising it, and says: 'Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it.' And he was afraid, and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. '"

The retreats to Nunraw Abbey are designed to have a similar impact on our pupils, as it gradually dawns on them that they have visited a holy place; where they have dwelt awhile with angels without even knowing it. Thus, at the end of the day we can leave knowing in the words of St Benedict (at the end of his prologue) that "our hearts shall be enlarged, and we shall run with unspeakable sweetness of love in the way of God's commandments and by patience in the sufferings of Christ may deserve to be partakers also of His Kingdom. Amen."