THE WEAVE OF MANQUEHUE PRAYER NEWSLETTER
#001 Friday 31st January 2020

The Weave of Manquehue Prayer is a network of friends that seek to help one another to pray, to cultivate spiritual friendship and to share with many the Good News of the Risen Christ. The Weave draws from the charism of the Manquehue Movement to enrich initiatives of evangelisation and service.
The Weave's First Newsletter
Welcome to the first ever edition of The Weave of Manquehue Prayer Newsletter! Here you will find all the latest news on what's been going on in The Weave, upcoming events and prayer guidance.
THE EXPERIENCE OF LIVING FOR 4 MONTHS IN THE COMMUNITY OF ST SCHOLASTICA

Eduardo Kyling, an ex-student of one of the Manquehue schools in Santiago, Chile (Colegio San Anselmo) spent 4 months living with St Scholastica; the Manquehue community at Downside Abbey and School. Edu joined St Scholastica in their mission working in the chaplaincy and running Lectio groups at Downside School and helped to run, and participated in many Weave events including the Formation Week in the North of England and Scotland, the Lectio Tent at the Youth 2000 Festival in Walsingham and the General Retreat at Downside. He has now returned to Chile to continue his university studies. Please pray for him, that he may transition smoothly back to life in Santiago and that he will be able to share the Good News of everything he experienced during his time in the UK, with the Manquehue community in Chile.
Two new members will be joining the St Scholastica community for 4 months from March; Martín Rosselot and Tomás Hue. They are both ex-students of a Manquehue school (Colegio San Benito) and will be travelling from Chile to the UK with the oblates, as the oblates return from their Christmas holiday in Chile. Please pray for them as they prepare to leave their home behind and take on this new leap in faith.
PAST EVENTS
General Retreat, Downside Abbey, 15th-17th November 2019
'For faithful love is what pleases me, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not burnt offerings' (Ho 6:6)

During this weekend retreat, people from Lectio groups across the UK got together to pray, work and strengthen spiritual friendships. Rebecca Blakey, who has been living as part of the St Scholastica community at Downside since September 2019, recounts her experience of the General Retreat:
"Many things stood out from this weekend which are worth noting and pondering prayerfully. The retreat strengthened our awareness of the power of Lectio and Lectio groups to change lives. It was an occasion of recognising the Spirit at work in the members of the Weave community – growing it into something that is ‘more than the Manquehue translated’. Through this weekend we manifested God’s glory, not only through our prayer and celebrations, but through growing as a community by practising listening and working creatively together to build, in what small ways we can, God’s Kingdom." Read more here.
Youth 2000 NEW Lectio Talk, 31st December 2019
Mary Townsend tells us about her experience giving a talk about Lectio at Youth 2000's New Year's Eve event:
“ ‘Behold I am making all things new’ was the theme of the New Year Retreat organised by Youth 2000 in the Church of Mary Immaculate and St Gregory the Great in London. Since it is the Year of the Word, Youth 2000 asked if one of us from the Weave would give a talk on 'Praying with the Word'. I spoke about the Road to Emmaus and how the Lord opens up the Scriptures to us, just as He did on that road to Emmaus in the Bible; ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’ Lk 24:32. The gospel for the day was John 1: ‘In the beginning was the Word’ and all those present at the retreat partook in a moment of shared lectio which was incredibly prayerful and powerful. It was a great gift to be present at the retreat and we look forward to running a Lectio Tent at the Youth 2000 Festival in Walsingham in August!”
Lectio Leaders' Workshop, Worth Abbey, 10th-12th January 2020

The Weave ran a weekend workshop for current lectio group leaders and those who would like to start a lectio group. Angus Duncan, The Weave's Lectio Groups Officer, shares his experience of the weekend: "It was a powerful weekend in which everyone felt able to get involved and share. I really got a sense of how radical what we are doing is. I was especially inspired by reading extracts from Waking Up to God [a book by the founder of The Manquehue Apostolic Movement, José Manuel Eguiguren] and having time to pray on Saturday morning. It was good to hear people share about their experiences and to have time to meet each other and be encouraged by one another."
UPCOMING EVENTS

Events in BOLD CAPITALS are the CORE EVENTS of “The Weave of Manquehue Prayer”
*Activities Weekends and The Weave Working Week are times when the Commission and St Scholastica are ready to support people or communities by visiting, helping to run a retreat, a pilgrimage or move other projects forward. Please get in touch at theweave@manquehue.org to organise this.
MONDAY MOTIVATIONS
This week we have launched Monday Motivations! Each week we will be sending out a short motivation to Lectio, for the following Sunday's readings, to Lectio group leaders. Please reply to this email if you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive Monday Motivations. Here is the first edition, for this Sunday, to whet your appetite!
Motivation for the Gospel of Sunday 2nd February (Lk 2: 22-40):
In the gospel we are about to read, Simeon meets the baby Jesus in the Temple and as soon as Simeon lays eyes on Jesus, he recognises him as the salvation he has been waiting for. When God came to earth as Jesus, he came to fully share in our human nature and took on our sins, and on the cross, he made himself a sacrifice for these sins. Through this sacrifice, we are able to have a direct relationship with God and we open ourselves up to this relationship when we pray. Just as Simeon comes face-to-face with God in the baby Jesus, we too come face-to-face with God in his Word when we do Lectio. This encounter provokes a reaction in us which we can share with the people around us, and in the same way as God lets his servant, Simeon, go in peace, God invites you to bring the peace you encounter in Lectio back to your daily lives. So in this Lectio, let God's light of revelation enter your heart. Let it seek out the dark parts and illuminate them. Let it refine you so you may become more fully yourself, full of the Holy Spirit and united with God the Father through the sacrifice of his beloved Son.
HOW TO KEEP UP-TO-DATE WITH THE WEAVE
The Weave Newsletter will give you a quarterly update of everything that's been going on and is upcoming, but if you would like more regular updates on what's going on and how you can get involved, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram. More information on The Weave can also be found on our website.
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch! It would be great to hear from you!