Ampleforth Abbey Podcast

Fr Ambrose: 'Why do your disciples not fast?'

In this Home Retreat, Fr Wulstan explores how Lent can help us to overcome our inner dividedness and strengthen our hope in God.

Fr Bede: Home Retreat: '..Your heart is greater than your wounds..'

It seems to me that meditation, as John Main taught it, overcomes three foundational illusions that make it almost inevitable that your politics is going to change, your economics is going to be called into question, your socio-economic perspective by which you critique the world will be pretty quickly taken away from you. 

What can we learn from the account of Saint Benedict's life by Gregory the Great? This talk will look at his leaving Rome, his time as a hermit, his different monasteries at Subiaco and Monte Cassino and his death.

Fr Oswald speaks about St Benedict and Care for the Sick " In our society, and perhaps especially since the Pandemic, care of the sick is becoming a part of everyday life - whether it is parents caring for young children or children coping with elderly parents. In today's Home Retreat, we will reflect a little on St Benedict's thoughts about care of the sick in the monastery, to see...

St Benedict quotes from and alludes to the psalms more than any other book of the Scripture. In this retreat I want to speak about the importance of the longest psalm 118 for St Benedict. He assigned it to the Little Hours for Sunday and Monday. He also drew from it something about the structure of liturgical prayer and more importantly still it played a part in  his thinking about monastic vocati...

Fr Abbot speaks about the recent declaration Fiducia supplicans.

Fr Philip: 'The Son also rises...'

Fr Henry recently celebrated 70 years since he was clothed and became a monk. This 'under the microscope' episode provides some insight into his remarkable life, as he answers a round of random questions in just a few minutes.

Fr Wulstan speaks on the effect the celebration of Christ's Nativity should have in our lives.

As the Advent season progresses and we say goodbye to 2023, Abbot Robert would like to share a special message with you this Christmas. 

Fr Cedd speaks about an Advent Sermon of St Bernard of Clairvaux

Fr Henry speaks about the Three Women of the Apocalypse.

This November, Fr Kieran has gone 'under the microscope' to answer a round of random questions in under 5 minutes. As our new Hospitality Coordinator, you'll see more of Fr Kieran in the new year as he leads various retreats.

Fr Cedd speaks about the early monks and nuns of the Egyptian desert, and the writings about them.

Differences between people can make it very difficult to live with each other – or they can be a source of strength.  What makes the difference?

There is of course something contradictory in talking about silence, but nevertheless this is something the monastic tradition does quite a bit. It is a wide topic, but Fr Gabriel would like to say something about silence and listening in Lectio Divina .

With two of our greatest feasts of the Church at the start of November, All Saints (All Hallows, Halloween, the eve of All Hallows) and All Souls (remembering and praying for our loved ones still on their journey to heaven), it seems a fitting moment to search into the secrets of the journey from our current status as the “Church militant” into the attic space of the “Church suffering”, before our...

This October, Fr Richard (who has been a part of the monastic community for 60 years) has gone 'under the microscope' to answer 10 random questions in just a few minutes.  

This talk will explore how Benedictine Oblates, as lay members of a monastic community, are called to contribute to the wider church and world, adapting the strength of the Benedictine tradition to their particular situation.

Fr Abbot speaks about the prayer of the Rosary.

Fr Christopher speaks about a series of Retreat Talks given by Fr Richard Rohr on the subject of 'Action and Contemplation'.

‘ I take an interest, he is nosey, they are interfering.’ Where does benign interest in what is happening around us veer into invasive curiosity? Perhaps – having learnt from some high-profile Biblical examples – we can find some helpful antidotes to a perennial human weakness in the ordered life established by St Benedict – and whose principles can be applied in many diverse settings.