Come together for contemplation with Our Lord and Communal Lectio Divina on Pope Leo's new encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.

Date: 17th February, 2027

You are welcome to attend either or both events

St Edmunds College Chapel

Adoration: 11.00 am - 11.20 am

Weston Room, Woolf Institute

Coffee available from 11.30 am

Lectio Divina: 11.45 am - 1.00 pm

Initial Lectio Reflector: Prof. Jennifer Schooling OBE, Professor of Digital Innovation and Smart Places, Anglia Ruskin University

Please do sign up if you are coming and would like to join us for refreshments afterwards. It is very helpful if we know the number of people attending. Thank you.

To help us better understand what Eucharistic Adoration is:

“It is by understanding that the Lord Jesus is present in the Eucharist, that we can begin to understand why worship before the Blessed Sacrament provides such fulfilment.

...what Eucharistic adoration offers [is a] chance to be with the Lord and hear Him. Adoration is a chance to move away from the busyness of life, the distractions, the preparations and just truly be present with the Lord. Who is present there with us. This is what He wills, this is what He never wants taken away from us”.

Archbishop John Wilson, Archbishop Wilson: you can find hope in Eucharistic adoration - Catholic Bishops' Conference (https://www.cbcew.org.uk/archbishop-wilson-you-can-find-hope-in-eucharistic-adoration/)

Communal Lectio Divina on Magnifica Humanitas:

As we stand on the threshold of the “Intelligent Age” we acknowledge that this is a transitional time, a time between the digital world we have become and the world we are more expansively becoming through Artificial Intelligence.

Spiritually, such an epoch of “in-between” may be understood as liminal time where humanity holds the paradox of both benefit and harm of human good in creative tension. Liminal time is potent time – it offers us the opportunity to choose how to build our collective future.

Navigating a spiritually transformative time invites a spiritual approach. One such approach is the spiritual practice of Lectio Divina: a contemplative process that engages a spiritual way of reading and reflecting upon sacred or inspired text. It may be engaged individually or in community.

Responsive to the opportunity to build our collective future, the Margaret Beaufort Institute is hosting three Communal Lectio Divina sessions on Pope Leo XIV’s recently published encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026) (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html)

An adapted form of Lectio will be used to facilitate an approach that invites communal wisdom to emerge and will comprise three questions for contemplation. A guest “initial reflector” from the academic and/or AI community will first offer their Lectio on the encyclical. Participants will then have opportunity for private Lectio upon what they have heard, before moving into small group Lectio. A final large group discussion, in conversation with the initial reflector, will share the fruits of small group Lectio on the evocative question: What are we being called to be or do?

If you have any questions please email Adele: aa2451@mbit.cam.ac.uk

Parking: Please note you will not be able to park at the St Edmunds College or at our offices.

The nearest on-street parking is at Pound Hill (https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/meter/pound_hill/cb3/cambridge/?arriving=201703231100&leaving=201703231300), a minutes walk from us. There is a 2 hour limit on parking here. For a longer period, parking is available all day on Mount Pleasant (https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/meter/mount_pleasant-1/cb3/cambridge/?country=uk&arriving=202302021400&leaving=202302022100) and St Peter’s Street (https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/meter/saint_peters_street/cb3/cambridge/?country=uk&arriving=202302021400&leaving=202302022100) which are both less than 5 minutes’ walk. These locations are pay-and-display or paid via RingGo and cost 80p for 30 minutes, Monday-Saturday 9.00-17.00.

There is a larger car park on Castle Street called Castle Hill Car Park (https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/castle-hill-car-park), an 8-minute walk from us.

Cambridge often becomes very congested during peak times, so we recommend using the Madingley Road Park and Ride (http://cambridgeparkandride.info/madingleyroad.shtml).

Click here to join our Newsletter (https://www.mbit.cam.ac.uk/newsletter/)

Description supplied by the event organiser.