The Sabbatical Year
“A year given to the Lord produces lifelong and eternal fruits”
What is it?
The Sabbatical Year is a program to be made anew through the Word of God, Liturgy and Fraternal Life. A Year of healing, conversion, formation, sanctification, vocational discernment and mission. A period to put your whole life and time in order. It is a physiotherapy for the soul, where you learn to have the ears of a disciple to focus on God's voice and receive strength to follow His call.
What do we propose?
For nine months, come and live with us in one of our houses, experiencing daily the graces of prayer, formation and fraternal life. Allow yourself to be cared for by God, and hear directly from Him what His plan of love is for your life.
PRAYER AND WORK
Daily Eucharist, celebrated and adored
Liturgy of the Hours
Lectio Divina
Rosary
Personal and Community Prayer
Fraternal Life
School of Nazareth
FORMATION
Bible study (old and new testament)
Anthropological formation
Doctrine (Catechism and Documents of the Church)
Regular Spiritual Accompaniment
VOCATION AND MISSION
Vocational Discernment
Formation on the new evangelization and mission work
Missionary experience
Pilgrimages
Pillars of the Sabbatical Year
FAQs
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Personal decision, followed by FAITH and OBEDIENCE. Obedience to stand firm on your decision, and Faith to stand firm on God's call on your life.
You must be 18 years old and have completed high school.
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First of all to you, who have been guided by God to come here, no matter what stage of life you are in now.
The Sabbatical Year program is recommended for those who need to be formed in missionary, human and spiritual life.
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As it says in the passage from Amos 8:11 “The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” we have a need to be formed. Many times and in many ways, the world in which we live in different realities, family, study, work and relationships can deform us. The Sabbatical Year is a profound time set aside for God, and with God, to experience a reconstruction of our dignity as children of God.
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The Sabbatical Year lasts nine months, the time of pregnancy. During this time you will be generated again, by the Word of God. You will experience the process of conversion, healing, and discernment.
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In one of the houses of the Seeds of the Word Community. During the whole nine months, you will live with us and will be inserted in our prayer and fraternal life, and will participate with us in the missions carried out by the community.
We have the Sabbatical Year Program in Canada, Brazil, Portugal and Mozambique and Philippines
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No. The Sabbatical Year is a full-time program. The nine months are dedicated EXCLUSIVELY to listen to the Lord, and for that it is necessary to temporarily leave all your activities.
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There is a monthly fee charged for the Sabbatical Year to cover the costs of your accommodation in the house.
In order to live the grace of the Sabbatical Year and to make it possible for anyone to enter this program, regardless of their financial reality, we rely on Divine Providence, exercised through our brothers and sisters in faith. We recommend that each person who wishes to take a sabbatical year, search for people (Missionary Godparents) who are interested in contributing monthly to the Community in view of the Sabbatical Year.
Check out our info booklet about the Sabbatical Year
Donate for the Sabbatical Year Program
Sister Maria Inês de Deus, Carmelite
During the 9 months that I lived in the Seeds of the Word, I learned a lot about Trust, Abandonment, Perseverance, Joy... And this I live today in my vocation as a Carmelite. I carry with me this practice of meditating each morning on the Word of God, and I seek to contemplate this Word throughout my day, in a constant search to transform my life into prayer!
Benjamin Evans
I came to the Sabbatical year hoping to have some questions answered, hunger filled, and for me to know the heart of God for me. He then showed me His heart for me by going deeper into my own heart, touching and healing wounds of the past, showing me the good, the truth, and the beauty of my searching for Him even in the darkest places, and so many other graces.
Monica Nugent
My call to the Sabbatical year was one of the best decisions I ever made. Having people who walked with me, saw me at my worst, and prayed with me gave me the courage and tools to move forward in the next stages of my life. I am forever grateful for the time I had there to be immersed in God’s word and the grace of community living.
Dreyton Kuffler
The Sabbatical Year, in short, was a life-changing experience. It was such a gift from God to be able to give nine months of my life completely to Him. It was a time where I was able to grow not only in my faith, but also as a man. It took me places I never dreamed possible, helped me heal wounds, overcome fears and struggles, and opened my heart more fully to God and His will for my life. Whether through the biblical and life formation, going on mission with the community, or especially the silence of the chapel, I knew I was doing God’s will by taking a sabbatical year. Mt 6:28-34
Sophia Bodnarek
The Sabbatical Year not only changed my life, but led me to walk the path God had prepared for me from the very beginning. I brought with me many false identities, wounds, and lies about my worth. The Sabbatical Year allowed and encouraged me to let God in to the darkest and most vulnerable places of my life. The healing I received was the foundation of being able to respond to Gods call to consecrate myself totally to Him. I am now a full time missionary and on the path of consecrated life. It is because of the Sabbatical Year that I was able to respond to His voice with confidence and trust. Now I walk with a profound peace and joy the path of who God created me to be. Luke 5:11
Brittany Andreas
Going into the Sabbatical Year, I expected to grow in my understanding of Scripture, but in His goodness, God had so much more planned for me. I left with hope and healing, alongside a transformed understanding of God, myself, and the beauty of the Catholic life. The intimacy with the Lord that was fostered during that year has continued to sustain me through difficult seasons since then, because I know that God is with me and loves me completely.
Jaxyn Flunder
The sabbatical year was an experience of rest and surrender for me. In a fast paced world with lots of noise and distractions the sabbatical year showed me the importance of living the present moment and developing relationship with Jesus through the holy Eucharist and the word of God. Jesus called me to the sabbatical year through a desire that I had to greater know his will, and through the nine month process of discerning and receiving spiritual accompaniment, the program gave me the space and time to discern the next step of God’s will for me in my life! The word of God that summarizes my sabbatical year is Matthew 11.28 “Come to me,all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”