This is a personal reflection from a retreatant at Peter Tyler’s retreat ‘Approaches to Meditation: Enriching Guidance from the wisdom of the Mystics’ held in Bonnevaux in April 2026.
For me, Bonnevaux is my Spiritual Home although I’ve only been there twice, both times for guided retreats.
On both occasions the retreat leaders were gifted communicators who shared their wisdom and knowledge with humility and humour. It was an unfolding story in which we were privileged to travel, challenging us gently and leading us into a deeper place of conscious awareness. I loved it. But even more I loved the sheer sense of place.
I loved being connected to a community with a rhythm of Life, that echoed the journey of faith from the very foundations of the Abbey that had long since gone.
I loved the sense of sanctuary, simplicity and discipleship. A community who served 40 or 50 visitors with apparent serenity, selfless hospitality and stillness.
I loved the depth of silence of people together, of the lake, the call of the frogs, the ancient trees and the surrounding landscape, and the focus on alignment and beauty in all things before God.
And I loved the worship.
My own spiritual pilgrimage has been a long and mainly solo one as I’ve listened and tried to be faithful to the promptings of my heart. As a minister in a Church I “came home” to a worship style that I had quietly developed for our church, in an awareness that it may possibly be considered a tad “ fringe”. But in Bonnevaux I slipped effortlessly into the current of the status quo, and felt my long journey had been endorsed and blessed, and I had found family to journey with.
Thank you.
Come and experience Christian meditation in community at one of our retreats in Bonnevaux, France.
Learn more at bonnevauxwccm.org
