by Michelle Vass.

Our recent Deep Silent Retreat, Coming Home to the Silence, was a blessing in many ways. There had been much activity on the property since my arrival over a month ago, which is a wonderful sign of the various ways in which life dances at Campfire. This long weekend however, we were blessed with a quiet property, beautiful weather, fabulous food prepared by a new volunteer, and a wonderfully gentle group of people to journey with in the Silence.

Fr John Main reminds us in ‘Moment of Christ’ (p7), that we need generosity to put our whole life in harmony with the spirit in our heart even with all the distractions that arise from our daily life… ‘Meditation is not turning our back on our life or our responsibilities. Quite the contrary, in meditation we seek to be open fully to the gift of life that is given to us. This is nothing less than the gift of eternal life, eternal life that we are invited to be open to NOW. As Jesus tells us, eternal life is to know our Heavenly Father.’

So we began our journey home aware of the importance of intention and attention in the spirit of Ps 131, Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace. How we approach a retreat, how we approach each session of meditation tells us something about how we approach our very life. As Simone Weil reminds us, ‘Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity, and attention taken to the highest degree, is the same thing as prayer.’ The more generous we can be in our meditation, the more generous we will be in our daily life, with each other and with the whole creation.

All of our meditation sessions centred on various aspects of the property. We sat in the meditation room. We walked around the campfire, around the verandah of the retreat centre, around the garden, and around the labyrinth. We stood in silence and awe with the trees, the flowering shrubs, and the gentle breeze on a warm afternoon. We had the opportunity to be so generous with our Sunday morning offering as we waited for first light on the mound behind the back fence, then walked to the pavilion on the  hill in time for sunrise rise, time with the growing light of dawn, some Tai Chi and standing meditation, and then a gentle walk back. A whole two hours awakening with the dawn! 

Another beautiful blessing was our moonlight walking of the labyrinth on the eve of the full moon. As our eyes adjusted to the different light, our trust in our walking grew. Together in the centre, bathed in moonlight on a warm evening, it seemed as if we truly were at home in Silence.

My hope and prayer is that those who journeyed on this retreat came to a knowing that the beauty of coming home to Silence is realising that its presence is always within us. Then we find that we don’t have to leave it! We take it with us wherever we go. We live from that place of Silence in our hearts. Just as we practice our times of meditation, the more we practise our awareness of this journey, we will come to know that deep Silence within.

So until you have a chance to visit or revisit Campfire in the Heart, I leave you with something from the beginning and ending of this retreat …

May we become bearers of joy, we
who are invited to share in the Cosmic Dance!
May we walk in faith all the days of our life –
confident in your Divine Presence, even in times of trouble,
and with assurance for what is and all that is to be;
May we have faith in the unfolding of our lives,
and radical trust in the universe!
(Excerpt from Ps 106, Nan Merrill, Psalms for Praying)

Courage. Forward and on in trust and love.

Noel Davis

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Michelle Vass is our Meditator-In-Residence for the months of August-September. Michelle is offering two introductions to Christian Meditation and the Labyrinth (14 & 17 Sept 2025).