How Bonnevaux and WCCM helped me rediscover the resurrection - By Jeff Auty
Kiwis at Bonnevaux Series
In light of the upcoming Bonneveaux Pilgrimage Retreat in May 2027, we are inviting people from the NZCCM community who have spent time at Bonnevaux - the home base of the World Community for Christian Meditation in France - to share their experiences. Jeff Auty (pictured far right) is a member of the Whangaparaoa NZCCM Meditation Group and attended this year’s Easter Retreat at Bonnevaux.
Into the Silence of Easter
"Be still and know that I am God." — Psalm 46:10
Every Easter, Christians gather to proclaim the greatest mystery of the faith: Christ is risen. Churches fill with joyful alleluias, flowers adorn sanctuaries, and the story of the empty tomb is told once again.
This last Easter I chose to travel to France and Bonnevaux as part of my spiritual pilgrimage. As the spiritual preparation for walking the Camino de Santiago I decided to spend the Easter week mostly in silent contemplation not only of the event in history, but as the transforming reality of my life. To not merely remember Easter but to live it.
Nestled among ancient woodlands and open fields near Poitiers in western France lies Bonnevaux Centre for Peace, the international home of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM). Once a twelfth-century Benedictine abbey, now lovingly restored, Bonnevaux has become a place where Christians and seekers from around the world gather to rediscover one of Christianity's oldest spiritual treasures: contemplative prayer.
Under the leadership of Father Laurence and Father Peter we journeyed prayerfully through Holy Week, accompanying Christ from the celebration of Palm Sunday, the intimacy of the Last Supper to the loneliness of Gethsemane, the suffering of Good Friday, the profound deep silence and stillness of Holy Saturday, and finally the astonishing joy of sunrise and celebration on Easter morning.
Through meditation, liturgy, Scripture, shared meals, and periods of silence, the mysteries of Christ's passion and resurrection gradually became deeply personal. In the stillness and silence came healing and deeper experience of God's presence and love
"The resurrection is not simply something we believe happened. It is a life into which we are invited." (Rev Michael K Marsh and others)
I was delighted to share the retreat with several other Kiwis. This included Father Peter Murphy from Auckland who now lives at Bonnevaux and supports Father Laurence in leading the retreats. There were also three ladies who had taken time out from their lives in New Zealand to spend several months as volunteers supporting the work of Bonnevaux.
(Left to right) Gail Edmonds, Caroline Fiddymont, Gillian Budge, Peter Murphy, Jeff Auty
For me, perhaps the most powerful day of the Easter retreat was Holy Saturday. After the Good Friday Service, we went into Deep Silence. Spending such a long time in silence, even through meals and times of meditation, has a profound effect on one's consciousness. You could really identify with the sense of loss and pointlessness the disciples must have felt.
The silence was broken at midnight with a bonfire, the lighting of the Easter Candle and parading through the grounds back to the Chapel. Then a brief sleep and up again to view a wonderful sunrise.
As my friends in Lebanon say “Al-Masih qam” and the response “Haqqan qam” - Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed.
