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What the participants had to say:

“ The forest came over as a primitive space, a matrix. We entered and were accepted, tolerated. We walked in silence, now and then amazed at the beauty of the light through the branches or sometimes in the closeness of the young trunks; occasionally an unexpected brightness or a mysterious sheet of water.”

“I found that this rather original retreat plan went much further than we expected. Learning to listen to nature can speak louder than the words retreat preachers can express. How very much like books of parables is the peat bog, the trees and the forest”.

Walk and Pray: A Retreat to be repeated in 2008 The Forest, a spiritual itinerary
We left every morning on our 9 km walk, a different route every day. We stopped three times on the way. Christian would then deal with one aspect of the forest and Francois would guide us in a personal spiritual quest. In the afternoons we retired to our rooms with texts and guidelines for meditation. We had a celebration of our experience before supper. This was usually followed by a video viewing session. “Walking while discovering and praying is much more than a physical exercise, it’s a language. I would really like to pass this language onto young people. Doing this together, it becomes a spiritual journey, and at the same time a humbling and a growth experience”.	August 4 – 11- 07 Father Drouilly and Christian Vieux led us on a walk in the forest, to admire, to meditate, to share and to pray	What the participants had to say: “ The forest came over as a primitive space, a matrix. We entered and were accepted, tolerated. We walked in silence, now and then amazed at the beauty of the light through the branches or sometimes in the closeness of the young trunks; occasionally an unexpected brightness or a mysterious sheet of water.” “I found that this rather original retreat plan went much further than we expected. Learning to listen to nature can speak louder than the words retreat preachers can express. How very much like books of parables is the peat bog, the trees and the forest”.
“Following a visit to a peat bog and some little ponds, I discovered that decomposition could help me to re-order my life. I learned that some trees die because they are not always in the right place. This enlightened me with regard to humility. I must consent to be what I am, where I am with others and with Christ”.		“I found a striking convergence between my desires, my expectations and my questions. A long time spent in contemplation of nature enabled me to return to my roots so that the hidden child in me could come to the surface. I really want the experience of this retreat to be a source of strength in my life. We need this type of initiation –( a need to develop the link between speech and nature.)”
“During the retreat I had a great group experience. At the outset I had difficulty as I experienced an element of hostility in the forest; however as soon as I had problems, hands were held out to me… Little by little the forest released words for me (points of reference, signs and tracks) that found an echo in my life. We were very different in the group, but through contact with the trees our differences faded before our humanity. How do I accept a hand held out to me? Would I, in my turn, hold out a hand?”		“This experience made me realize the difficulty we have as Church to use language that is easily understood by our contemporaries, who are desirous of a spirituality. I was used to walking alongside forests but here I learned to admire the simplicity and the beauty, this in turn filled me with thanksgiving.” “Contact with the soil, and the peat bog which re-generates itself brought me close to my loved ones who have gone before me.”
“We received these wonderful gifts- the silence, the changing light, the imposing trees; like those trees we were trying to root ourselves in God…” “The joy of plunging back into the clear water beauty of nature… beauty of nature in the morning, to pray and rest in the afternoon…the joy of being together, a group of kind, ordinary folk, waiting for each other along the pathways, joking in the car, looking at each other, smiling at each other , praying…”		The joy of sharing, of being together, discussing together, in laughter or seriousness. The joy of the beautiful Nievre countryside, the peat bogs, the forest, the ferns and the trees, the picnic at the IMPERNA and the beautiful hidden villages, unexpected jewels. The joy of the patient explanations regarding roots, soil, tracks and through all that, nature speaks of us, men and women and You Lord with us….”
From an article from the Diocese of Nevers website

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