Statue of St Kevin and the blackbird at Knock I recently came across the beautiful Celtic story of St Kevin and the Blackbird. When St Kevin prayed in his hut with arms outstretched, the room was so small that he had to put one arm through the window. One day, while praying in this manner, a blackbird came, landed on his palm and started to build a nest. St Kevin did not want to disturb the new life that was taking shape in his hand and remained in that position until the little blackbirds were hatched, raised and ready to fly away. Christine Valters-Paintner reflected on the story in the following poem St. Kevin and the Blackbird (after Seamus Heaney) Imagine being like Kevin, your grasping fist softens, fingers uncurl and palms open, rest upward, and the blackbird weaves twigs and straw and bits of string in the begging bowl of your hand, you feel the delicate weight of speckled blue orbs descend, and her feathered warmth settling in for a w
The Restory is a Retreat Centre nestled against Tafelkop, a singular mountain head near Wakkerstroom, South Africa. Here we live a simple life as contemplatives. It is a place of re-connection: with ourselves, people, Nature, Silence and Creativity. Our retreats are aimed at this. Our conversations, writing and art centre around the univocity of life. We need a place that reminds us that we are all one. The Restory hopes to be such a place and space.