The Restory Retreat Centre

God's Beloved ”So God created man in his own image,  in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them.  And God saw everything that he had made,  and behold, it was very good." ‭‭Gen ‭1‬:‭27, 31                                  ‬ The Conversation Elements From The Conversation "God is love" comes alive, tangible, when somebody loves me.  Music ”.....  that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may have power to comprehend with all the saints  what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  and to know the love of Christ  which surpasses knowledge,  that you may be filled  with all the fulness of God.“ ‭‭Ephesians ‭3‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭                                                     And with...

God is actually quite wild and dangerous, but we domesticated divine experience so much that a vast majority of people have left the search entirely, finding most religious people to be fearful conformists instead of adventurous seekers of Love and Mystery.                                                                                                      Richard Rohr I’m hesitant to call it the touch of God and it is not because I’m afraid that I will sound over-pious. From my own experiences in daily living, retreats, times of uncertainty, fear, joy and consolation I've discovered that such a description is too soft and gentle. This is more forceful, deliberate, like feeling the firm grip of a hand on your arm or ...

Quiet moment. Photo by Matilda Hoe kom ek daar waar Rilke God se slippers* is en Hafiz se brood, die wye lug**? Hoe kom ek daar waar ek vir myself mooi soos Rilke fluweelslippers is? Waar Hafiz en Rilke met God speel? So klink dit, met min ontsag of dan met soveel inherente agting vir hulself dat dit mag; Dat God speelmaat vir hulle durf wees en hulle ongetwyfelde bemindes. Hoe word ek Beminde? As ek vir myself so ver tekortskiet; blind daarvoor dat met die ferweel van my lyf reeds afgeskif ek steeds geliefde en verkose slippers bly. Hoe kom ek daar waar Rilke is? Om God met elke asemteug te snap en terug te antwoord in die kamers van my lyf. Matilda Angus 3 April 2016 (Tydens die skryfretreat)                                                                   ...

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond any experience,your eyes have their silence: in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which i cannot touch because they are too near your slightest look easily will unclose me though i have closed myself as fingers, you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose or if your wish be to close me, i and my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly, as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending; nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility:whose texture compels me with the color of its countries, rendering death and forever with each breathing (i do not know what it is about you that closes and opens;only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses) nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands                   ...