Parish Retreat, Llangasty, May 2026 - 'From Blindness to Vision'
Led by The Reverend Charles Sutton, Vicar All Saints, Clifton
by Liz Badman
On the afternoon of 15th May, 16 intrepid retreatants made their way down narrow country lanes to Llangasty for our annual Parish Retreat. It was a privilege to have Fr Charles as our retreat conductor. On arrival, we relaxed and found our rooms, then met in the sitting room at 6pm with Janet, who looks after the retreat house.
With the cook off sick, Janet was also cooking for us and the food was excellent. Most of us had come by car except for Brendan, who bravely came by public transport walking the last few miles from Bwlch through the narrow lanes.
The intrepid retreatants for the Parish Retreat 2026, led by Fr Charles.
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This year, we had some new faces, four of whom had never been on retreat before, silent or otherwise. As always, the retreat revolved around the daily offices led by the laity, daily mass, and five addresses, with lots of time to read and go for walks. The countryside is beautiful and the retreat house is at the end of a maze of single-track lanes, so it is very peaceful. Also, as always, the retreat was silent.
The weather was not very nice, wet, windy and very cold most of the time, though some braver souls went for a walk on Saturday afternoon and Vicky went wild swimming in Llangorse Lake!
Silence began after supper on the Friday evening and ended before lunch on the Sunday.
‘From Blindness to Vision’
With the title ‘From Blindness to Vision’, we knew we were heading for a treat. The retreat was based around reflections on the Gospel of John, Chapter Nine. Fr Charles followed an ‘Arc of Thought’ building from earth, looking toward heaven and settling on a place where heaven and earth touch in sacrament.
The themes of the five addresses were deliberately a little enigmatic:
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Cosmic Wonder – Darkness is not the end of sight. John 9.1-5
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Shared Humanity – All Humanity is searching. John 9.8-9
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Evolutionary Hope – We may be growing toward deeper awareness. John 9.5-7
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Personal Stability – Christ is our confidence on the way. John 9.35-38
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Mystery Embraced – Vision becomes wonder before creation. John 9. 24-28
Each ‘address’ followed the same pattern, Prayer, Lectio, reflection, question to take away and reflect and closing prayer.
1. The first session on Friday evening was illustrated with an image of Joan Miro’s lithograph
Ceramiques. Fr Charles reminded us that when we see stars at night we see, through space and time, stars that existed thousands of millions years ago. In the darkens of night, we see further and more deeply than at any other time. Julian of Norwich, in the darkness of suffering, saw beyond her illness; meditating on the crucifix she was embraced in God’s love (Grace). The question we were left to think about was:
What has darkness taught us that we wouldn’t have learned otherwise?
2. On Saturday morning, we thought about ‘Shared Humanity’, the universal search for meaning and purpose, and the Creator Being. Using the image of stencil art, people’s hands, from the Kimberley region of Australia, Fr Charles reflected on their meaning. Reminding us that they probably date back 30,000 years. Were the people making a mark in creation, saying look
‘this is me’; engaged in ritual; or marking territory? All humanity through time has found the need to search for something beyond ourselves. Different faiths and beliefs have different ways of seeing God. Fr Charles told us of a significant project, the Rock Sanctuary, on the Rock of Gibraltar, where there will be an education and growing awareness programme, based in Religious Pluralism. He reminded us that God is searching for us as we are searching for God. The question for this session:
Where in my life are the situations in my search for God?
3. The afternoon was free time, for walking, reading, sleeping… After tea, we gathered for a third time and in this session we thought about ‘Evolving Hope’. The image was of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who was a Jesuit, scientist, palaeontologist who said, ‘Driven by the forces of love, the fragments of the world seek each other so that the world may come to being’.
Fr Charles reminded us of verse six of John’s ninth chapter where it says that Jesus ‘spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread mud on the man’s eyes’. This brings us to the act of Creation – where God formed humanity out of dust and the breath that came from his mouth. Fr Charles raised the evolutionary question that perhaps our path is toward full consciousness, where we become fully aware of God, and that Love at the centre of all, holding all together – the ‘Great Awakening’. As yet, we do not have the intellectual capacity to understand and embrace all that God gives in Creation. The question for this session:
What are the ways that growing consciousness brings us closer to God?
4. The last session on Saturday was at 8pm and followed by Compline. This time, the image was an icon of Christ the Shepherd King who leads us in the green pasture, but also through the valley. The intellectual aspect of our faith is of fundamental importance. Doctrine provides pillars of faith. But our faith is not dependent upon our intellectual capability or our acceptance of doctrine. Each of us has moments of doubt, fear, suffering; this is part of human existence. As the ‘Blind Man’ teaches us, in our dark questioning moments our response should be ‘worship’, a discipline that enables us to continue in a dark world. The question:
What would we change if our confidence was grounded not in knowledge, but in the knowledge of Christ’s presence?
5. For our final session after breakfast on Sunday morning, the image used by Fr Charles was Michaelangelo’s Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel. Fr Charles talked of Creation and of Sacraments. In addition to the ‘Sacraments’ defined by the church, there are those special personal moments when we have full knowledge that ‘here’ Heaven and Earth have touched. They are fleeting moments, but as such are Sacramental. Sacrament is something where we see God’s loving touch, where the veil between here and beyond is thin. The question was:
Where in our lives do we see these sacramental moments?
After Midday Mass, we came out of silence and gathered for the group photo above. After a lively lunch, we departed for home, leaving this lovely place refreshed, renewed, challenged and changed.
