Michelle Vass, Gratitude, Tribute, Retiring Retreat Centre Director (2016-2022) St Mary’s Towers
Dominic Gleeson MSC, Celebration, July 23rd.
The story of Michelle’s journey with St Mary’s Towers, Douglas Park, began at the turn of the Century. In the early 2000’s Michelle first visited the Towers with the intention to pray a retreat, allowing her time to make space for and give expression to her burgeoning thirst for God, deeply embedded within her. Michelle’s first spiritual companion and guide for the retreat was Paul Brennan, msc. Michelle was moved deeply by the touch of God on her heart from that experience and was inexorably drawn back to this place of the Heart for many more retreats.
It was during these experiences of retreat Michelle began to feel an affinity with the spirit of the land – the place of the D’harawal people, the traditional custodians of this land, and the spirit/charism of the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be Everywhere Loved”. In the years that followed Michelle was able to capture many jewelled facets of the land through the lens of her camera – resulting in thousands of images, some of which hang in various rooms in the retreat centre to this day. Michelle was able to gift to retreatants and all who visited the Towers with an inner experience of the gift of God who was being so wonderfully expressed and described in the outer, natural, and created world – to a place deep within.
Michelle had from those early days a thirst for silence which, as all of us MSC, visitors and retreatants know, is in plentiful supply at St Mary’s Towers! As the years passed Michell’s yearning for the silence grew and grew. It was in that silence that Michelle kept being drawn back into the Heart of the One who calls. It also helped that the tradition of St Mary’s Towers being a place of silence assisted Michelle and affirmed her in her quest to draw water deeply from the well of God’s life-giving spirit.
Michelle, her son, Chris with Chris McPhee.
Michelle has always been moved by a prayerful, mystical silence – and it is that same silence as expressed by St Jerome - “Silence is praise for You – silentium tibi laus” (St Jerome’s translation of the Hebrew Psalm 65:1). During the times of retreat, enjoying the solitude, spiritual accompaniment, the flora and fauna and all that nature has to offer, walking with the land, Michelle was partaking of the silence and plunging into everything that the Towers was offering.
Complementary to the above was that in 2002, Michelle completed a Master of Arts (Theology) at the Australian Catholic University Canberra.
As Michelle’s yearnings deepened to welcome more fully the invitation to walk with Jesus as confidant and friend, Michelle undertook further studies in 2008 in the area of Spirituality and Pastoral Ministry (specifically the practice of Spiritual Accompaniment).
Michelle believes passionately that there is a need to recover and allow to emerge, new creative ways of contemplative living based on the richness of our Christian heritage. In a special way it is through the Spirituality of the Heart that we keep in touch with the living, loving power of God, and find the freedom to do this.
Tribute from Dominic.
In 2011, Michelle applied to a position to join the Retreat Centre staff and to be on team to share her expertise in facilitating retreats and in offering spiritual accompaniment. Retreatants often remarked that Michelle’s retreat presentations were ‘world class’. Doug Smith, msc, was the Retreat Centre Director at the time and one of the first demands made of Michelle from Doug Smith was that Michelle was a good fire starter for the retreat centre Heart Room’s fireplace! Having excelled in the art of fire lighting Michelle continued to go from strength to strength.
During the year 2016, Michelle was offered the position of Retreat Centre Director and instantly she was given the responsibility of facilitating the Retreat Centre’s first sabbatical program – which was a great success. Michelle led her ‘beauty crew’ (Retreat Centre team), through a myriad of advances to the Retreat Centre program, including innovations in technology, development of a website, comprehensive updating of the MSC, Life’s Healing Journey retreat, creating several new team and individually presented retreats per year. Michelle guided and led the team, the retreatants, visitors and live-in community through bushfire seasons, floods, and the pandemic (continuing) with wisdom and courage.
Communal blessing.
Michelle was able to develop and foster a large group of spiritual directors across Australia to become an extended Retreat Centre team thus creating rich variety, and choice. Michelle is passionate about reading, professional development and policy. Michelle’s balance and her strong sense of accountability helped the Retreat Centre team to be at the forefront to the many opportunities in professional development and standards.
Michelle considered it a special blessing to work with the retreat team at St Mary’s Towers, building on the wonderful tradition of profound silence, and serving the needs of those who come here seeking solace, peace and the love of our compassionate God. Michelle believed that the St Mary’s Towers Retreat Centre, named after Mary our mother and sister in faith, is a ministry of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Mary’s example of pondering and beholding the presence of Jesus in her heart remains an inspiration for us today as to how to let Christ be a loving presence in our hearts, for our world.
Of significance and of paramount importance and value, however, was Michelle’s contribution to the life of the MSC community. Michelle is and always will be a true Missionary of the Sacred Heart, filled with grace and inspiration – and a truly great friend and companion to the professed MSC and all who visit. Michelle welcomed all as family!!
Our prayers go with you Michelle as you venture into your own sabbath time, and may God bless you abundantly for the great woman of substance you are and will continue to be in all that you are and do.
PS, some visual envy of the catering.
