Welcome to Conversations of the Heart
A thousand miles would you run to speak with another who you knew really felt it and yet when you got there, find yourself speechless!
And yet your only joy would be to speak of it….words fruitful, and filled with fire.
– Unknown Author, Cloud of Unknowing
The Author of the Cloud of Unknowing knew of our desire for spiritual conversation and of our joy in finding such a person with whom we can speak of the Divine Beloved dwelling in the silence in the ground of our own heart. Conversations of the Heart has been established by Robyn Fitzgerald to provide a contemplative space to embrace and deepen into these such beautiful conversations, through spiritual direction and silent retreat.
Silent Retreats in 2026
Contemplation in the Abyss of True Humility
Six Day Silent Retreat Online
22nd to 27th June 2026
Always (semper) plunge (immerge) yourself into the abyss of true humility.”
Mechthild of Hackeborn, Book of Divine Grace, 2.24
In this mid-winter retreat, we will immerse ourselves into the abyss of mercy, that fullness of love where the word is made flesh. We will enjoy the teachings of Gertrude of Helfta and Mechthilde of Hackeborn as we sense with all our heart the conception, gestation and birthing of the Word in contemplation. We will delight in this birthing and its unfolding wisdom in this evolutionary moment, making everything new, everything worthy and everything one.
To register please email Robyn at robyn.fitzgerald@proton.me
To Behold is to Give Life
Six Day Silent Retreat for Advent
1st to 8th December 2026,
Santa Casa Retreat Centre, Queenscliff, Vic
With thee, to behold is to give life; ‘tis unceasingly to impart sweetest love of Thee;
’tis to inflame me to love of Thee by love’s imparting,
and to feed me by inflaming,
and by feeding to kindle my yearnings,
and by kindling to make me drink of the dew of gladness,
and by drinking to infuse me in a fountain of life,
and by infusing to make it increase and endure.
Nicolas of Cusa (De Visione Dei, ch. IV)
With these beautiful words, Nicholas of Cusa invites us into the beholding that gives birth to all life, and which itself imparts the sweetest love of Love. Silent, intimate, mutual, gifted and kenotic, beholding is the heartbeat of Advent, and we will draw on the writings of Nicholas of Cusa, Jan van Ruusbroec, Beatrice Bruteau and others who will help us to behold and see the Advent mystery unfolding in our world today.
To register please email Sister Lizzie at santacasa@ismapng.org.au
Formation Offerings in 2026
In the Centre of Nothingness
Apophatic Prayer and the Awakening of the Apophatic Self
with Dr Kerrie Hide
23rd and 24th July, 2026,
Online
This offering is part of Mystic Heart: A spiritual direction formation program for spiritual directors and people interested in contemplation
“At the centre of our being is a point of nothingness …
a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, …
This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty
is the pure glory of God in us …”
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, (1966), 140-142.
In this year’s Mystic Heart formation offering, where we will continue to delve deeply into the Christian tradition of apophatic prayer, focusing on how we awaken the centre of nothingness in the ground of our heart through apophatic prayer. We will continue to develop a hermeneutic of beholding for interpreting mystical texts by authors such as Thomas Merton, Denys the Areopagite, Meister Eckhart, Marguerite Porete, the Helfta Mystics, Jan van Ruusbroec, Julian of Norwich, the Cloud of Unknowing author, John of the Cross and many others. Our focus will be on creating an atmosphere and contemplative practices that support the awakening of a oneing heart awareness or Christ consciousness.
For more information and to register, please click on the link here
