Prayer and traditions

An integral part of the place’s atmosphere and serenity, the daily rhythm is built around three daily offices (7.30 am, 12.15 pm, 6 pm). Everyone is warmly invited. We feel particularly close to the communities of Bose (IT), Mazille (FR), Montmirail (CH), Grandchamp (CH), St-Loup (CH) and Taizé (FR). Every Sunday and on Christian holidays, a communion service is celebrated at 8 am. The community is welcoming and looks forward to sharing this time with passing guests.

If you would like to be listened to with empathy or you need to confide something, to receive God’s forgiveness or see more clearly in your life, a pastoral conversation can be considered within a commonly agreed framework.
On simple request, it is possible to prolong an office with a personalised time of prayer; anointing with oil may accompany a request for a benediction or healing.

A themed trail in the forest and on the hill with the cross enables guests to experience some personal time in relationship with a theme, at their own pace. Near the signs, benches are an invitation to stop and meditate, to breathe and follow one’s inner path.
In summer, a labyrinth is marked out on the park’s lawn, as an invitation to a trusting quest and recentring.

A living tradition instituted by resident Charles Nicole-Debarge in 1963 continues to this day: over 120 fires are lit on the first Sunday of Advent at 6 pm on the canton’s summits and hills. Prayers, songs and an annual Message hail the arrival of “Jesus, light of the world”. Since 1971, horse riders have joined the adventure to proclaim the message solemnly to churchgoers after the morning services.