For a young dietitian who spends his days talking to patients, a day of complete silence might seem the last thing he would choose. But Vincent Voccaro, 27, was among 120 men who did exactly that last weekend.
“Finding Silence with St Joseph: Praying with the Leader, Provider, Protector of the Holy Family” was the theme of the first Maximus Men’s retreat, which challenged participants to “handle the silence” through a day of prayer, healing, and reflection.
Maximus is a Sydney-based Catholic men’s ministry that aims to form men in faith, leadership and fraternity, with a particular focus on helping them grow as husbands, fathers and disciples of Christ.
Held on 21 March at St Joseph’s Parish, Moorebank, the retreat offered a rare opportunity for Catholic men to step back from the noise of daily life and enter into contemplative prayer, inspired by the example of St Joseph.
“A day of silence is a bit odd, for sure,” Voccaro admitted. “You’re not used to it.”
But for him, the strangeness soon gave way to something deeper.
“When you’re silent, you’re more in tune with God,” he said. “When you’re in the hustle and bustle of life, you’re not in tune with God at all. But when you’re silent, it’s like you’ve found the radio station. You’re trying to find it, and there it is. You just tune in.”
Voccaro said the retreat resonated with him precisely because it was shared with other men facing similar pressures.
“I liked the idea of being with other men who you know are going through the same thing,” he said. “We all need silence, the need for contemplation, the need to figure yourself out as a man of God following Christ, wanting to provide and protect for the ones you love.”
The retreat’s guest speaker, Fr Johnson Joseph Malayil CRS, said many participants were seeking to deepen their spiritual lives.
“Most of them wanted to deepen their spiritual life,” he said. “Some were also looking for a breakthrough, perhaps from difficulties they face, even spiritual struggles. And at least a few had restarted their faith journey after having given up for a while.”
The day was anchored by three talks from Fr Johnson, each guiding the men more deeply into the practice of silent prayer through the example of St Joseph.
“I spoke about the need for silence: silent prayer, mental prayer, reflective prayer,” he said. “Then I tried to show how St Joseph approached prayer. In the third talk, I focused on practical application, how we can grow in silent prayer, the obstacles we face, and how to overcome them.”
Voccaro described the experience in simple terms.
“You feel calmer,” he said. “It’s not like you hear an audible voice or anything like that. It’s that you’re still, and you know Christ is present.”
He paused before adding: “When you’re caught up in everyday life, you don’t realise that. But in that silence, you do. The secret is the silence.”
The retreat was organised by the Life, Marriage and Family team within the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, in partnership with St Joseph’s Parish, Moorebank.
