The Yarra Valley, situated east of Melbourne, is one of Australia’s thriving wine-growing regions. Nestled between the vineyards is Tarrawarra Abbey, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1954, and known as a powerhouse of prayer for the local church.

It is home to a community of 13 monks, including the renowned spiritual writer and retreat giver Fr Michael Casey OCSO, who rise each morning at 4 a.m. for the first of six periods of prayer during the day. Like everyone who arrives in Tarrawarra, I was immediately struck by the peace and simplicity that radiates through the place. After the intensity and turbulence of the Plenary Council assembly in Sydney, my visit was a moment to take stock about what had taken place and a reminder that the synod process Pope Francis has begun is fundamentally a spiritual exercise.

The liturgy at Tarrawarra embodies the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and expressed some of the key themes in Francis’ recent letter on liturgical formation, Desiderio Desideravi. In the simple chapel, built by the monks, the liturgy is not a search for a “ritual aesthetic” or preoccupied by the “scrupulous observance of the rubrics”, but a celebration that draws the community deeper into the paschal mystery. The celebrant gave an incisive homily on the gospel reading and there were periods of silence, punctuated by the chirping of soft-breasted cockatoos that sounded alien to a foreigner like me.