Welcome to the Bon Secours Retreat & Conference Center’s blog! This blog will extend our retreat ministry by bringing prayers and reflections into your home ‘retreat’. Many of our presenters and staff share their homilies, favorite prayers and reflections through this medium. We encourage you to comment, pass it along to friends or simply take a moment to pray with us. We hope that this will serve as a moment during your day when you can ‘retreat with us’.
Are you drawn to poetry and creative reflections as you nourish your spiritual life? Do you journal words and phrases as you contemplate your questions for God or gratitude for life's blessings? Today, we offer a poem that reminds us to care for and admire ourselves, just as our Creator would want us to do. We also invite you to consider joining this Friday's poetry retreat (click here to learn more). Love After Love The time will comewhen, with…
A Christian Prayer for Peace in Our Time O God, author and giver of peace, in whose image and likeness each of us has been created with a human dignity worthy of respect on earth and destined for eternal glory, Listen to the cry that rises from every corner of this fragile earth, from our human family torn by violent conflict: Give peace in our time, O good and gracious God, that peace which, as your son Jesus Christ told…
Our hearts are breaking this week as we watch the news and see the devastation in Israel and Palestine. There are no words that express the grief for lives lost to violence. Please take a few moments, light a candle, and pray for all of those affected by the war. May God's desire for peace be heard as we lift our voices around the world. "Let the attacks and weapons cease, please, because it must be understood that terrorism and…
We're so grateful that Fr. Michael Schleupner, a favorite retreat leader and spiritual director here at the Center, shares his homilies and reflections with us. Let's take a few quiet moments to read his thoughts about fairness and spirituality, based on this Scripture passages found in the book of Matthew. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual…
Last weekend, during the "Be Here Now" retreat led by Mary DeTurris Poust, one of our creative guests composed the poem below and shared it on her blog. Thank you, Christina Delaney, for sharing it with us (click here to check out her blog)! How does nature around you inspire you this season? I stood in the Peace garden, just to “be” on this last day of September. A small autumn leaf let gravity take over, after a life…
For today's blog, we're slowing down a bit, following the advice of scripture to pause, to be still and to feel the peace of the Spirit. May peace be with you as you watch this inspiring video and pray the lyrics with us. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him...Psalm 37:7 Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 Now then, stand still…
During our annual Women's Wellness retreat, our feature presenter, Dr. Heather Alexander, shared a few poignant poems and we're passing one onto you today. Poetry can enrich our spiritual wellness in many ways and we invite you to consider the upcoming "Poetry, Faith, and Mystery" retreat on October 20 with Dr. Barry Casey too (click here for more information). May today's poem provide a visual guide to help you focus, provide peace and help you to open up to receive…
We were recently approached by the publishers of "BenchTalk", a new book being released next week. It features journal entries from many locations, including guests of our labyrinth! A project of Nature Sacred, they explain the contents: "For 25 years, stirred by nature, people from all walks of life, young and old, have been jotting down their wishes and worries, their grief and gratitude in little yellow journals. Waiting to be discovered by passersby, these waterproof journals are tucked beneath…
September 15 - October 15 is a month long period to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage. Today, we recognize the need to learn more about these rich cultures and to celebrate all that they have given to our history and the arts. Will you pray with us? God of all peoples and nations, Dios de todo el mundo — We praise you for your creativity made manifest in the gifts of tribes, ethnicities and cultures across the world. Each one…
Today's reflection is a homily shared by Fr. Michael Schleupner. We're so grateful to Fr. Michael for sharing his reflections with us! He can also be seen frequently at the Center, serving as a spiritual director during many of our directed retreats. Click here for his next retreat. Let's take a few moment now to read about his practical approach to forgiveness. Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church[a] sins against me, how…
