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’.
Today's blog comes from Sales Manager, Tara Mulder. She works with groups who are making reservations to use our facilities and enjoy delicious meals during their stay! Tara also cherishes time outside of work when she can use her artistic gifts to create beautiful pieces on canvas! Take a few moments to read her insights about how true rest can benefit her creativity. How do you truly relax and rest? The Productivity of Rest Most of the things we need…
We are thrilled to welcome back retreat presenter, Sr. Mary Ellen O'Dea, for a week-long women's retreat today! Her "Live Boldly - Seek Truth - Ask Questions" retreat will focus on Eve and Sheba and pull lessons for this gathering of women. We ask that you hold them all in prayer for this special week of spiritual insights. Strength comes from seeing: the eye that fiercely holds the mark so arrow surely follows. Do not be deterred! And when…
We recently received a request from a guest who hoped to have a pondside lodging room during her stay so that she could hear the frogs/toads in the evening. The "song" of these animals are soothing to her and she really enjoys this part of her retreat experience! Do you enjoy the sounds of nature in the summer? What soothes you? Earth mother teach me of my kin, Of Hawk and dove and flower, Of blinding sunlight, shady knoll,…
Although sunshine is something that immediately comes to mind when reflecting about the blessings of summer, rainshowers may also come to mind. Not only is rain crucial to summer crops and flowers, rivers and many other areas of creation, summer rainshowers can be soothing and meditative. So, today we share this analogy to call for the Spririt to connect with us. Take a few moments to pray with us and then sit with the short video. Listen to the rain…
Many of our guests return to the Center each summer for an annual silent retreat. We currently have 25 guests checking in today for a 7-Day Directed Retreat There are individuals who are dedicated to this practice of setting aside a week each year to disconnect from their daily norm and to reconnect to what lies under the surface, tuning into God's voice by 'listening with the ear of our hearts'. If you can't find the time to come out…
Tomorrow, July 15, is the feast day of Saint Bonaventure, known as the "Seraphic Doctor" of the Church. We leave these inspiring quotes by St. Bonaventure to inspire you today... "Meditation on Christ in His humanity is corporeal in deed, in fact, but spiritual in mind. . . . By adopting this habit, you will steady your mind, be trained to virtues, and receive strength of soul....Let meditation of Christ's life be your one and only aim, your rest,…
Today, we have selected words by Merton and Teilhard that provide analogies in nature for God's love. Take a few moments today to step out into your corner of the world and see, hear and touch Creation. Can you sense God's love too? Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered…
As we welcome our guests of the "Images of God in Teilhard & Merton" retreat today, we leave this beautiful piece by Thomas Merton. It's a bit longer than our usual posts, but so poignant and certainly not meant to be abbreviated. We pray that these 'strangers' on retreat come together as a community of love during their week together. Merton’s Epiphany at Fourth & Walnut In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the…
We're continuing with our series on Teilhard and Merton today as we look forward to the "Images of God in Teilhard and Merton" retreat that begins on Sunday. (You can click here to learn more about the retreat.) Patience can be so difficult, especially when seeking important answers. May this prayer by Teilhard ease some of your anxiety today. Patient Trust by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally…
As we perpare for Sr. Kathleen Duffy's "Images of God in Teilhard and Merton" retreat that begins this Sunday (click here to learn more), we will be sharing words of wisdom from both mystics. Fr. James Martin has said that this is "a prayer anyone can pray" so we hope that you will appreciate it here. “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know…
