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’.
Fr. Michael Schleupner shared the posts below with us as he entered Holy Week. They are insights that we can carry with us throughout the Easter season. These posts continue his series on Spiritual Wellness (check our blog for all of his previous posts in the series) and this component is essential to his philosophy. Let's learn more about the importance of the paschal mystery as we prayerfully read below. Spiritual Wellness - 14 Believe in the Mystery - part…
Happy Earth Day (tomorrow)! The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 and now, 53 years later, we still have much to do to save our planet. How are you marking this day? Why not spend part of your day outdoors, appreciating nature, or researching new ways that you can care for our earth? If you'd like to know more about the Sisters of Bon Secours' ecological actions, please visit their Justice, Peace & Integrity ministry's site here. Please write…
As we prepare for Earth Day on Saturday, we are highlighting a few quotes about trees from two inspiring authors. Take a moment to appreciate the trees around you today! Comment and share your favorite species or places to visit. “If a tree falls in the forest there are other trees listening. This is because a tree can be only as strong as the forest that surrounds it. Every tree, therefore, is valuable to the community and worth keeping…
At the beginning of April, Fr. Nicholas Amato presented "Our Journey from Darkness to Light" retreat and shared this beautiful prayer. May you be blessed with hope and light today! When the Road Seems Closed - A Prayer By David Long-Higgins Loving God, Grant me a vision Greater than any barricade Daring me to despair At signs screaming out “No possible way forward, This road is closed.” Yes, lift up my eyes To Your emerging light Stretching…
Today we return to Fr. Michael Schleupner's series on spiritual wellness as he highlights the wellness benefits of humility. This is the 13th post in the series. You can scroll through our older posts to read more, if you'd like. Let's take a few quiet moments to reflect on these thoughts. Spiritual Wellness - 13 Be Humble Dear Friends, Being humble does not mean that we beat ourselves up or put ourselves down. It does not mean that we deny…
The Savior who died in our stead, now has risen from the dead, The Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, from that grave to New Life, Those who saw Him could rejoice, praising God with one voice, In light that He now has risen, Eternal Life to us, God has given. Christ, who died for all man’s sin, now in power can reign within, In every Believer, in their heart, once residing, He will not depart, New Life, He gives to…
Happy Easter! We hope that you are filled with joy of the resurrection of Jesus today and always. Alleluia! Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ~Matthew 28:5-6 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live," ~John 11:25 Draw…
The Seven Last Words Mark Strand 1 The story of the end, of the last word of the end, when told, is a story that never ends. We tell it and retell it — one word, then another until it seems that no last word is possible, that none would be bearable. Thus, when the hero of the story says to himself, as to someone far away, ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do,’ we may feel that…
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a very special, sacred time at the Retreat & Conference Center, our Easter Triduum Retreat. Over 50 guests will gather for this silent retreat, punctuated by inspiring retreat presentations and dialogue, quiet time in private prayer, and poignant liturgies. Please pray for our leaders who have put so much planning into the retreat and liturgies. Members of the local community are invited to attend our liturgies too (7:30pm on Holy Thursday, 3pm on Good Friday,…
Palm Sunday Call to WorshipJesus is coming! From the mountainside, from the seaside, from the homes of the rich and the company of the poor, from the bedside of those who are sick, Jesus is coming! Along dusty roads, with a ragged band of travelers, Jesus comes to Jerusalem, Will we greet him with Hosannas?Let’s pray: We have come to meet you today, Jesus. We don’t know quite what to expect. We think we know what we need, how you…
