THE BLOG OF THE BON SECOURS RETREAT & CONFERENCE CENTER
Retreat with Us
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 offers another post full of resources to improve or maintain our spiritual wellness and draws from Mary's example. To read Fr. Michael's other posts in this series, we invite you to scroll through our blog too. Spiritual Wellness - 12Be Open Dear Friends, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary lists twenty different meanings for the word open. So, when saying that to Be Open is one of the ingredients of Spiritual Wellness, it is important to define what this means. The closest definition in the…
Our hearts are broken after hearing about the recent school shooting in Nashville. We pray that we do not become numb to these ongoing reports and that we all pray for peace and act for justice. Please take a few quiet moments to join our voices in prayer for peace. A Prayer for Peace We are moulded, each one of us, in the image of God, and within our souls there is a fingerprint none can erase. We pray for…
Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from…
Fr. Michael Schleupner offers another inspiring post in his Spiritual Wellness series today. This may not be something that we have thought to be important for our spiritual wellness before, but it can really make a difference! What form of art inspires you the most? Comment and share with us! Spiritual Wellness - 11 Appreciate Beauty Dear Friends, Things of beauty can lift our spirit. They take us into the realm of the spiritual. They connect us with the Spirit…
In the lengthening of days, Snowdrops emerging, from winter's frozen ground. A. WE SEE THE CREATOR'S HAND In the sight of a tiny lamb joyfully bounding across hillside farm A. WE SEE THE CREATOR'S HAND Creator God, forgive our moments of ingratitude, the spiritual blindness that prevents us from appreciating the wonder that is this world, the endless cycle of nature, of life and death and rebirth. Forgive us for taking without giving, reaping without sowing. Open our eyes to…
Today's post includes a prayer and beautiful video with a prayer for Lent. How are you recognizing this week during Lent? If you're here looking for resources to use at home today, why not find a quiet place to reflect, light a candle, and take time to listen in the silence. You could open your time of worship by reading the prayer below and then use the video as a closing prayer. As you read each sentence of the opening…
Happy St. Patrick's Day! According to tradition, St. Patrick wrote this famous prayer in 433 A.D. for divine protection before successfully converting the Irish King Leoghaire and his subjects from paganism to Christianity. Recent study disputes the author, but regardless, it eloquently carries the spirit of Christianity's journey to Ireland and can give us an overarching prayer of hope and protection for all. St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through…
In honor of National Catholic Sisters Week, Fran Gorsuch, a Sister of Bon Secours, and Natalie Scarbrough, led a prayer for peace for our staff on Monday. The Crocus Prayer was read allowed as we gathered in a circle around a Peace Pole, reminding us all that offering peace or being activists of peace often takes courage. Let's contemplate the actions of these first flowers today. Crocus Prayer It takes courage to be crocus-minded. Lord, I’d rather wait until June,…
Mary DeTurris Poust, author and retreat presenter, wrote today's blog on her site and is sharing it with us too. It provides a great perspective on the Lenten journey! We are excited to welcome Mary back to the Center this fall for her "Be Here Now" retreat too. You can learn more by clicking here. Let's take a few quiet moments to read below. What do you think about a "Happy Lent"? Comment and share with us. Can you have…
Fr. Michael Schleupner offers more insights about spiritual wellness in today's post. For more in this series, please scroll through our blog. The posts offer wonderful, comprehensive tools to improve your wellness! Spiritual Wellness - 10Belonging to a Community Dear Friends,Belonging to a community of faith – I believe that this is an important ingredient of our personal spiritual wellness. This is an important reminder especially for today. An increasing number of Americans (and maybe also people in some other…
