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 continues an insightful series about our image of God. What can we learn about how we project this image, based on scripture and theology? Let's read more in Fr. Michael's thoughts from Genesis and how that relates to our own personal relationship with God. Our Image of God - 4 Dear Friends, Our image of God, as I have said in this series over the last several weeks, is crucial. It affects not just how we relate…
Annie Hisle will guide a grief retreat tomorrow, presenting resources like the poem below to help participants who are dealing with loss. Please pray that these guests are comforted and spiritually uplifted by their retreat. Maybe the reading below will provide some level of peace and comfort if you are in need too? Letting Go To let go doesn't mean to stop caring, it means I can't do it for someone else. To let go is not to cut myself…
On this last day of John Philip Newell's "Sacred Earth Sacred Soul" retreat at our Center, we leave you with this short video that he created a few years ago. He offers beautiful insights from art and scripture and also a touching blessing for peace at the end. May you be blessed by a sense of deep peace today... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXjYGoZ_ous
Today is the beginning of our highly anticipated "Sacred Earth Sacred Soul" retreat with Dr. John Philip Newell and Cami Twilling. We are so happy to host them this weekend for this sold-out retreat! Today, we share a little spiritual inspiration from John Philip with you too. "Our work, rather, is to help reawaken the sense of the sacred that is already deep in the human soul, our primordial relationship with nature, our ancient mother love of the earth.…
While observing the transformation that nature has begun to make around us, it can often prompt a self-reflection about a transformation within us and within our world. Many of our retreats stimulate this conversation and process here at the Center too. So, today, we are sharing this powerful prayer that will likely resonate with everyone in some way. Share your thoughts in the comments after you pray with us! Prayer for Transformation Lord, transform us – not for our benefit,…
Fr. Michael Schleupner continues an insightful series about our image of God. Let's take a few quiet moments to learn about how certain images can be harmful to our relationships with God. Next week he will continue by sharing positive ways to improve our personal image of God. Our Image of God - 3 Dear Friends, In last week’s post, I asked the question: Why is our image of God so important? In a way, the answer is very simple.…
As the trees around us begin their transformation, it is also the perfect time for us to slow down, take a moment to just breathe and enjoy the change before us. Around the Retreat & Conference Center, it's as if we're watching God's paint strokes beginning a masterpiece. Do you have a favorite tree near your home that you appreciate each year as its colors change? Do you enjoy the fall decorations displayed by neighbors? Do you make time to…
The images of devastation after Hurricane Ian are shocking and heartbreaking. We hold all of those who have been affected in prayer today. Give them strength, courage and hope always. In Our Hearts Compassionate Lord, we pray for those who have been devastated by recent natural disasters. We remember those who have lost their lives so suddenly. We hold in our hearts the families forever changed by grief and loss. Bring them consolation and comfort. Surround them with our prayer…
Fr. Michael Schleupner continues his series about the image of God with another powerful message. What resonates with you? If you missed the first blog in this series, please click here. Our Image of God - 2 Dear Friends, Why is our image of God so important? In a way, the answer is very simple. We become like the person we respect or adore. One author says, “Most of us recognize that we become like our parents whom from early…
Doris Gallagher, our Guest Services Coordinator, shared this beautiful reminder about humankind. It's a beautiful reminder about how kind the world can be, despite the violence and negativity we see in the news each day. Did someone share a small kindness to you today? If so, please take a moment to comment below. Let's spread kindness! Small Kindnesses I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by.…
