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, we continue on the Good Samaritan theme from Sunday, sharing Fr. Michael Schleupner's homily. Let's read about a modern day example that can inspire each of us to do our part in the world. NODA Last December, the Washington Post Magazine carried an article that I find very inspiring: One night several years ago, nurse Sandra Clarke was making her rounds at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon. An elderly, frail patient made a request. His organs were…
Today's Gospel lesson comes from Luke 10:25-37, the familiar lesson of the Good Samaritan. What can you draw from the modern poem that we're sharing, based on this passage from Scripture? Where have you seen injustice? How are you helping those in need? How does the poem paint a picture of Jesus as the Good Samaritan for you? Share with us! We'd love to learn more from you. The Good Samaritan How kind the good Samaritan To him who fell…
As we look forward to welcoming our 8-Day Ignatian Directed Retreat guests on Saturday, we thought it would be nice to share some of the gifts from St. Ignatius with you over the next few blogs. We found this beautiful video to accompany The Daily Examen Prayer. Let's unwind and focus on words that St. Ignatius shared so long ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVItxNMrNnw
Today's post is a homily that Fr. Michael Schleupner shared on Sunday and we think it's a perfect fit for our blog today. We're also looking forward to welcoming Fr. Michael back to the Center in a few weeks for our July Directed Retreat, where he will be personally leading a small group of retreat guests on their spiritual journey. Let's reflect on his insights from Scripture that can be applied in three steps within on our own journeys. A…
Living Life as a Spiritual Pilgrimage by Linda Mastro and Amy Kulesa “If we truly want to know the secret of soulful travel, we need to believe that there is something sacred waiting to be discovered in virtually every journey.” ~ Phil Cousineau in The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred A pilgrimage - whether to a sacred site on the other side of the world or into your heart - invites you to an experience…
Summer is upon us and the grounds around the Retreat & Conference Center are bursting with color! We are so grateful for the beautiful creation God has given us during this season of longer days. Will you take a few quiet moments to pray this summer prayer with us? Breath of Summer Creator God who breathed this world into being, who is discernible within the harmony of nature, the perfection of a butterfly's wing, the grandeur of a mountain…
We are thrilled to welcome back spiritual author Paula D'Arcy, who has been leading a writing retreat at our Center this week. During this sold-out retreat, Paula is guiding our guests in writing, refining a tool to deepen their spirituality. So, today we reflect on a some of her words and invite you to continue this meditation by visiting the monthly reflection page on her website too. "How you approach something determines what you will see." "Truth has to fall…
Today's post comes from Mary DeTurris Poust, spiritual writer and presenter (click here to visit her website). She has provided inspiring retreats at our Center and we look forward to having her back next year too. In the meantime, we're so grateful that she's sharing some of her reflections with our blog audience. Let's read her thoughts about taking a small moment to be still and appreciate the world around us. Where is the beauty in your world? As I…
Today's reflection is shared by Jen Murphy, Manager of Marketing & Events for the Bon Scours Retreat & Conference Center. Let's learn more about her favorite way to slow down and meditate in nature. Waves of Prayer Lord of the Seas, speak… to me. Flow heavens flow… over me. Wash words of God wash… in me. Lord of the Seas, speak… through me. ~Bill Gaultiere Summertime is a very special time for me because I am able to spend a…
May you find Peace. May you be one with your true self... Dear Heart Preface the persistent voice of midlife wooed and wailed, wept and whined, nagged like an endless toothache, seduced like an insistent lover, promised a guide to protect me as I turned intently toward my soul. as I stood at the door of “Go Deeper” I heard the ego’s howl of resistance, felt the shivers of my false security but knew there could be no other way.…
