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’.
Now that activities have resumed, are you finding that your calendar feels too full? Are you stressed from feeling pulled into too many directions with endless 'to-do' lists? Today's post offers reflections from the gifted Joyce Rupp that may help you to relish a few quiet moments in contemplation, especially as we approach Holy Week. So, let's sit in a comfortable position, let's breathe in and out, in and out, and pray to be able to hear that still, small…
As we quickly approach Holy Week, we are offering a week of prayers for this 5th week of Lent. We hope that you'll have a few moments to slow down and find quiet time each day to reflect on this phase of your Lenten journey. May these prayers enrich your experience. The Fifth Week of Lent Sunday My loving Lord, it's so hard to love the world sometimes and to love it the way Jesus did seems impossible. Help me…
Mary DeTurris Poust presented a virtual Lenten retreat last month and shared a beautiful guided meditation with the guests. We're happy to share this with our readers too. Please see below. So, let's take a deep breath and enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pWDC3iOYNU
Many media outlets spoke about the two-year anniversary of the pandemic this month. We were certainly all affected significantly by the pandemic in one way or many ways. As we reflect on this anniversary, we especially hold those in our hearts who lost loved ones to COVID-19. In many ways, it seems like yesterday when we walked out of the Retreat & Conference with some of our belongings, preparing to work from home for a few weeks, which turned into…
For today's blog, we're catching up on two recent writings within a Lenten series from Fr. Michael Schleupner. Fr. Michael is a favorite retreat presenter and spiritual director here at the Center and we really appreciate how he shares his writing with our blog audience! We hope that you're blessed from his words of inspiration during this sacred season of Lent. Lent Musings - 2 Dear Friends, My March 13 'Temptation' blog concluded with my saying that fasting from food…
For our last blog of the Women's History Month and International Women's Day series, we ask you to pause and reflect on the leaders you have admired and in your own lives. Pray for women across the world. Thank them for their contributions to equality and justice, whether it be headline worthy or quietly within their own communities. Honor those special women have impacted your life and share about it in the comments too. A Prayer for Women Leaders Around…
Amy Kulesa will be guiding "On the Verge of Transformation," a special Lenten retreat on the weekend of Palm Sunday. Click here to learn more about the retreat. She is also the Director of the Sisters of Bon Secours Associates and recently shared this poignant reflection. How does it inspire and comfort you? Your Cross is You “Remember, you are only an instrument. Not yours to decide how or when or where you act. I plan all that. Make yourself…
We are continuing our series for Women's History Month and International Women's Day today. Let's learn more about the incredible achievements of Dr. Rebecca Cole and meditate on the creative words of Sarojini Naidu. Rebecca Cole graduated from medical school and became a physician in 1867. She was not only a pioneer for becoming a doctor as an African American woman at that time, but also a public health advocate and hygiene reformer in the US. An evidence-based researcher, she…
The Global Sisters Report has been featuring news directly from sisters who are in Ukraine. These first-hand reports offer a new dimension of the reality that everyone in this war-stricken area is facing. Click here to read a recent post. We've included the video below from the same report, taken during the pilgrimage that they reference. Our hearts are heavy, yearning to do more for those suffering. Please pray with us. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give…
Fr. Michael Schleupner, one of our frequent retreat presenters and spiritual directors, offers an "Inbox Inspiration" on our blog today. Let's read about this practical story and the poignant lessons from Scripture that he shared last week. ...And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” ~ Luke 4:12 (taken from reading Luke 4:1-13) Temptation There is a story about a man who, let’s just say, had put on a few extra pounds. At…
