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’.
Amy Kulesa, Director of the Sisters of Bon Secours Associates, presented a retreat recently around a gratitude theme. She shared a few inspiring videos with these guests and we thought that you would enjoy this one. This video is a reminder that even if we are burdened, life gives us so much to be grateful for...gifts from the only Source of all our blessings. May this video resonate with you as you pray with us, providing inspiration for this Thanksgiving…
Today's post comes from our Retreats & Events Manager, Jen Murphy. Let's read her reflection about perspective and take a moment to pray for those who are hungry all around the world. Perspective After the weekly grocery store trip for my family of four (the 5th is currently away at college) I came home and complained to my husband about the lack of stock and variety on the shelves, as well as the rising prices. My kids joined in, asking…
Most conference groups who utilize our Center return time and time again and we are able to develop friendships with many of these guests. Their time here is often focused on being present with one another, away from the daily grind of their office buildings and home offices. They frequently commend our facilities and staff, saying that our service is unmatched by other conference centers. They are a joy to host too! Upon their departure, a recent healthcare group donated…
This afternoon, retreat guests will gather for a "Making All Things New" retreat with presenter Paul Gallagher. This retreat is generally held twice per year at our Center and is based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. (Click here to learn more about the January dates.) We can all learn from these exercises that focus on the mind, body and spirit. It's a powerful prayer practice that can deepen your spirituality. Let's take a quiet moment to…
Fr. Michael Schleupner shared the following homily last Sunday and it's a wonderful example of the Gospel lesson. Let's read about a hero from history and Jesus' lesson of love. Gospel Reading: Mark 12:28b-34 Doing What God Demanded In the 1820s, a woman named Harriet Tubman was born here in Maryland. She was born into an enslaved family, and she herself was a slave. But, she became a hero. Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery and then helped many others to…
During our weekly planning meeting at the Retreat & Conference Center, we take turns volunteering to read a short reflection or prayer, setting the tone for our time together. Rainey Taylor, our Sales Manager, offered a beautiful reflection this week and we thought you all would enjoy it as well. Friends, we wish you enough. I wish you enough... Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport as the daughter’s departure had been…
Today's blog is a token of gratitude from our wonderful Marketing Manager/Sales Associate, Tessa Newton, and it echoes the thoughts of the rest of our staff too. We're so grateful for you! My office sits squarely across from our Hospitality area on the 2nd floor. I joke that I am the Marketing Manager and Hospitality Room Attendant, as I often overhear guests wondering how to access the hot water, where the ice is, if they can have one of the…
Sr. Ji Choi shares today's blog, focusing on Pope Francis' encyclical and a mission that we should all share. Let's prayerfully read, watch a beautiful video and let God guide us to take steps of our own to care for our home. Our common home, the creation of God Every creature belongs to the Earth community and the entire community belongs to our Creator. A Greek word for this Earth community is oikos…. Our common home, the Earth belongs to…
Author Mary DeTurris Poust offers today's post, shared from her blog (click here to read more). The topic was born while she was at our Center to present a weekend retreat this summer. Her "Broken, Beautiful and Beloved" retreat was so inspiring and guests were already asking about her return to our Center before it was even over! Due to our need to schedule so far out, she's returning in 2023. So, Mary is occasionally sharing inspiration in written form…
Disturb us, O Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, O Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the abundance of life when, having fallen in love with time, we have ceased to dream of eternity and in our efforts to build a new earth we have allowed our…
