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's post comes from the Catholic Health Association's website and reminds us that God is in the whispers of this trying pandemic. Read the text below and watch the video that follows. If you have someone else in your home, why not invite them to take turns reading this aloud with you and then watch the video together? We hope that this brings peace to your day. God is Close: A Reminder in the Midst of Global Pandemic Leader As…
As we celebrate the summer season, many of us have been spending more time outdoors. Many have spent part of the quarantine working in gardens and are now enjoying the fruits and flowers of that labor! Some of us have been enjoying the beautiful grounds around the Center too. Even before we reopen, you're welcome to come and walk around our outdoor sanctuary...alive with blooms! If you venture outdoors today, take a quiet moment to give praise to our Creator…
Today's reflection is another spiritual lesson from Fr. Michael Schleupner. Fr. Mike will be with us in August for our Directed Retreat and we look forward to welcoming him back to the Center. Let's take a few quiet moments to reflect on this lesson from scripture. The Yoke Is Easy In Jesus’ day, they did not have John Deere tractors to plow their fields. Instead, a pair of oxen would pull the plow. To do this, there was something called…
Kathy Anderson has presented many retreats at our Center, along with Susan Boruff. Their ministry, Take Twelve Today, emphasizes the importance of practicing breathing meditations daily. Kathy invites you to find a quiet place where you can sit and focus on this video meditation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnaKP6fRnHc&feature=youtu.be To learn more about their ministry, please click here.
Do you know someone who has been infected by the COVID-19 virus or is suffering with another illness? Sometimes the words are hard to find when our heart aches with worry for loved ones. Today, we offer this prayer for healing and peace. Comfort your loved one by letting them know that you're praying for them too. Healing A Loved One Lord, You walked on the earth, understood the broken world, yet also rose from death into resurrected life. I…
Today's reflection is the fourth in a series by Fr. Michael Schleupner. We're so grateful for all of the posts that he has shared with us for our blog during the pandemic! We look forward to welcoming Fr. Michael back to the Center for the August Directed Retreat too. There are still a few spaces available if you'd like to register. Click here to learn more. Let's take a few quiet moments to read this reflection. Then, maybe you can…
In addition to serving as the Director of the Associates for the Sisters of Bon Secours, Amy Kulesa also leads some of our retreats at the Retreat & Conference Center. She oversees and often facilitates our weekly Centering Prayer sessions and this December she’ll be leading a Centering Prayer weekend retreat during the Advent season. You can click here to learn more about her. On our national Independence Day, I found this quote and thought it provided an encouraging, refreshing…
No matter how much light I carry within me, there will always be times of feeling lost, being confused, seeking direction. It is the way of the human heart. ~ Joyce Rupp During the pandemic and this difficult time of racial injustice, even the most positive people struggle. It's ok. Sometimes we just need to hear that it's ok. We can lay our feelings of being lost and confused at the feet of Jesus. Let's join together in this virtual…
Today’s post is another insightful reflection and meditation from retreat presenters Susan Boruff and Kathy Anderson. We’re so grateful for all of their submissions for our blog during the pandemic and look forward to being able to host them at the Center again soon. Let’s take a few quiet moments to read this reflection by Susan and then watch the video meditation at the end by Kathy. Eyes to See By: Susan Boruff Blessed are the pure in heart, for…
Today's reflection is the third in a series by Fr. Michael Schleupner. Let's take a few moments to learn about his thoughts on prayer and then you can practice these methods after. Spirituality – Part 3 Dear Friends, Last week I reflected on faith as the first core element of spirituality. Today my attention turns to prayer as the next core element. Fundamentally, prayer is our consciously or intentionally being with God. Some kind of personal prayer needs to be…
