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 as we begin Holy Week, we share with you two great resources from Dynamic Catholic. The first is called "A Catholic Guide to Holy Week" which provides excellent background information (for everyone - not just Catholics!) about what Holy Week is and how "these great moments in the life of the Church and the life of Jesus provide powerful lenses through which we can see our lives in a new way, expanding our understanding of ourselves and others."…
A Plant Mom By Sr. Elaine Davia, CBS A friend gave me a lovely little pin that says “Plant Mom” on a watering can. What an unusual way for this Catholic nun...to be a mom! Anyone who knows me knows I love my garden and love to work in it in the warm summer months. During the long winter months, I’m thinking about what I will do in the garden next summer. I look with longing at seed packages in…
The Great Dance of Life By Annie Hisle ‘Losing’ is intrinsic to life … but so is ‘finding.’ As a bereavement counselor for over 40 years, I continually notice that ‘losing' and ‘finding' are dance partners in the great dance of life. They complement each other, and they need each other! When we lose a job, a relationship, or a beloved person, we can eventually give thanks for what we had and imagine some new possibility. When we lose…
Pilgrims of Hope: Prayer Is the Way Linda Mastro Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ~ Romans 12:12 In this Jubilee year, Pope Francis calls us to be Pilgrims of Hope. How do we embrace hope when the world feels dark and the way forward is unclear? Adopting the attitude of a pilgrim may help us cross the divide. Pilgrims step up to challenges that appear along the way because they are: up for adventure…
The Wound as a Portal to Grace and Healing By Amy Kulesa The idea of wounds as a portal to grace and healing is an area that is close to my heart and experience. My entryway into faith and my continued healing journey have inevitably, throughout my life, been catalyzed by times of pain and challenge. There is a central place for joy, yes; but when it comes to transformation, I believe that God most often “breaks us open” through…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_0QBOtoyAU The Parable of the Lost Son 11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So…
A Journey to the Heart Fr. Jim McBurney, OSA will lead A Lenten Journey to the Heart Retreat in March. Here he offers a poem and reflection questions to ponder during our Lenten journeys. Perhaps you are familiar with the following poem from Carmelite Sr. Ruth Burrows. It is a favorite of mine! The words of this poem invite us to some personal reflection. What kind of ‘garden’ are you and I creating for God? What is in your heart?…
"As we look around our world, our country, our communities, and our families, we witness suffering that can seem cruel, perhaps even beyond what humans can be expected to bear. It is in moments like these that God may feel distant, unreachable, maybe even absent. It can cause not only spiritual despair but a doubt so deep that we may begin to question the very foundation of faith that has always shored us up.” — Mary DeTurris Poust When we…
Sherrell Moore-Tucker is a health minister, holistic wellness educator, and the founder of MindBody FAITH (MBF). Sherrell will be providing our upcoming Meditating from the Heart retreat and has blessed us with her insight on Meditating from the Heart. What is Meditating from the Heart? Meditation has seen exponential growth with its evolution into a secular practice in modern times due to the increasing awareness of mental health, mindfulness practices, and technology, including apps like Calm, Abide, Headspace, Insight Timer,…
Set Your Heart on Fire By Gordon Creamer “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." ~ St. Catherine of Siena Saints Catherine of Siena, Thèrese of Lisieux, Hildegard of Bingen, and Teresa of Avila are four incredible women of faith who are admired as theological doctors of the Church. Perhaps even moreso, they are revered for the radiance of their wisdom, formidable perseverance, and holy steadfastness in loving God and God’s…
