Mar 3
If you are near — or can get to — the stunning Bon Secours Retreat & Conference Center in Marriottsville, Maryland, I’ve got a weekend retreat to kick off your summer. I’ll be presenting “Broken, Beautiful, and Beloved: Learning to See Ourselves through God’s Eyes,” from Friday, June 25, at 3 p.m. through Sunday, June 27, at 1 p.m.
Read moreRegistration is now open for the third-annual Stillpoint retreat at Pyramid Life Center to be held Friday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Spots are filling up fast, so don’t wait to hold your space for this retreat that will allow you find calm amid life’s chaos, spend time in silence, build community, eat great food with great people, laugh (a lot), kayak, practice yoga, hike, pray, and just be.
Read moreA very brief invitation to my Seattle Advent retreat. My first time in the Pacific Northwest. I loved it, and I found a spiritual vibe everywhere — at Pike Place Market, in the Ubers I called, at the vendor where I bought local wine. It may be the land of the “nones,” but the Force is strong with this one. Loved my visit. Can’t wait to go back again someday when I have more time to island hop. Thank you to St. Monica Church on Mercer Island and to the very welcoming folks of Seattle. (You have to sit through one minute of an empty ambo while they announce me. Never fear, I do eventually show up there.)
I was recently sitting in a log-cabin chapel on a beautiful lake in the lower Adirondack Mountains when the woman next to me offered a prayer intention during Mass: “For all those in the process of dying.” Although I had a dear friend who would die that very night and for whom we had been praying throughout the weekend retreat, I heard those words not only in relation to my dying friend but in relation to myself and to all those around me, because we are all in the process of dying. Read more
If you’re within driving distance of New York’s Capital Region and/or the lower Adirondacks, you are within retreat range! There are still a few more spots open for my weekend retreat, Stillpoint: Creating Calm amid Life’s Chaos, which will be held at Pyramid Life Center in Paradox, N.Y., Sept. 8-10, 2017. This all-inclusive spiritual getaway is designed to help you nourish yourself — body, mind, and spirit. You can do as much or as little as you want. I’ll provide the program; Pyramid will provide the spectacular setting. (The photo on the left was taken during the same September weekend two years ago, so, if we’re in luck, you’ll see the same riot of colors along the shoreline.) Read more
I’m guessing you could use a few days of peace and quiet, maybe in a gorgeous spot, where you have nothing to do but stare out a lake and let someone else do the cooking. Sound about right? If so, mark your calendars. I’ll be leading a retreat — Stillpoint: Creating Calm amid Life’s Chaos — at Pyramid Life Center in Paradox, New York, over the weekend of Sept. 8-10, 2017. Your spiritual getaway will include collage-as-prayer, journaling, silent breakfasts, meditation in motion, and prayer practices to help you discover the divine in the everyday, the miracles in the mundane. Plus, you’ll get delicious meals and free time to rest or hike or paddle a kayak across a crystal clear lake. I’ll provide the program; Pyramid will provide the spectacular setting, and you can do as much or as little as you want. The goal is to nourish yourself — body, mind, and spirit. Read more
It’s amazing how different something can look when we are willing to see with new eyes, when we cast aside our preconceived ideas and our human need for “progress.”
When I was on retreat at St. Mary’s on the Lake earlier this month, my retreat leader, Paulist Father Tom Ryan, took a few of us on a hike across the beautiful property along stunning Lake George, including a long-abandoned outdoor Stations of the Cross path cut into the woods behind the chapel. I hadn’t even noticed it on my first two trips down to the lake, but there it was — overgrown, falling down, forgotten, sad. At least that’s how it seemed to me at first. And all I could see was potential. Read more
If you missed my latest interview on the Morning Air Show on Relevant Radio, you can catch up by clicking the link below. I’m first up so just hit play. I’m talking about my five-day retreat and the need to disconnect from our devices and just listen to the silence and the Spirit.
What are your favorite retreat spots? How do you feel about sitting in silence for a few hours, or a few days? Some day I’ll do a weeklong silent retreat. For now, it’s bit by bit. Peace.
I was so blessed to give a retreat day at Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center in Ossining, N.Y., this weekend. A beautiful location with wonderful people. And great food. With seashells scattered around the room and prayer intentions overflowing our sea-themed bowl, we dove into the topic of brokenness and discovered a wholeness there. At least that’s what we were aiming for. And we did “collage as prayer,” one of my favorite things to do these days. It seemed to be a hit among the retreat participants as well. There’s something about cutting and gluing in silence that is soothing and centering. And it always seems to lead to at least a smidgen of self-discovery. Read more
It’s not too late to register! I’ll be offering a one-day retreat at the Mariandale Retreat and Conference Center in Ossining, N.Y., on Saturday, May 9, on my favorite topic: “Broken Beautiful, and Beloved: Learning to see ourselves through God’s eyes.”
The day will include a talk, lunch, some quiet time, a chance to journal and/or try out collage as a form of prayer and contemplation, and group discussion. Here are the details from the website: Read more
Writer, retreat leader, yoga teacher, seeker. Director of communications for the Diocese of Albany and author of six books on Catholic spirituality and four books of spiritual reflections. Read more
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