Where God's Stories Unfold
God is always at work, often in ways we only recognize when we pause to look back. These are some of the moments of grace we have been privileged to witness, shared by the people who lived them. Whether you're continuing a story you began in our printed Annual Report or discovering these for the first time, we're so glad you're here. Click any image to read the full story.
My Reawakening
I've been coming to retreats at Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House since 2011. But my first brush with Ignatian spirituality actually happened years earlier, back when I was a student at Marquette.
At the time, I didn't know much about the place. My dad had told me "very good people come out of Marquette," and I knew they had a lacrosse team. That was about it. I'd never heard of Saint Ignatius, the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. Looking back now, I think the Jesuits planted a seed in me during those years, even though I had no idea it was happening.
That seed sat dormant for twenty years, until I showed up for my first retreat at Bellarmine. A few friends I really respected kept telling me to go, and saying yes to that invitation ended up changing the whole direction of my life.
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That first evening, that seed went off like a bomb. I'd never experienced silence like that before. And in that silence, twenty years of confusion started to lift. I began to see that a lot of what I'd been wrestling with could be addressed through the practical spirituality of Saint Ignatius.
At Bellarmine, I was introduced (or reintroduced, really) to the Examen, sometimes called the Examination of Conscience. It's a daily practice where you pause and pray looking back on your day. I would start with gratitude, then look back on the day seeking to see where I had been participating in God’s will and when I had strayed from it. Then, I would conclude by looking ahead in hope, asking for the grace to serve God better. This has brought so much clarity to my life. Honestly, I think of the Examen as my daily course correction.
The second thing that got reawakened in me was contemplative, or imaginative, prayer — the practice of actually putting yourself inside a Gospel scene. Instead of just reading the words, I started imagining what language people were speaking, what the weather was like, who was standing where, how the scene actually unfolded. Prayer stopped being something I recited and became something I stepped into. I became part of the action.
The third thing I relearned was detachment. Ignatius said: work as if everything depends on you, but trust the outcome entirely to God. That idea gave me a kind of interior freedom I'd been chasing for a long time. I no longer need to be attached to the results.
The fourth thing, and maybe the biggest one, was learning about the discernment of spirits. Ignatius talks about "the enemy of our human nature," and that framework helped me realize something important: not every voice in your head deserves your trust. That realization kicked off a whole process of discernment for me. I started paying much closer attention to what was actually moving inside me, learning which thoughts to let go of and which ones were worth acting on.
Bellarmine has been a huge part of a real course correction in my life. Ever since that first retreat, I've made it a point to come back every year, to keep reinforcing those changes and stay pointed toward joyfully living out God's work.
by Thomas Kenny
I Have Prepared a Place
“Jesus, I can’t do this, I need you, I need you to help me!”
A nurse and mother of three cried out to the Lord amid physical pain and struggle.
She served as a medical worker in Africa with her husband who is a doctor. Through their work, they were saving lives while also homeschooling their young children. She began to experience immobilizing pain and could not stand or walk. The local doctor could not diagnose or treat her, nor could her husband. She laid flat on her back for months, seeking answers and experiencing deep pain. Her children gathered around her daily to recite scripture and songs, praying for her healing. One day she cried out to Jesus, pleading for him to help her.
Jesus ministered to her in that moment with a vision of her dancing with Jesus in a field of wildflowers. She was deeply consoled and clung to the vision like a recurring dream – a gift from Jesus that she could return to. She began to interpret this dream as a vision of being in heaven with Jesus, where there would be no more pain or suffering.
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After nearly a year of suffering and immobility, she was able to make the treacherous trip out of the village to seek specialist care. She began to slowly recover after the specialist identified what was wrong, and after some time returned to the states to pursue further care for her physical wellbeing, as well as taking time to process how the hard season of suffering impacted their family.
In late July of 2025, she and her husband registered for Barnabas International’s retreat at Bellarmine. On a hot, early-August day, they drove onto Bellarmine’s driveway and she asked her husband to pull the car over. She was stunned. Filled with awe and wonder, she took in the field of wildflowers and said to her husband, “Do you remember my dream of dancing with Jesus? This is exactly what it looked like.” Jesus met her again in the moment – revealing to her that the vision was not only for the future or for the specific time of suffering. He was also showing her a picture of his invitation to dance with Him in celebration of the healing he brought to her body, mind, and soul at Bellarmine.
When her dream occurred in 2021, Bellarmine was just beginning its prairie restoration. The first time it was fully in bloom was in 2025 – just one month before her arrival.
We pause to marvel in the abundant love of our Lord, beyond all measure.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:17-19
We are deeply grateful for sacred spaces like Bellarmine and the courage of our sister in faith to answer the call to go to Africa, to call out to Jesus during her trials, and to share her vision and experience of astounding grace.
May our faith grow tenfold from this mustard seed.
Elisa – a Barnabas team member – shared this story from one of the retreatants who attended a debriefing at Bellarmine, and it has dwelled in our hearts ever since. Elisa lived and worked in Asia for 18 years as a university teacher. Now working with Barnabas International, she and her teammates provide encouragement and pastoral care for God’s global servants. The individuals and families that Barnabas serves often care for the least resourced people in the least reached areas of the world.
To serve those who serve others, Barnabas offers debriefing retreats where global workers spend time reflecting on and processing their experiences of service. Debriefing is a relational process in which the realities of the past and their impact are expressed and understood for the purpose of release, renewal, and moving forward.
Each summer Barnabas brings a group to Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House where participants have a safe and sacred environment for peaceful contemplation. Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House is one of Elisa’s favorite retreat houses. This beautiful place provides the team and participants (retreatants) a space of restoration and the opportunity to deeply connect with God.
by Anonymous
Walking Forward
If asked to describe a “defining moment,” most honest adults would have to pause for reflection. Not in order to remember, but in order to choose. Which has been greater? Encounter with others? With oneself? With the Divine? The seed of transformation lies in each moment given us. Retreat pours water and sunshine on those seeds, and what may have been dormant for decades can suddenly root itself and begin the business of growth.
In late Spring 2025 a friend linked me to Lisa Hendey’s announcement for a Silent Writer’s Retreat at which she and Amy Cattapan would be presenting. Within her post, she recalled her own first experience with a Writer’s Retreat. Her memories of “fear and imposter syndrome” brought an almost visceral response from me.
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These, in combination with distance (I live in Northern New York), and finances were the obstacles to my attending. In a moment of honesty, I had to acknowledge that the latter two were a happy excuse to not deal with the former.
Once open to the possibility, I watched God open doors I had thought firmly shut and, in a few months, found myself standing with my suitcase in front of Bellarmine’s lovely Retreat House. The “fear and imposter’s syndrome” were present, but I was walking forward.
And then began a cascade of defining moments. Experiencing silence and space to write; nervously reading aloud the words my own hand had put to paper; experiencing Jesus in the light of Warrior King in the still, white crucifix at the front of the chapel. Encountering compassion, joy, affirmation, challenge, comfort, and beauty in the moments that unfolded…with all the attendant Kleenex required.
That retreat was a turning point in my life. What had been a hobby in which I did not trust my own adequacy, has become a book project in which I continue to encounter God’s delight and guidance.
I know that the retreat must have been subsidized. The rooms were too comfortable, the food too satisfying, and the grounds too beautiful for it to have been otherwise. I am most grateful to the benefactors who support the remarkable ministry of Retreat as it is offered at Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House. The gift of that time has been a point of redemption and resurrection in my own life. May it be so for many others.
Amy Schirmer
Treasures Found in the Quiet
Most summers I make the time to come to Bellarmine for an individually directed retreat. I love the freedom of schedule that allows me to immerse myself in the silence with other people of faith. I spend time reading, writing, and walking, and in all those activities there are encounters with God. Not every moment is fruitful in prayer, but the days are restful and reflective. I have experienced beautiful and powerful moments with Jesus as I pray imaginatively with the Gospels—moments that I have time to savor thanks to the stretches of silence.
In some ways it seems silly to care that there are other people on retreat with me, but it’s important to see the community around the grounds. This summer, I spent one evening in the conference center. Two people worked independently on puzzles. A woman read. And I sat writing. We didn’t speak on the silent retreat, but we were in solidarity as we made private progress toward God, giving the Holy Spirit openings to speak or spark.
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We can never know what’s happening in another’s heart, but retreat gives me the space to acknowledge that we are together in faith and in doubt. It’s a safe space to ask the hard questions, tell God how we really feel, and listen for the what’s next or not yet.
A good retreat is relaxing and hard work at the same time. Bellarmine allows me a sacred space to get away from the screens and the usual and put in the work to listen to the Spirit. When I show up for a daily walk, a conversation with a spiritual director, Mass and Adoration, or an afternoon reading in the St. Joseph Shrine, Jesus shows up too. The consolations I receive on retreat are usually surprises that become treasures of the heart.
Making a retreat a regular practice grounds me in my relationship with God. When God seems silent in my everyday life, I can be consoled by the graces of retreat when God made his presence louder and more visible. That reminder helps me find the patience to wait for God’s responses throughout the year, and spurs me in confusing times to look for moments of quiet between Bellarmine visits to listen and be encouraged that there are greater things out there. The tools of prayer practiced on retreat foster my way of being with God in non-retreat times, too; and pull me back when things go adrift.
by Denise Gorss
Award Winning Gardens: A Haven of Natural Beauty and Spiritual Reflection
In 2025, the Garden Club of America awarded Bellarmine with its Garden History and Design Commendation. How did the little-known Bellarmine gardens gain national attention? Through many capable hands and God’s amazing grace.
We begin by looking back,100 years. The Barrington Garden Club celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. As part of their Centennial Celebration, club members returned to Bellarmine to tour the property of its co-founder, Mrs. Clara Hecht. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hecht lived at Bellarmine from the early 1920s until selling the property to the Jesuits in 1946.
During their tour, garden club members strolled through the property, finding rolling meadows, restored prairies, woodlands, and magnificent gardens, with flowers and plants flourishing, pollinators dancing and the peaceful sounds of birdsong and cascading fountains. The group was moved by the historic charm, tranquility, horticultural pedigree, and the manner in which the Bellarmine team honored the legacy of the Hecht family. The Barrington club then nominated Bellarmine for the National Garden History and Design Commendation, highlighting the goodness of this haven of natural beauty, spiritual reflection, and architectural grace.
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You know of these blessings, and they spring from Bellarmine’s love of God’s creation and the Global Jesuit’s invitation to Care for Our Common Home. The team at Bellarmine seek God’s vision for this ministry and this property, and through prayer, ongoing planning, generous support, and the dedicated labor of many hands, together we advance his mission.
We are especially grateful for our core care team, including our maintenance and housekeeping crew led by Facilities Manager Pat O’Hagan. Generous volunteers assist Pat’s team, aptly named the gardening angels, as well as weekly summer-time visits from Doering Landscape Company and periodic project support from Bluestem Ecological Services.
Each year thousands of retreatants walk and rest in the gardens, finding God in the serenity and extraordinary beauty.
by Erin Maiorca