St Luke's Retreat Centre

Name: St Luke's Retreat Centre
Address: 10 Park Lane, Port Elizabeth, 6001, ZA
Telephone: +27789742861
Rating: 5

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St Luke's Retreat Centre

In the heart of Port Elizabeth, St Luke's Retreat Centre offers a space to reflect and relax.

23/01/2025

Dear pilgrim of hope, do you believe that this Jubilee year will be a "year of favour" for you?

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Luke 4:18-19

I am part of a home group that meets on Thursday evenings where we pray Lectio Divina based on next Sunday's gospel. It is a women's group which was started in 2021. One of the reasons that I love this home group is that we pray with scripture. Also there is no preparation needed for home group as we are all quite busy and it is nice to be able to come straight from work. Bonus is that we are already prepared for the gospel reading of the following Sunday and although the Holy Spirit might give me an insight on Thursday evening, often by Sunday I find something else that I had not considered.

Tonight we prayed on the gospel reading from Luke which is quoted above. What a beautiful verse to read in this jubilee year that we are celebrating. I have heard the verse many times before but only tonight the phrase "the year of the Lord's favour" touched me in a new way. THIS is our year of the Lord's favour. 2025 is that year. And it is His favour is for all of us. To you and to me. Am I ready to believe this?

I read the verses in other bible translations too and it speaks of healing for the brokenhearted, forgiveness for the captives, freedom for the downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy. I like the image of the bruised ones. We have all been bruised by events, people, tragedies. Can I believe that this is the year that the Lord gives me freedom from whatever keeps me in chains?

What is the Lord's favour in your life that you desire, dear pilgrim of hope? Have you asked our Lord for His favour? Or have you given up because you have been waiting for so long? Can we even allow ourselves to get our hopes up again?

The Lord is faithful. He keeps his promises. All we have to do is ask. We have to keep asking. Tomorrow I want to tell you about the 54 day rosary novena. Maybe you have not heard about it yet.

Sleep safely in the knowledge that this is the Lord's year of favour for all of us.

23/01/2025

Are you looking for an opportunity to make your Lent 2025 meaningful?

St Luke's Retreat Centre is hosting a very prayerful Lenten retreat led by Fr Craig Holmes of the Archdiocese of Cape Town on the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.

A wonderful opportunity to celebrate the Jubilee year at St Luke's Retreat Centre, a sacred destination for pilgrimage for the Jubilee Year in our Diocese from Friday 21 March 5 pm to Sunday 23 March 3 pm. For more info see www.retreatcentre.org.za

CrossSouthern African Catholic Bishops' ConferenceThe Catholic Diocese of OudtshoornDiocese of Mthatha

23/01/2025

This is a first for us here at St Luke's to be able to host this 4 day guided silent retreat with Spiritual Director Lorraine Groenewald.

Beautiful surrounding, solitude and silence await you. Make your Lent special by joining us here. Please share so that others may experience this too.

22/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, would we stand in line to visit God if we knew we would get nothing in return?

Recently I was travelling in the car with two religious sisters and we were chatting about this and that. As I pointed to one of the mountains we were going to, our discussion turned to how long the queue would be if people would know where God lives and could visit Him. Of course we would all go and wait for a really long time to see Him, right?

My first thought was that I would definitely want to go but then I also thought how many people would actually go if they knew they could not ask God for anything. What if they could only visit but get nothing in return? Over the rest of the day my thoughts kept examining my own heart. And I started to think whether I would actually want to go if I think that God would say no to me if I asked Him for something. Like to my face.

Is this why so many people choose not to go to Holy Mass? Because they don't get anything "out of it"? Nothing in return?

But that is not what Holy Mass is for. We go to Holy Mass to worship God. Holy Mass is not about us. It's about God. It's about showing up no matter how I feel, because it is not about me. It is not about the priest that is there, it is not about meeting up with friends and having a social outing. Although there is nothing wrong about wanting to see our friends and talk to them after Mass outside the church. It is also not about whether the homily is good or boring, or whether the music is good. It is about wanting to worship God and meeting Him in receiving the Eucharist. I think back to Covid and how much I longed for the Eucharist when I could not receive it. Am I hungry for the Eucharist?

Sometimes God's answer to our prayers will be no. But not because He wants to punish us or withhold things from us. He wants the best for us and sometimes I want things that are not good for me, but I cannot see it. Believing in God is easy. Even the devil believes in God. But faith, to trust Him with my life, that is the hard part.

Let us pray, dear pilgrims of hope, that we love God and trust Him because of who He is and not because of what we want from Him.

22/01/2025

Join us this Lent 2025 for a very prayerful retreat presented by Fr Craig Holmes to learn more about the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. A wonderful opportunity to celebrate the Jubilee year.

Spend a weekend with us contemplating the Holy Face of Jesus at St Luke's Retreat Centre, a sacred destination for pilgrimage for the Jubilee Year 2025 in the Catholic Diocese of Port Elizabeth, from Friday 21 March 5 pm to Sunday 23 March 3 pm.

This is a great retreat for anyone who has not been on retreat before, anyone that goes regularly on retreat and anyone who used to go on retreats and has not been on retreat for a while.

Please share widely.

Diocese of Port ElizabethCatholic Resource Center & BookshopSt Augustine’s, Port ElizabethSacred Heart Catholic Church, Port ElizabethSt Joseph's Parish, 10 Baird Str, Uitenhage.The Port Elizabeth Oratory & St Bernadette's ParishSouthern African Catholic Bishops' ConferenceThe Catholic Diocese of OudtshoornDiocese of KokstadDiocese of Keimoes - UpingtonDiocese of QueenstownDiocese of MthathaSt Patricks East LondonSt Bernard's Catholic Church, GonubieSt. James Catholic Church (Schauderville)St Martin de Porres Catholic ChurchImmaculate Conception Parish - East LondonMissionary Sisters of the Precious Blood - Eastern Africa ProvinceMater Dei Catholic ChurchNamibia Catholic News (Department of Social Communication inNCBC)Our Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic ChurchQUEENSTOWN DIOCESE - CATHOLIC YOUTHSouthern Cross

21/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, what does hope look like for YOU?

Today we are posting a reflection we received from Wendy, one of the friends of St Luke's. She wrote the reflection based on a picture that was taken of the cross bearer of our procession to the Inauguration Mass of the Jubilee on Friday 10th of January.

"The shiny brass cross bearing the corpus of Christ glimmered and glistened in the early morning sun. The mood was expectant. The crowd was jubilant. When the procession descended the steps of the St Augustine's Cathedral from St Luke's Retreat Centre with minutes to spare before the Inauguration Mass launching the Jubilee Year, hope arrived.

The procession to this sacred site reflected pilgrims journeying toward a place of hope. The anticipation building with every step. An air of quiet contemplation surrounded the faithful as they prayerfully sang their way to their destination.

It was the cross bearer that cut a striking image. A young man carrying more than an outward sign of our redemption. His contemplative disposition captured so beautifully on camera, gives the church hope for the future. In a world where the lure of the material beckons, it is a joy to encounter a young man willing to put his faith out there...for all to see.... boldly. This is an aspect of what hope looks like. The text in sacred scripture Hebrews 11 verse 1 calls to mind: Faith is the realisation of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.

Let's keep the image of Christ on the cross as our compass. Our true North. He is the perfect realisation of hope in a world in desperate need and the ultimate source of love which conquers all.

Blessed a beautiful Jubilee Year, dear pilgrims of hope!"

Photo taken by Lisa Faith Fotography - Lisa Faith Augustine

20/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, have you been on pilgrimage with Mary lately?

In my first couple of years after I returned to the Catholic Church, I could not make a connection with Mary. She just seemed so unreachable, so "perfect". How was I supposed to relate to someone that is venerated as the Mother of God, was conceived without sin and apparently never did anything wrong in her entire life?

Then one day while in spiritual desolation, I prayed the rosary and when I got to the last of the joyful mysteries, I had a thought. As I meditated on the finding of the child Jesus in the temple, I suddenly realised that Mary had lost Jesus for three days. I remembered, how I wandered off in a supermarket once as a little girl and how my mom was looking for me. She was in a full panic when she found me. Anything could have happened to me.

As I meditated on the mystery my desolation lifted Maybe Mary was not so "unreachable" after all. She was conceived without sin but she was human. And suddenly my heart was overwhelmed with love for her. I giggled a little at the thought how I would try to explain having lost the son of God, if I was in her shoes. It was this little moment that enabled me to relate to her for the first time and our relationship has grown since then.

As I was praying the joyful mysteries of the rosary today, it struck me that praying theses mysteries is like walking side by side with Mary from the Annunciation to the finding of the child Jesus in the temple. When we pray the rosary, every Hail Mary is like a small pilgrimage from one mystery to the next. For 20 minutes, we are taken out of our busy mind as we try to meditate on the mysteries and are focusing on being in the present. It is hard work for me. Some days I would rather walk 30 kilometres on Camino instead.

If one rosary seems too short for you to count as a little pilgrimage, then I recommend that you try to pray four rosaries with all 20 mysteries. Your journey will lead you from the Annunciation all the way to the Resurrection.

Mary is waiting for us to walk with her, dear pilgrims of hope. She wants to extend her protective mantle around us and hold us in her arms like a little child, safe and sound. Grab your rosary and "call your mother".

20/01/2025

Jubilee Year - Pilgrims of Hope. Pilgrimage to Rome led by Bishop Vincent Mduduzi Zungu OFM

19/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, can we accept God's plan for our journey?

When we encounter a problem, what is our first reaction? Do we jump into action or do we shut down in fear? Do we expect others to sort out our problems or do we hide away from them? Do we make rash decisions or do we slow down?

"They have no wine." A simple statement that reveals so much. When Mary encountered a problem at the wedding of Cana, she did not panic or try to sort it out herself. Instead she went straight to the one person we should always turn to as well.

"They have no wine." She didn't need to explain what had happened, she didn't blame anyone for what had gone wrong, she didn't make any suggestions how to solve the problem. Instead she just told Jesus what the problem was.

Can we trust God that He will help us when we are in trouble? When Jesus tells us to fill the water jars, do we need an explanation first or do we go and fill them? Can we trust that we will get something even better than what we had planned even if the hour is late?

Dear pilgrims of hope, that is what hope is about. Trusting in God even if we cannot see what will happen and how it will happen. We just need to go and fill the water jars. But that is what we need to do. God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. But we must do what we can.

18/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, are we going on a pilgrimage every Sunday?

A pilgrimage is a journey to a journey to a sacred place. Every Catholic Church is a sacred place since we have the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle and we can receive Jesus in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Are we making an effort to get there?

A few months after I had returned to the Catholic Church, I was planning to go on holiday to Bali. As I was planning my trip, a Catholic friend asked me where I was planning to attend Mass there. I had not even considered it. Surely God understands that I am on holiday and if there isn't a church close by, I do not have to go, right? My friend challenged me simply by asking if I had even checked if there was a Catholic Church close by and that although I might not be able to go, I needed at least to try.

I was ready to dismiss it, but over the next few days the thought kept coming back to me. After all there are so many persecuted Christians all over the world that cannot attend Mass or have to travel vast distances. In other places, there is no priest available or a priest can only celebrate Mass every few weeks.

With the invention of the Internet, it was easy enough to check. I was surprised to find out that there were a lot of Catholic Churches on Bali. As I was travelling with as part of group, I was not completely free to make my own itinerary and I did not have transport on my own so I was not sure if I could get there.

The trip was beautiful and I made some friends along the way. The group parted on a Saturday evening when the tour finished and Sunday was a free day. There was no Catholic Church in the town where we ended the tour and where I had booked accommodation to stay for a couple extra days. However one of my new friends had booked accommodation in another town and I saw that there was Mass there. It took a little convincing and the promise of shopping in Kuta to convince another lady to go with me and share the taxi fare. We had a lovely afternoon and while the others went shopping, I went to the English 6 pm Mass at Santo Fransiskus Xaverius.

It was a beautiful Church and a beautiful Mass. I did not feel out of place as I was at home away from home. Thankfully Mass is celebrated the same way all over the world.

Would you share a picture of your local church or a church you visited while travelling with us?

17/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, how do we keep our hope alive?

Sometimes we are so sure that we know the path ahead of us. We have everything planned and we think we are in control. If Covid taught us one thing, then life can change in an instant and that control is an illusion.

Our hope is in Jesus Christ and if we fix our eyes on Him at the horizon, then we can see the path in the distance. There might be a valley in front of us that we cannot see, and there might be detours that we have to take. But as long as we fix our eyes on Him and our eternal home, then we shall endure in this temporal home. There is no Resurrection without the Good Friday.

Let us encourage one another and pray for one another. When we see a friend or a stranger in distress, we can ask them if we can pray for them. A light touch on the shoulder, an invocation of the Holy Spirit "Come, Holy Spirit" and praying from the heart, can encourage a brother or sister in Christ for another day.

Hope is a person. He has a name. His name is Jesus Christ. And when we speak his name with love and reverence, and call on Him, he will not forsake us.

Have a blessed weekend, dear pilgrims of hope. I pray for you. Please pray for me.

17/01/2025

Our book of the week: Sister Wendy on Prayer by Sister Wendy Beckett.

This little book is a real little gem. Sister Wendy's commentary on a dozen beautiful reproductions of paintings are woven into the text alongside the story of her life and personal reflections on prayer. The book is in large print, making it an easy read. The chapters are short, inviting for daily reading and reflection.

From the book's jacket: An intimate portrait of a life lived in prayer, combining for the first time Sister Wendy's remarkable story with spiritual insights that speak to anyone and everyone.

St Michael's Library at St Luke's Retreat Centre is open on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays from 10:00 to 12:00 or by appointment (phone us on 041-373-0039).

16/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, what should we pack when we go on pilgrimage?

Imagine a pilgrim a thousand years ago on his way to Santiago de Compostela. What would his luggage have been? A pilgrim's staff, a bundle containing some clothes I guess, a rudimentary map and some money and food for the road.

When I started out to walk the Camino I knew that I had packed too much. The recommendation is not to carry more than 10% of ones body weight. Every item was weighed and contrary to some organising systems, the value of the item was not measured in "does this bring me joy", but instead by "do I really really need this".

The difference between want and need becomes clear very quickly when we have to carry the items with the possibility of them creating pain. Shower gel can be replaced with soap, other items are just left behind. One thing I am glad I carried with me all the way, was my little pocket bible. When the baggage got too heavy to carry, I would sit down in the middle of the path and just pull out my pocket bible and start reading the psalms. I guess the same applies to emotional baggage too. When it gets too heavy to carry, we can focus on scripture instead. The psalms can articulate for us our emotions when we are lacking the words. Everything else could be discarded along the way, but the hope I found in my pocket bible was worth every gram I had to carry.

When we despair dear pilgrims, let us lean onto scripture. The one that created every word, can describe best how we feel when we are without words. It is comforting to know that our Lord walked this earth just like us, feeling every emotion just like us. May His joy dwell in us as we continue this long journey, this pilgrimage, to our eternal home.

15/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, what is a good reason to make a pilgrimage?

There are 3 main reasons stated for walking the 800 kilometres Camino de Santiago through Spain on pilgrimage: 1. asking something in petition from the Apostle James, 2. Penance, 3. Thanksgiving for a prayer heard. These are good reasons for any pilgrimage.

In 2018 I decided to go on pilgrimage to Israel when the opportunity arose to go with my parish. I had just been a year back in the Catholic Church and I felt that I needed to do this pilgrimage for not appreciating the Holy Land when I visited it in 2006 for the first time as a tourist.

Back in 2006, a few months after my mom had passed away, I was not in any shape to celebrate Christmas. At the time my thinking was, where could I travel to, where there is no Christmas? Ah, Israel! Because... Jewish people don't celebrate Christmas, right? Twisted thinking from a lapsed Catholic. However, once I arrived in Israel I could not stop looking for any signs of Christmas because I really had to look for them. A Christmas tree at one of the sights was a sight of joy.

I met a family during the trip and they wanted to attend Midnight Mass in Jerusalem. I tagged along and we found a Catholic Church just on the outskirt of the walls. When the priest heard us talking German to each other, he lead us to seats high up from where we could see everything. I could not believe my ears when Holy Mass started and it was being celebrated in German, my mother tongue. Now I understand that it was a Benedictine Abbey and therefore the Mass was celebrated in German. I can still remember us singing silent night and to this day I still have the Hymn sheet from that night.

Although that night made an impact, I was too far away from God in darkness to hear him whisper to me to return to Him. I had to travel much farther into the darkness first; so far that He was the only light left I could turn to.

Now I think back to the pilgrimage in 2018 and my tourism experience in 2006 and I wonder how I could have been so blind. I visited many of the same places back then, but my heart and head could not receive what was in front of me.

Do not despair, pilgrims of hope. If you have any family members that are walking in darkness, gently and persistently keep praying for them. Be the light that will lead them back to our Lord. Our Lord does hear your prayer.

15/01/2025

Just the flyers again for downloading purposes!

15/01/2025

Are you a Catechist or have you considered becoming a Catechist in your parish? Or maybe you are a parent (main catechist of the child) who would like to know more about giving instructions of the faith? Or would you just like to know more about the Catholic Faith?

Join us for our upcoming Diocesan Catechetical Workshop from 1 to 2 Feb 2025 with Fr Allan Moss, OMI.
Registration Forms in PDF are available on https://retreatcentre.org.za/diocesan-catechetical-workshop/

or contact Eva on 083 777 9898 or [email protected]

14/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, do we dare to hope that people can change?

Proverbs 26:11 tells us: "Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who reverts to his folly". The definition of insanity is said to be doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. St Paul spoke in 2 Corinthians about a thorn in his flesh that he begged to be removed from him. And Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN is said to have remarked that "If it wasn't for people, we could all be holy".

Today's culture is full of advice of removing people that are not good for us from our life. If they keep on hurting you, then just walk away, we are told. Should it be that easy? Or would we eventually end up all alone if we just walked away. Because being with people involves inevitably getting hurt.

Please don't misunderstand. Nobody should stay where their safety is in danger. I know this from own experience and the truth is that these are the relationships that we do not easily walk away from because we are in real danger and there are dependencies at play.

However we need to stop going to people for help that keep hurting us and keep letting us down. Even if we want to try one more time. Because we think that next time it will be different. That is not giving up hope, because we know that God can change people. But it will be in His time, not according to our expectations.

We need to love others for who THEY are, not for who WE want them to be. We can pray for them, bearing in mind to always add to our prayers "Thy will be done, not mine". When we get angry or want to run away, we can run instead to the Cross. There is a version of the serenity prayer that sums it up quite nicely: "God grant me the serenity to accept the people that I cannot change. Courage to change the one I can. And Wisdom to know that the one is me."

Other people are like sandpaper. They will smoothen our rough edges, our sins, and we are the ones that are changed. This is part of our pilgrimage to sainthood, dear pilgrims of hope. One day in heaven we will understand all the hurts that make others treat us in a way we do not deserve. Let us remember that God loves us and that we are worthy in His eyes. And that is all that counts. Grace cannot be earned, it is given freely to us and we only need to receive it.

13/01/2025

Dear pilgrims of hope, how do we decide on the destination for our pilgrimage?

Let us continue to talk about how to make a pilgrimage. We talked about how pilgrimage starts at home. Now that we have cleared up our obstacles, we can decide whether we want to make a pilgrimage. Next step: where should we go?

A friend of mine told me a story about making decisions. "There were five frogs that sat on a wall and one of them decided to jump. How many frogs left on the wall? .... Five!" The frog decided to jump but he never jumped. Because there was no action linked to his decision. I am thinking maybe he could not figure out where he wanted go and so he rather stayed on the wall until something forced him to change. Either way, a decision without a goal will not take us far. So let us talk about some places we could go on pilgrimage to.

There are some very well-known places like Rome, the Holy Land, Lourdes, Fatima, Guadeloupe, Santiago de Compostela and some closer ones to home. Sometimes our decision for a destination can be influenced because our parish organises a pilgrimage. We know that we will know some fellow travellers, we might know the priest, all factors that might entice us to go, without really thinking about whether we want to go to the place that is offered. Now, this is not supposed to discourage you from going on pilgrimage with your parish!

But it is important that we know where we want to go. If life is a pilgrimage in a foreign land called earth, should we not focus first on where we want to go and only after that select our travel companions? Otherwise we might end up at another place that we did not intend to go to.

So how do we decide? First we pray! We pray about our intention to go on pilgrimage, we pray about the right destination, we pray about our finances, we pray about our travel companions. And the Holy Spirit will guide us. When I decided to walk the Camino in 2019, I discovered that Lourdes was only 150 kilometres away from the start of the Camino in Frances. And I knew that I could not miss out going to the place where Saint Bernadette had encountered our Lady. I will keep the story about my Lourdes visit for another day, but suffice it to say that although Lourdes was out of the way of my original plans, it was the best decision I made, to go to Lourdes first.

We need to know where we want to go, dear pilgrims of hope, so that if we get lost along on the way, we can correct our course. If others try to lead us astray, we can recognise it and sometimes that means to part with travel companions. Heaven is our real home and I pray that we all become saints one day so that we can be with our Lord for eternity.

Address

10 Park Lane
Port Elizabeth
6001

Telephone

+27789742861

Website

https://retreatcentre.org.za/

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The weavers are back and entertaining us with their voices. What a beautiful place to just sit and rest in peace and tranquility in the middle of busy Port Elizabeth

Are you feeling anxious and worried right now? Take a deep breath, rest, start the video below and listen in silence for just 15 seconds. Be in the present for just a moment. No worries about the future, no regrets about the past. God has got this. He is in control. Trust in Him and He will guide your path. Just breathe. The weavers are back and entertaining us with their voices while building their nests. In the middle of busy Port Elizabeth, St Luke’s Retreat Centre is an oasis of tranquility. Thank you, Lord for this place 🙏

We are waiting in silence for the arrival of our King. St Luke’s Retreat Centre is closed until 8th of January. We give thanks to God for a year of Grace and Blessings and we are looking forward to serving you again in the New Year.

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