TORONTO - Can a wound be beautiful? According to the late priest and Catholic writer Henri Nouwen, it can.

CHATEAUGUAY, QUE. - Since the nuns who owned the property until recently didn’t care for directional road signs, you may have to stop for directions on the way to Manoir D’Youville on the St. Lawrence’s south shore, just southwest of Montreal.

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - Queen of Apostles Renewal Centre in Mississauga is a house for people who want to reflect on themselves and to be more conscious of the presence of God in their lives.

In the tradition of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, we are committed to the search for God and to hospitality.

Queen of Apostles was designed as a retreat centre in 1963 and built on five hectares of land bordering the Credit River. We will celebrate our 50th anniversary next year. “You have every reason to celebrate,” people often say. We see their praise as a compliment and as an incentive to our daily work. Our team wants our house to be a house of hospitality. We try to create an atmosphere of wellbeing for our guests who seek a place of silence and retreat.

ROCHES POINT, ONT. - Each morning we stir in our bed, open our eyes and we are awake. We may think that “awakening” is one step, but it is really the accumulation of many steps. It begins with a pause the previous evening.

We settle into bed, our breath and heart rhythms slow and we close our eyes trusting our desire and need to rest and dream. Some time later, whether short or long, we awaken to a new day.

This is the type of awakening found at Loretto Maryholme Spirituality Centre, an awakening that acknowledges transformation as a process of meaningful stages.

LONDON, ONT. - The Michaelite House Retreat Centre is run by the Michaelite Fathers, a religious order with origins in Poland and now spreading its message of Mi-cha-el, that translates to “Who is like God” or “God above all,” around the globe.

DUBLIN, IRELAND - A sabbatical involves taking time out from a busy routine in order to lay fallow the “land” of one’s being. It is a time, a favourable time, to turn towards God, to deepen prayer and to move towards a more contemplative stance, to put to rest all that is out of kilter in one’s life. It offers the opportunity to take stock of life and to deal with what is involved in a transition in community, ministry or parish.

All Hallows College is a Catholic and Vincentian higher education institution in Dublin, with links to colleges and universities in Europe and the United States, including De Paul, the largest Catholic university in the United States. The college prides itself on being a compact, friendly and hospitable campus. Set in six hectares of wooded parkland provides residents and guests with an opportunity for a pleasant stroll and quiet reflection.

TORONTO - Discernment has many different paths. Last Lent, my own personal discernment took me on Lenten Listening: A Busy Person’s Retreat run by Faith Connections, Regis College and the Toronto Area Vocation Directors Association. I came home with more than I bargained for but just what I needed.

Seriously contemplating whether or not I wanted to pursue freelance writing full-time, the retreat paired me up with a spiritual director in my area with whom I visited three times over the course of six weeks. Never having received any sort of formal spiritual direction before, I went into the sessions hoping to have a clearer idea of whether this was what I truly wanted.

King City, Ont. - Every time Werner Scheliga drives away from a weekend at Marylake’s Our Lady of Grace Shrine, he leaves feeling enriched and enlightened. But 55 retreats ago, enrichment and enlightenment were not his primary concern.

It was 1956 and Scheliga had recently arrived in Canada from Germany. At just over 20 years old, he hardly spoke a word of English and knew no one. Before he left his homeland, where he was a Catholic youth leader, he was given only one name to contact — Fr. Schindler at St. Patrick’s Church in downtown Toronto.