$325 per person
About this retreat
Join us for a powerful and reflective retreat exploring The Beatitudes as the heart of Jesus’ message of nonviolence, compassion, and peace. Drawing inspiration from the Gospel teachings, this retreat invites us to encounter Jesus not only as teacher and healer, but as the embodiment of active, transforming love in a world often shaped by fear and division.
Through prayer, reflection, and conversation, we’ll look deeply into each Beatitude as a pathway to peace—within ourselves, in our relationships, and in the wider world. Together we will rediscover the radical call of the Gospel: to live as peacemakers, to practice mercy, and to stand with the poor and the brokenhearted in the spirit of nonviolence.
This retreat offers time for silence, community, and spiritual renewal, helping us embrace Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God—where love, justice, and peace prevail.
Retreat includes
Breakfast
*only for those lodging
Lunch
Dinner
Lodging
About the facilitator
Fr. Bernie Tickerhoof
Fr. Bernie Tickerhoof is a friar of the Sacred Heart Province of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. As a member of Franciscan Pathways, the community’s retreat ministry, Fr. Bernie offers retreats and spiritual programs in retreat centers, parishes, and religious congregations. These are tailored to the particular needs of the specific groups and organizations. He has also developed a variety of programs on holistic spirituality, faith and biblical conversion, and community development.
Fr. Bernie received his Master of Divinity (MDiv) from St. Francis Seminary, formerly in Loretto, PA, in 1978, and a Master of Theology (ThM) in spirituality and liturgy through the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, CA (now part of Santa Clara University) in 1979. He received a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2001. He has also pursued graduate studies at the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University and at the Catholic University of America.
Fr. Bernie was ordained in 1978, and has been involved in spiritual ministry and retreat work since 1979. He has traveled widely throughout the country in a ministry of preaching, spiritual conferences, and retreats. He served on his community’s initial formation team as Vocation Director (1993-1996), as Novice Director (2004-2012), and as overall Director of Initial Formation (2008-2012). He served as Director of Ongoing Formation from 2012 to 2020. He has done extensive work in Franciscan Spirituality through the Franciscan Federation of the U.S. and as a spiritual assistant for the Secular Franciscan Order at the local, provincial, and regional levels. He served on his province’s leadership team from 2008 to 2012.
Fr. Bernie is a member of Spiritual Directors International, and has an active ministry in the spiritual direction of a number of individuals. Other interests include storytelling, social justice, ecumenism and inter-faith, holistic spirituality, and ecological concerns. He is the author of several books and articles on various aspects of the spiritual life. His most recent book, The One Body of Christ in a Quantum Age, published in 2024, explores the relationship between spirituality and contemporary science.
