Comments from Visitors

"Since my first visit in 2001, the Jesuit Center has been a place of healing, discovery, and discernment, a place of warmth, hospitality, and welcome.  I offer thanks to all who serve the Center and to the sacred Jesuit tradition for helping me to light a candle of hope as others in the Society of Jesus have done in the past.  When I drive through the gates at Wernersville, I experience a wonderful sense of enclosure and know that I am home and welcome.  When I leave, I take that inner peace, that “Resting in God” with me, and my heart overflows with gratitude.  May all who enter the gates experience Joy and may the Center continue to be a place of contemplation and serenity."

—  Carmen Bruce, Swarthmore, PA

"Sometimes God calms the storm and other times God calms the child in the midst of the storm."  The staff and programming of the Jesuit Center has been for my parishioners and me the image of a protecting God in life’s tempests. Helpful insights for spiritual reflection, encouragement during discernment, and company for the "ride in the boat" in spiritual direction, place one on solid ground in the virtues of faith, hope, and love. My parishioners and I have experienced the Father’s safe haven, "the Son’s light" at the breaking of the storm, and the Spirit’s gentle breezes to fill our sails to set sail again. This is the Jesuit Center – a place to be refreshed and nourished in the journeys of a disciple of Jesus Christ!"

— Rev. Msgr. William Glosser, St. Claire, PA

"Peace descends upon my whole person as I pass through the arched, wide open wrought iron gates of The Jesuit Center. “15 miles an hour,” the sign says: slow down, “Be still, and know that I am God.” . . . . I relish the slow walk in the “Grove” to begin my prayer; then, stepping lively down the Norway Maple lined hill road to greet Rene Goupil overlooking the carp pond. Then, to visit my Jesuit Saints in the cemetery, recalling their wise counsel. Finally, on to the "Old Summer Place", the very eastern end of the "quiet zone". As I pass the St. Francis Shrine, I rejoice in the fields rich with grain and seeds: “Look at the birds of the air… your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” … The quiet in the House, the deeply prayerful Directors, and the silence of the vast acres for walking and pondering the depths and richness of God’s goodness and mercy have drawn me to Wernersville for 30 years. Please God, there will be many more years for many more encounters with The Living God in this Holy Place."

— The Reverend Marie Zealor Swayze, Phoenixville, PA

The Gift of Silence

Dear Lord,

This has been a tremendous gift. To retreat from the tyranny of technology, not to be accessible every moment of the day, to have quiet and rest for an extended period of time is indeed gift enough. To this we add this lovely facility, so rich in history, and a staff that cares for us, feeds us and guides us to none other than the creator of the universe – the Lord God!

But the greatest gift of all is to enter into the presence of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To be humbled, stretched and conformed to the likeness of your Son. Thank you Lord for confronting my self-sufficiency, for your willingness to take the throne of my life, and for your promise to “immediately reach out” when I begin to sink in doubt.

I have learned this week that you write straight with crooked lines—to be sure I will continue to supply you with ample material—I so look forward to the day that line brings us face to face.

As I return to the world, full of work—both civil and ecclesiastical—full of challenge and full of joy, my only desire is that in all things I might choose that which leads me to a deepening of God’s life in mine. AMEN

—  Written by David Bellamy on January 30, 2008—the last day of a week-long silent retreat at the Jesuit Center in Wernersville, Pennsylvania.

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501 N Church Road PO Box 223 •   Wernersville, PA 19565

Last modified: June 8, 2010