Warner, NH Women's Retreat 2026

There was a time when all was right, all was in order, and all was love. Then, sin entered the world, and with it came anger, envy, betrayal, mistrust, hatred, and pain. The first casualty of sin is love, but at the same time, love is also the antidote. It is no mistake that Jesus left us with the commandment to "Love one another, as I have loved you."

Yet in a world so focused on the cult of self, where selfishness is considered admirable, the ability to love without counting the cost has become lost. Agape love, true, self-sacrificial, self-giving love, is hard to find, and hard to give. Do we really have it in us anymore, to love without effort?

In the Blessed Mother we have the perfect example of what it means to follow Jesus, and in her Immaculate Heart, we have the perfect example of what it means to love without effort. Despite the sword which pierced her heart, she never lost hope, she never embraced bitterness, never lost her ability to love. Even now she pours out that love upon us, without effort, without restraint.

To love with the love of Jesus Christ means holding nothing back, nothing in reserve, pouring out ourselves completely for others. Mary invited the children at Fatima to embrace her Immaculate Heart saying "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God." For God is love, and so is Mary's Immaculate Heart. The heart of a mother, Her heart for her son.