Come and draw from the well

Spiritual center operated by the religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Various spiritual programmes

The team running the Sophie Barat Centre arranges and directs retreats and various spiritual programmes.

“Come and draw from the well”

All the year round, the Centre welcomes anyone who wishes to make a retreat. These retreats are for everyone, young and not so young, whether you’re on your own, in a couple or in a group, lay people, religious men and women, priests…
The retreat is a time of stepping aside in an atmosphere of prayer and silence. It places us in the light of Christ and can have a specific aim:

  • To learn or learn again to pray
  • To deepen your relationship with God
  • To stand back a little from everyday life
  • To take a new look at your life and bring it all together
  • To take an important decision, make a free choice
  • To renew your strength at a difficult time

At the Sophie Barat Centre, several kinds of retreat are offered:

  • Retreats of initiation into the Spiritual Exercises: 5 days just to let God look at you through guided prayer, sharing, and personal companioning.
  • Individual retreats: 5, 8, 10 or 30 days “à la carte” to deepen your relationship to God, all at your own pace, restock your resources or make a decision in faith, using a personalised programme.
  • Retreats based on contemplative prayer: a graded journey towards praying in Jesus’ name, through daily instruction and times of prayer. An experience of just being present to God.
  • Retreats in everyday life: between 3 months and a year to experience the exercises in your ordinary life, while being regularly companioned by a member of the Centre team.

All retreatants are companioned individually by a religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or by a member of the Centre team. The language of these exchanges can be French, Spanish, English or Italian.

Taking a Spiritual Break

The Centre offers breaks of 1, 2 or 3 days to restock your spiritual resources, stand back a little and pray in an atmosphere of silence. Several themes are offered according to the liturgical year, or a time of contemplation on the spirituality of the Sacred Heart, or on the vines and John’s Gospel….
If you wish, you can be given ideas for your personal prayer, and have a spiritual companion.