Lenten Day of Prayer: Paying Attention
A Day of Reflection for Adults
Monday, March 30, 2026
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Program Cost: $80.00 (includes Lunch)
Summary
"Attention is the beginning of devotion." --Mary Oliver
"Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer." --Simone Weil
Many artists, poets, and mystics believed that attention was central to the spiritual life, to our experience of God and the world around us. We'll spend this day of reflection drinking deeply from the well of their wisdom, with time to enter into the fullness of God's loving gaze upon us and to practice turning our own loving gaze upon others and upon the wonders of creation. We'll be nourished, together, by the intertwined mysteries of prayer and attention.
We will close the day with the stations of the cross through Mary's eyes, giving us an opportunity to turn our attention and compassion upon all who are suffering and to enter into the Triduum with sensitive and open hearts.
Description
A day or evening of reflection, grounded in the Jesuit tradition, is a shorter version of the Ignatian Weekend Retreat. Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, a day or evening program is sure to give you the peace and serenity needed to be still and to rest in God's loving embrace.
Your day or evening of reflection includes thematic talks from our skilled Retreat Leaders, time for private prayer, celebration of Mass and a meal.
Bellarmine has two libraries, a resource center, two chapels, and many other common areas. Outdoor spaces include a various walking trails, various prayer gardens, a gazebo, stations of the cross, as well as a few patios and outdoor chairs and benches.
Retreat Experience Gallery
Bellarmine Main Entrance
Sacred Heart Chapel
Mary McKeon Library
St. Joseph Gazebo
Mother Teresa Garden
Eastern Africa Collection
Fireplace Lounge
Dining Room
Winter on the Grounds
Resource Center
Sacred Heart Statue at Sunset
Susie's Memorial Garden
Madonna Library
Lower Level Lounge
Retreat Leader
Cameron Bellm
After earning her PhD in Russian literature from UC Berkeley in 2011, Cameron Bellm traded the academic life for the contemplative life, informed by Ignatian spirituality and Catholic social teaching. Cameron is the author of “Prayer for a Pandemic,” which went viral in the early days of COVID-19. In May 2020 she published A Consoling Embrace: Prayers for a Time of Pandemic, an e-book collection of prayers, with 23rd Publications. Cameron has written many devotionals and is currently at work on her first book, The Sacrament of Paying Attention: Contemplative Practices for Restoring Sacred Human Communion, which will be published by Eerdmans in 2025. She lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.