A seminar on "Prayer and the Quest for Healing" will be held from 7-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, and continue from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Chiara Center in Springfield. Organizers say the seminar "will explore the experience of prayer in all its power and intimacy as well as the depth of relationship between prayer, personal healing, and cosmic redemption. The experience will be a compassionate, clarion call to recognize the responsibility each person has to act upon our potential for healing the universe."

Leading the seminar will be Sister Barbara Fiand, a Sister of Notre Dame daNamur and research professor of spirituality at the Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University, Chicago. She regularly presents at retreats, workshops and courses domestically and internationally on issues related to holistic spirituality, prayer, religious life, transformation of consciousness, quantum spirituality and the psychology and spirituality of human maturation.

Sister Barbara is the author of several books including Awe-filled Wonder: The Interface of Science and Spirituality, Embraced by Compassion: on Human Longing and Divine Response, and From Religion Back to Faith: A Journey of the Heart.

Cost for the seminar is $140 per person (including overnight accommodation) or $85 for commuters. Registration can be made by calling Chiara Center at (217) 523-0901.

Chiara Center is a ministry of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, Springfield, and opened in 2007 as a retreat and conference center for people of all faiths. For more information on the event and directions, call the Chiara Center or visit www.chiaracenter.org .