Kristin Aebli, Maggie Herd, and I were blessed to put on a silent retreat for Alabama Young Adults and College Students at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama. Yes, that is a rainbow in the background on the right side of the featured photo.
The focus of the retreat was on forgiveness - both receiving God's forgiveness and then offering it to those who have hurt or harmed us in some way. The retreat was far more powerful for me than I expected as I found myself with a long list of folks I needed to forgive, some from my distant past.
Among the participants were eight FOCUS missionaries. The colleges represented were Alabama, Southern Alabama, Troy, UAB, and Samford. Many of the crew drove more than three hours from South Alabama to join us. Kristin did a great job with the opening talk on how unforgiveness, with regard to her parents, led her away from the Catholic Church and how the Lord brought her back. Yalile Deal is a powerful motivator for students and she was responsible for more than half the participants and they also drove from the furthest distance away!
It was a joy to provide spiritual direction for the leaders in the group and the FOCUS missionaries. They are all a gift to the Church.
During the retreat we prayed the Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Ligouri. Fittingly for the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we sang the Sabat Mater in between stations and the a capella melody emanating from these young hearts echoed beautifully throughout the shrine. Once the echo faded at each singing, we gently moved to next station. At the 12th station, Jesus Dies on the Cross, we paused for a period in silence asking for forgiveness and offering prayers and forgiveness for those whom God placed on our hearts.
This photo is our last moment kneeling before the Lord in the final prayer.
Madison and Madeline are constant in their devotion to the Lord and service to the Birmingham young adults. Madison is soft spoken and gentle. She posted the photo above on her facebook page and she wrote, "To hell with mediocrity" which was part of the last talk and a call to live more radically for Christ.
I was struck with a bit of awe when after seven hours of retreat and three hours of drive time, a group still wanted to go to Vespers at St. Bernard's Abbey. On top of that, it wasn't my idea or suggestion, they just organized it on their own.
We are grateful to Mother Dolores at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels and the Friars, along with the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament for hosting and supporting all of our ministry work there.
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