CULLMAN, Ala. – The entire MFVA community departed from their labors for their annual five-day canonical retreat on January 3, 2016.
At the start of every year the Friars head north to St. Bernard’s Abbey Retreat House in Cullman, Alabama. There they enjoyed the peaceful and prayerful atmosphere enclosed within the monastery property. The retreat provided the friars with extra time for prayer, rest, recollection and some recreation. They had daily Mass, attended two conferences a day and ate their meals in silence. A retreat master gave the talks. This year’s director was Fr. Frederick Miller, a priest from the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey who currently teaches at Seton Hall Seminary. On the final evening of the retreat, the MFVA Friars and Monks of St. Bernard’s Abbey pray vespers and have a dinner together. Like in past years it was a time of blessed worship and brotherly fellowship.
The five-day prayerful respite rejuvenated and refreshed the friars. Expect God to work powerfully and wonderfully through them.
