So sorry for the lack of blog posts! I couldn't blog on the silent retreat for obvious purposes, and finding internet access in Tennessee Ridge has been a bit difficult.
After our break for the Fourth of July, all of the Nashville teams and the Atlanta team met back up at St. Bernard's Abbey in Cullman for a silent retreat. I've been worrying about this retreat for quite a while because I'm not very good at being silent for long periods of time. We could say the mass parts out loud, and we could pray out loud whenever we had group prayer for the Liturgy of the Hours, rosary, etc., but we were completely quiet other than that. It was about two days of silence. Surprisingly, I didn't really have a problem with keeping my mouth shut. The part of the retreat that was really hard for me was the solitude; we were supposed to avoid making eye contact with people--basically, to avoid non-verbal communication as well as verbal communication. I could handle not talking, but not getting hugs or even looking at people's faces was really hard for me, especially because I was on this retreat with my teammates whom I love and depend on very much. In all, I think it was good for me to go on the retreat, but I don't necessarily want to go on another silent retreat anytime soon. We had a day to hang out with all the teams before we left for our next parishes, so my team went to PJ's house in Huntsville. The next day, we spent some time at Nick's house in Brentwood before we headed to Tennessee Ridge for the week. Our mass kit was missing a few things that have made teaching with it difficult; most notably, the altar was missing, so I couldn't teach the kids how the altar is set easily. Over the break, Nicholas started making a mini altar for me to use, and he finished it when we were at his house. It looks so nice, and it makes teaching the mass class so much easier! He didn't have time to stain it, but it looks so nice!
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