A Monastic Retreat

This week, St. Mary’s Monastery and St. Scholastica Priory will be entering into their annual retreat—a week-long period of silence, prayer and reflection on conferences given by the retreat master. You may be asking yourselves, “Why do monks and nuns need a retreat? Aren’t their whole lives a retreat?” Well, that’s an excellent question.

While consecrated religious do in fact live a blessed life of prayer, even we who have committed to a monastic life are influenced by the effects of original and personal sin. So, we too can stray from the intended path, or at least grow slow and sluggish along it, and need a special time of renewal. It is an occasion when most burdens of work are lifted, and more time is given to “spiritual leisure”—reading, enjoyment of God in nature, longer periods of prayer and meditation, in order to revive the fervor of our hearts for God. Pray for us, then, as we too will be praying for you!