A retreat with Fr James Manjackal in Warsaw

„Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit the work shall be accomplished…” (Zech 4:6)

From 17 to 19 October 2025 a retreat with James Manjackal was held in Warsaw. Nearly 1,000 people gathered in the sports and entertainment hall at ul. Poezji 5 to worship God, to be united in prayer and to meet a living witness of Christ.

A living witness of Christ

This was no ordinary religious event. It was a meeting with a priest who not only proclaims the Gospel, but carries the marks of suffering on his own body. Fr James – like Padre Pio – has visible marks on his hands and wrists, crooked fingers, signs bound up with the experience of the cross. Every Friday he bleeds; on Good Friday he bleeds profusely.

For me it was like meeting Padre Pio, whom I was never given the chance to know. A meeting with a charismatic of our times, an evangeliser, a simple, humble, faithful Disciple of Jesus.

Fr James is remarkably joyful, calm, matter-of-fact and very conscious of what he is saying, of what he has lived through, of what he wants to share and of what he is calling us to. Everything he said seemed so simple. There was no „Eureka” in his words – it all seemed like things we already know, and yet all of it things we do not live by. From this retreat we certainly took away:

The five spiritual „vitamins” prescribed by Fr James

1. Daily personal prayer
Not occasional. Not only in a crisis. A daily conversation with God that builds a relationship, rather than merely a religious duty.

2. The Word of God every day
The Bible is not an optional extra. It is food. If we do not feed on the Word, we feed on this world.

3. The Eucharist – as often as possible
Holy Mass is available every day. So why do we not make use of that grace? It is a real meeting with Jesus. The source of a strength we do not have of ourselves, and which we badly need in these times.

4. Fasting and self-denial
Without the Cross there is no growth; without being cut into, a fig has no sweetness. Fasting, mortification, giving things up and the sacrament of confession put the heart in order and remind us that God is Lord of me and of every creature in this world.

5. Life in community and service to others
Faith is not a private project. It matures in relationships, in the prayer of a community – of flawed people like you and me – in forgiveness, in concrete acts of love.

And the Holy Spirit was moving over our heads!

The Warsaw retreat – power given for these times

The motto of the retreat was not a metaphor. The Holy Spirit is at work today. That power is not a memory from the Acts of the Apostles. It is given to us – for our times, our families, our struggles.

The retreat with Fr James Manjackal in Warsaw was a time of prayer, of unity and of a real experience of God’s presence. It was a deeply fruitful time, lived to the full for the glory of the Lord!