At the invitation of the Divine Worship Center, Jaffna, we visited Jaffna to conduct a Four Steps Retreat there. We left Colombo on Thursday the 1st of May 2008, by plane and arrived in Jaffna that afternoon.

The first thing that struck us was how the people of Jaffna welcomed us and showered their love upon us. The Sinhalese in the group that traveled claimed that not even for a moment did they feel that they were different. Where ever we went, several priests from the Jaffna diocese accompanied us.

On the first day they took us to a village 12 km outside Jaffna for a .prayer service. The meeting started at 3.30 PM and we had to stop sharp at 6.30 so that the people could get home before the curfew kicked in. More than 1000 people gathered for this service. Bro. Lalith spoke in ENglish and Rev. Fr. Michael Saundranayagam translated into Tamil. It was only when we experienced a powerful presence of God during the worship that we began to realize the hope that the people of Jaffna carried in their hearts.

On Friday we started the four step retreat at the Divine Worship Center premises. Although Friday was a working day around 4000 attended. There were only four toilets. When we did the Jericho March, There were around 2000 there already. As we marched by, the people began touching us and kissing their hands.It was then that we realized that these people had not made our race an obstacle. - very different to the picture that the media pants. We preached the first two steps that day and experienced a mighty anointing.

On Saturday we conducted a program for the clergy. Around 200 priests, nuns and seminarians attended this program. We shared with them that Nothing is Impossible to God. Thereafter we worshipped before the blessed sacrament. We experienced a mighty anointing during this time.

The same evening we were taken to meet the intercessory prayer warriors of the Divine Worship Center. There were about 75 who attended. We spent around 1.5 hours with them and we shared with them how we conduct intercessory prayer.

On Sunday, we resumed the Four Step Retreat. The attendance had now grown to over 6000. Our translator Fr. Michael Saundranayagam had suddenly taken ill and had to be admitted to hospital. Kaushi, a young girl who was part of our music ministry was forced to stand in as the translator, and what a revelation that was! Kaushi translated under a special anointing and it was clear everyone present that something extraordinary was happening.

Every family had lost someone to the war. As a result they harbored feelings of hatred and unforgiveness deep within their hearts. As we led them through the Inner Healing Service, the presence of the Lord began to be tangibly felt as they started forgiving their enemies.

During the anointing service in the evening, the Lord moved very powerfully. We have conducted many four step retreats, we have nor seen an anointing like this before. The praise and worship drowned the public address system. People were being overcome by the spirit. Later, the chief celebrant of the Mass turned towards the crowd and asked the to stretch their hands towards the Wanni and send the peace that they were experiencing towards the Wanni.

In all this, we felt that the Lord was giving as a special message. We believe that the Lord is inviting us to pray every time we read hear of a killing in the news. The Lord is inviting us to bear in mind that every person who is killed is a son who was lovingly cuddled by a mother, a son or daughter proudly escorted to school by ar father. The Lord reminds us that there is a family behind every person who is killed in the war. The Lord is inviting us to expand our hearts and consider them our own brothers and sisters.