Passara is a very small parish in the Badulla diocese, which is in one of the remotest backwaters of the Uva province. We were told that the normal attendance for a mass rarely exceeds 50 or 60. However, when the 4 - step retreat was held in Passara, close upon 600 people attended. The Lord continues to amaze us with his capacity to draw people from all walks of life and touch their lives.

Many people who had attended previous 4-step retreats in other places turned up and testified to how the Lord had touched their lives. One such person, confessed that he was in the habit of drinking a half a bottle of liquor every day for the past 30 years and how the Lord had set him free. He was baptized during the last day of the retreat. The assistant parish priest of Badulla testified about a young boy in his parish, who had been a drug addict and how the Lord had touched him during the 4-steps retreat at Badulla, and was completely set free of drugs.

It is not only in the lives of the participants that we see the Lord at work, but we see the Lord's hand even in the lives of those who traveled from Colombo to serve. They went through the discomfort of traveling more than eight hours to get to Passara. They spent much time organizing things and attending to the needs of the participants, ensuring that they could follow the retreat undisturbed. Finally, they traveled through Sunday night to get back to Colombo and many went for work on Monday morning; Giving their entire weekend to the Lord and attending work on Monday morning. This type of an inner response is a sign of the Kingdom of God and the power of God at work.

Praise the Lord!