Lent is a time of repentance and conversion. The retreats preached in many parishes are intended to encourage and help the faithful in conversion and renewal. Each year we entrust this mission to the retreat preachers from the Polish Province of the Oblate Missionaries.

This is the third time that we are hosting Fr. Daniel Biedniak OMI in our Polish parishes. As he recalls, the first time he preached Lenten retreats in Canada was in 2017, and a year later he led the Peregrination of the Relics of the Holy Tree of the Cross at St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Mississauga. It is no exaggeration to say that he is already a well-known preacher to us, and that Canada is no longer completely unknown to him. “First of all, Canada for me is a country full of diversity, natural beauty, beautiful heritage sites and also interesting people. Our Oblate parishes give me the impression of great hospitality and pastoral vitality as well as dynamism and community” - Fr. Daniel confesses.

He has been a mission preacher since the beginning, that is, since his ordination as a priest in 2010 at Obra Seminary. Since then, he has dedicated himself to preaching the Word of God, in his own words, “in various circumstances of the Church’s life”.

Inviting people to participate in the retreats he preaches, Fr. Daniel reveals that this year during the retreat he wants to “focus the attention of the listeners on the person of Jesus Christ as God who loves man, and shows this love in the holy sacraments” and will also try to show the wonder of Jesus Christ’s human nature.

You are cordially invited to attend the Lenten retreats in person at our Polish parishes or via livestreaming, which you will find on the websites of the parishes listed. The next retreat will be held in Holy Rosary Parish in Edmonton and the following: Our Lady Queen of Poland Parish in Edmonton, Holy Ghost Parish in Winnipeg and St. Mary Our Lady Queen of Poland Parish in Thunder Bay.

We wish Father Daniel and all those attending the Lenten retreat God's blessings.

(TJ/DJ/ photos: Fr MIrosław Olszewski OMI; Fr. Alfred Grzempa OMI)