I would like to share with you all a Report on the Priest Retreat that I had the privilege of co-leading with the National Chaplain of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Benin. The Retreat was held for priests of the Diocese of Porto-Novo from September 1 to 5, 2025.
The theme of the retreat was based on Luke 4:18-19:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free and proclaim the favorable year granted by the Lord.”
The main objective was to lead the approximately one hundred participating priests to a new experience of life in the Spirit.
During the retreat, we addressed the following sub-themes:
- God’s love for man and man’s response
- Life in the Lordship of Jesus Christ
- Sin, conversion, forgiveness
- Bondage to evil spirits and deliverance
- The Holy Spirit and his works in the life of the Christian and the priest
On the eve of the conclusion, we prayed that the priests would receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. We witnessed a new immersion and a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them.
At the end of the retreat, all the participants were filled with joy. Many agreed to forgive those who had hurt them and left with renewed enthusiasm, strength, and hope for their mission field.
Jean-Christophe Sakiti,
representative of French-speaking Africa in the International Service of Communion of CHARIS.
