Hope cannot fail...
The Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life and the Pastoral household of Children Lost to the Archdiocese of Krakow at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki invitation for a retreat for parents in mourning after the child's death.
The retreat will take place on 8-11 November 2025 (Saturday – Tuesday) in the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Kraków-Łagiewniki (Lower Basilica – Slovak Chapel). The prayer gathering is addressed to the parents of children who died before birth, during childbirth and later stages of development, regardless of the circumstances of death.
In the program: Holy Mass, liturgy of hours, Eucharistic services, crossroad, road of light, hr of mercy, spiritual conferences. The 3rd day of the retreat is simply a time of desert dedicated to the individual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel of perpetual adoration, the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, the anticipation of individual spiritual conversation with the priest and intellectual consultation. Recollective reflections will be conducted by Fr.Dr. Janusz Kościelniak, pastor of the families of children lost to the archdiocese of Kraków, and Dr. Piotr Guzdek, familologist from the Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life.
The retreat takes place in 1 of the Jubilee churches of the Kraków Archdiocese – the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Kraków-Łagiewniki. Hence, parents are invited to receive full indulgence. All Holy Masses will be celebrated in the intention of the dead children. Recommendations are accompanied by the subject “Hope cannot fail” (Spes non confenti) from the bull of Pope Francis announcing the average Jubilee of the Year 2025.
The bull says: “The Christian hope is precisely this: in the face of death, where everything seems to end, we are assured that through Christ, through his grace given to us in baptism, “life... changes, but does not end” forever. And if in the face death, a painful separation that forces us to leave the most dear people, is not permitted any rhetoric, then the Jubilee will give us the chance to rediscover, with large gratitude, the gift of this fresh life received in baptism, which is able to transform this drama."
The retreats are not closed but stay open to all concerned. The organisers ask their parents to submit their participation to supply the participants with formation materials (contact: 575–363-190). Those who request accommodation will be able to get accommodation in the sanctuary (Duszpasterski House, home of St. Detailed program on the poster and on the pages of the Polish Association of Defenders of Human Life (pro-life.pl) and the sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Kraków-Łagiewniki (misericordia.eu).
