The Spirituality Network is pleased to offer a virtual retreat experience that takes place within the ordinary dailyness of life.
Over the course of these three weeks, you will make special time each day for prayer, reflection, and silence. On Wednesdays we will gather in online community, and you will meet —for about an hour—with an assigned spiritual director to reflect on your daily practice of prayer and the ways in which you are noticing God’ s presence in your daily life. This is an excellent opportunity to get a ‘taste’ of how spiritual direction might enrich your spiritual journey.
The Busy Person’s Retreat: An Introduction to Spiritual Direction
When you think of a retreat, you probably think of getting away from it all, perhaps at a quiet retreat center or a cabin in the woods. Most of us don’t have the luxury of time to actually go away, even for a weekend. That is why we are offering the “BUSY PERSON’S DIRECTED RETREAT”. This is a retreat that does not require you to pack your bags and travel anywhere. This is a retreat that takes place within the ordinary busyness of your daily life. It is a simple idea: over the course of three weeks, you make a commitment to yourself and to God for special time each day for prayer, reflection, and silence. The virtual retreat meets once per week for three weeks via Zoom. The sessions include all participants and spiritual directors in community reflection, plus one hour of individual spiritual direction with an assigned spiritual director. The content of these sessions will reflect on your daily practice of prayer and the ways in which you are (or perhaps are not) noticing the presence of God in your daily life. This is an excellent opportunity to get a “taste” of how spiritual direction might enrich your spiritual journey.
What to expect during a spiritual direction session during this retreat:
Most spiritual directors will begin and end each session with a period of silence and/or spoken prayer. You will be invited to share some of what you have been noticing in response to your prayer time:
What has been meaningful;
Where you noticed the presence of the Divine and how that felt;
What has been difficult, etc.
What has been happening in your daily life.
Listening to your sharing, the spiritual director will prayerfully reflect with you in ways that will help you find insights or deeper meaning in your experiences. Your spiritual director may suggest a particular scripture passage to meditate with or offer suggestions to help facilitate your retreat experience. Keep in mind that these sessions are completely confidential.
Who will be my spiritual director for this retreat?
The Spirituality Network will be providing the spiritual directors for this retreat. All the spiritual directors meet the following criteria:
They have completed (or near completion of) a recognized training program
They are in spiritual direction themselves
They are in peer supervision
They have agreed to abide by the Ethical Guidelines set forth by Spiritual Directors International
The spiritual directors are matched with participants based on the information given on the participant’s registration form. All efforts are made to honor specific requests of participants. Participants may decide to continue in spiritual direction after the retreat ends. If a participant wishes to continue in spiritual direction, but with a different director at the end of the retreat, a referral interview can be arranged.
Attendance limit: 10 participants
Price levels:
$100, Choose this level if you have the privilege of financial security
$75, Standard level
$50, Scholarship level