Retreats in Daily Life
Weeks of Accompanied Prayer
For those who want to explore and enrich their prayer life, Weeks of Accompanied Prayer (WAP) are an
excellent tool. They are a means of having a retreat while staying at home and carrying on with normal life
and can provide a taster of spiritual direction for those who have never attempted anything like this before,
but yet have a yearning to draw closer to God.
For a week, each participant commits to a half hour of daily prayer followed by a half hour meeting with a
prayer accompanier to discern where the Spirit might be leading them.
Weeks often begin with a group session where participants are introduced to their guides and arrange a time to meet each day. At the end of the retreat, there is a final group meeting to gather together and reflect on the experience of the whole week and offer it to God in gratitude. Those who have taken part in WAPs will know how supportive and enlightening these retreats can be; in many cases life-changing.
Although occasionally a church will run its own WAP, they tend to be an ecumenical activity with a number of local churches taking part together. Sometimes these will be members of local Churches Together groups.
If you are interested in running a WAP in your area, you can call on support and advice from the SpiDir
Network. We can suggest prayer guides from our list of Spiritual Directors.
Contact: Mieke Gaynor [email protected]
For those who want to explore and enrich their prayer life, Weeks of Accompanied Prayer (WAP) are an
excellent tool. They are a means of having a retreat while staying at home and carrying on with normal life
and can provide a taster of spiritual direction for those who have never attempted anything like this before,
but yet have a yearning to draw closer to God.
For a week, each participant commits to a half hour of daily prayer followed by a half hour meeting with a
prayer accompanier to discern where the Spirit might be leading them.
Weeks often begin with a group session where participants are introduced to their guides and arrange a time to meet each day. At the end of the retreat, there is a final group meeting to gather together and reflect on the experience of the whole week and offer it to God in gratitude. Those who have taken part in WAPs will know how supportive and enlightening these retreats can be; in many cases life-changing.
Although occasionally a church will run its own WAP, they tend to be an ecumenical activity with a number of local churches taking part together. Sometimes these will be members of local Churches Together groups.
If you are interested in running a WAP in your area, you can call on support and advice from the SpiDir
Network. We can suggest prayer guides from our list of Spiritual Directors.
Contact: Mieke Gaynor [email protected]
The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius in Daily Life
The Spiritual Exercises, devised and developed by St Ignatius of Loyola, are a series of meditations, prayers, and contemplative exercises to help you deepen your relationship with God.
'The Exercises' are often made by individuals as a retreat over a period of about thirty consecutive days, accompanied one to one by a Spiritual Director. However increasingly, The Exercises are also adapted (as St Ignatius intended) to be given as 'a retreat in daily life', suited to fit the usual pattern of the retreatants life, time, and commitments, meeting regularly with their director once a week or so over a period of about nine months or longer as suits.
If you are interested to explore the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius in Daily Life, and would like to find a trained Spiritual Director to accompany you, please follow the link below to view our list.
The Spiritual Exercises, devised and developed by St Ignatius of Loyola, are a series of meditations, prayers, and contemplative exercises to help you deepen your relationship with God.
'The Exercises' are often made by individuals as a retreat over a period of about thirty consecutive days, accompanied one to one by a Spiritual Director. However increasingly, The Exercises are also adapted (as St Ignatius intended) to be given as 'a retreat in daily life', suited to fit the usual pattern of the retreatants life, time, and commitments, meeting regularly with their director once a week or so over a period of about nine months or longer as suits.
If you are interested to explore the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius in Daily Life, and would like to find a trained Spiritual Director to accompany you, please follow the link below to view our list.
Open Door Retreats
An Open Door Retreat is a retreat made in daily life as a group, and is a way of deepening your prayer life and awareness of God’s presence and love, in our ordinary world.
Meeting together for a couple of hours each week for nine consecutive weeks with your retreat guide(s) and up to 12 fellow travelers, you will explore Scripture and other texts, setting aside at least fifteen minutes each day for personal reflection and prayer using the materials given, as well as having the opportunity to share your experience with one another.
The name 'Open Door' comes from the image in Revelation 3:20 “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”
To download a list of Retreat Directors experienced in leading Open Door Retreats for your group, please follow the link below.
An Open Door Retreat is a retreat made in daily life as a group, and is a way of deepening your prayer life and awareness of God’s presence and love, in our ordinary world.
Meeting together for a couple of hours each week for nine consecutive weeks with your retreat guide(s) and up to 12 fellow travelers, you will explore Scripture and other texts, setting aside at least fifteen minutes each day for personal reflection and prayer using the materials given, as well as having the opportunity to share your experience with one another.
The name 'Open Door' comes from the image in Revelation 3:20 “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”
To download a list of Retreat Directors experienced in leading Open Door Retreats for your group, please follow the link below.