Spiritual Direction
We offer the opportunity to meet with a spiritual director as part of your retreat at the House of Prayer. We can also support you to find a spiritual director on an ongoing basis. You can meet with a spiritual director during your retreat, whether staying for a Quiet Day or longer, or during one of our programmed Individually guided retreats. We also support spiritual directors through offering supervision (one-to-one and group), and retreats and events to support your practice.
What is spiritual direction?
Spiritual direction or accompaniment is a one-to-one relationship between a spiritual director and directee or retreatant. The individual coming to spiritual direction will share with the spiritual director (sometimes also called a retreat guide or accompanier) their experience of prayer and of God in daily life. A spiritual director might help them explore ways of praying, to make God-centred decisions, or suggest Scripture or other resources for prayer or reflection. A spiritual director listens attentively and discerningly, focussing on God’s movement in the other person’s experience. The length of a spiritual direction meeting varies but is usually between 30 – 50 minutes. Spiritual direction is usually offered at the House of Prayer. It may be possible to meet with a spiritual director online via Zoom. We can also arrange for online daily meetings with a spiritual director during a Retreat from Home.
“Spiritual direction is, in reality, nothing more than a way of leading us to see and obey the real Director — the Holy Spirit hidden in the depths of our soul.”
(Thomas Merton, Trappist monk)
Suggested donation:
Spiritual direction as part of a retreat: £25 per session
Ongoing spiritual direction: £30 per session
You might find the following networks and communities helpful to explore spiritual direction or accompaniment further and to find a spiritual director:
London Centre for Spiritual Direction
Are you a local spiritual director?
We offer supervision (one-to-one and group) at the House of Prayer, as well as events and retreats throughout the year to support your practice. If you are a local spiritual director seeking a quiet and undisturbed space to meet your directees, you can rent one of our meeting rooms for £5 per hour. If you would like to connect with us and our community of spiritual directors, send us a message and we will get in touch.