What the Retreat Involves

The ISC:Glasgow and the Jesuit Media Office in London are offering a retreat for Lent 2019. The prayer is available via an email, or web pages online, on PDF sheets which can be downloaded from the internet and printed out, or in a booklet form.

This Lent Retreat is a course in prayer. Its aim is to help participants get to know and love Jesus Christ better in order to live a deeper and more authentic Christian life of service

Daily Prayer Each day of Lent we provide daily prayer material, a reading from Scripture, a picture and other reflections.  We ask you to spend from 10 minutes to an hour each day of Lent praying with this material.

Local Group Meeting
You are invited to form a group with friends, neighbours, parishioners and both share how things have gone and go over different ways of praying each week of Lent.  If you want to organise a group you don't have to be an expert in prayer; we provide helpful written materials.

What is new about this retreat is that throughout Britain there will be groups of up to a dozen people, led by a prayer guide. These groups will pray and reflect on their prayer together once a week. The prayer guide will also lead the members of the group in different ways of praying.

Would you like to Lead a Group?

If you have a reasonable knowledge of Ignatian Spirituality, know how to lead people in different methods of prayer such as Lectio Divina, Imaginative Contemplation, the Examen, and would like to lead a group in your area, then get in touch with us.

Location: You will need to find a suitable location for the group to meet once a week.

If this is a public space like a church room, then you will need to check if there will be any charge made, and if so, to ensure that the group can cover this. You may well find that your local church would be happy to sponsor and publicise this Lent of Prayer.

If you use your own home or other private space, you would be advised to meet any prospective participants who you don’t know in a public space first.

Publicity: If you would like your group to be open to anyone interested in the area then we could put anyone who contacts us from your area in touch with you.

Prayer Materials: Ideally participants should be encouraged to bring their smartphones to the first meeting so they can find the retreat online. Those without phones and without computer access could be given a booklet available free from the ISC, Glasgow. The full material will also be available online to print yourself.

Facilitation: Each week you will need to facilitate the group to help them share the fruits of their prayer. Group Meeting Outlines .

Meetings: Meetings should be once a week beginning before Lent starts so you can make sure everyone has access to the materials and is ready to begin on Ash Wednesday. The last meeting should be in Holy Week or in Easter Week. Meetings should probably last about 2 hours. People always feel more welcome if there is a cup of tea or coffee on offer when they arrive.

Join the Lent Retreat

This Lent Retreat is a course in prayer. It’s aim is to help you get to know and love Jesus Christ better in order to live a deeper and more authentic Christian life of service.

Time for Prayer: Ideally you should be able to find a time to pray with the Scripture or other material daily; anything from 15 minutes to an hour a day, whatever you find helps you.

Weekly Meeting: If you have a Lent Retreat group locally, then make a weekly date with them. This will support you in your prayer and help you see where God is in your prayer and in your life. It will also introduce you to different ways of praying with Scripture.

Prayer Materials: Choose what is most convenient for you: we provide the materials online for a computer, in printable form via a .pdf A4 sheet and via a printed booklet.
Every day there is one passage from Scripture plus another meditation and a picture to ponder. We also give a few suggestions each day on how to pray the day’s materials.

Reflecting on Prayer; It would be good if after each day’s prayer you jotted down in a journal a few notes on how the prayer had gone. This will help your sharing in the group if you have one. It will also be interesting to reflect on how things are moving during Lent and see whether you discern any patterns in the way God is dealing with you.