How does desire shape us? 

Desire is central to spiritual life. It motivates, inspires and shapes us.  For better or for worse. Yet many directees struggle to trust their longings. In this session, we’ll explore how to hold desire in Spiritual Direction as a site of grace and discernment. Using the Lord’s Prayer as a lens, we’ll reflect on how to help people listen to their deepest hungers and align them with the movement of God in their lives.

Scripture has much to say about desire, God’s and our own.  This session invites you to explore desire through the particular lens of the Lord’s Prayer - those few short lines Christians have prayed across centuries and traditions.  Combining ancient wisdom with modern psychological research, we will delve deep into its key movements, there to discover the framework and the power that will order our desires.

“What do you want?”, were Jesus’ first recorded words in the Gospel of John.  He followed them with “Come and you will see” (John 1:38-39). We’ll consider how desire can reveal both attachment and invitation, and how Directors can help others name, clarify, and reorder what they long for. This is a session for Spiritual Directors seeking to help others live more freely and authentically in God’s love.

Maria Manuela Silva

Born in Lisbon, Maria Manuela Silva has lived all her adult life in London. Maria hopes to have gained knowledge and wisdom from having studied Theology and Human Geography and trained as a Spiritual Director as well as raising a family, working in a secondary school in Brixton and being involved in church ministry in some of the most economically and ethnically diverse London boroughs. Maria is passionate about human flourishing, spiritual formation and her three grandchildren!

Date: Friday 6 February

When: 10:00- 15:00 GMT

Where: Online

Cost: £50 Non Members, £40 Members

FAQ

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