Starting & Sustaining your Practice

Marking the upcoming 800th anniversary of the death of Francis of Assisi, this online series explores how early Franciscan practices from Clare of Assisi to Bonaventure inform spiritual direction today. Learn to practice deep attentiveness to Christ and experience spiritual transformation.

The LCSD Book Club is returning this autumn with a book pick that will help us engage what is often cited as one of the earliest examples of spiritual direction: the Desert Mothers and Fathers. Together, we will read Lisa Colón Delay’s wonderful book, published earlier this year: The Way of the Desert Elders: How the Wisdom of Ancient Christians Sustains Us Today.

In the Bible spiritual growth is likened to the natural development processes of plants, and the part played by gardeners, whether human or divine. Growing in God’s Life will explore four recurring movements of this growth:

• Becoming rooted and grounded in God

• Emerging into being in response to God’s invitation

• Struggling towards abundance through resistance

• Bearing fruit and being willing to fall

These four are recurring movements, not stages.

Growth takes place gradually through a cooperative relationship between the Holy Spirit and our human spirit, rather than by self-made achievement.

This seminar explores the biblical and theological foundations for a richer, more expansive understanding of the Divine - one that makes room for feminine as well as masculine imagery for God. Together, we'll consider how this broader vision can deepen our own formation and strengthen our capacity to accompany others with wisdom, sensitivity, and compassion.

Traditionally, Lent invites us to enter the wilderness, confront our mortality, and sit with our brokenness. This year, we will navigate that wilderness using the framework of psychotherapist Francis Weller’s Five Gates of Grief. Weller reminds us that sorrow is not a disease to be cured, but a vital apprenticeship that expands our capacity for joy.

Do you want to explore how Group Spiritual Direction could support your calling and practice as a spiritual director?

Join us for an engaging, interactive workshop facilitated by Kathy Gust. Group Spiritual Direction offers a profound way for small groups to support one another’s spiritual growth, increase awareness of God’s presence, and listen more deeply to God, themselves, and each other.

This workshop offers participants the opportunity to reflect on the benefits and essentials of Group Spiritual Direction, explore different ways it can be offered, and discern how it might fit their ministry or practice at this time. Through this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Name ways Group Spiritual Direction can support spiritual growth and deepen awareness of God’s presence for individuals and communities

• Recognise the essentials of Group Spiritual Direction Describe different ways Group Spiritual Direction can be offered

• Begin to discern how Group Spiritual Direction fits their own calling and context.

Dementia is part of every community, and as Spiritual Directors, we are increasingly likely to encounter its impact; whether walking alongside someone with advancing dementia, or accompanying family, friends, or caregivers as they navigate shifting realities. This workshop invites us to explore the changing patterns dementia brings, both in the lives of those we accompany and in our own understanding of presence and connection.