Advent Retreat in Daily Life
A Retreat in Daily Life is a way to find something of what you might experience on a residential retreat, with the difference being that you are at home, and the prayer experience is woven into the rhythm of your ordinary life.
The Advent Retreat in Daily Life involves two components:
- Six days per week: Thirty to forty-five minutes of daily personal prayer, with suggested meditations and reflection questions.
- One day per week: A two-hour Zoom call, to share with other pilgrims who are on retreat with you. Kristi Johnson will host these sessions in a group spiritual direction format. Please review the dates below and confirm that you will be available to attend all sessions before applying.
Retreat Schedule
Applications are now open for our 2026 Advent session. The group meeting times for this retreat are as follows:
4-6pm GMT (UK Time) // 11am-1pm (Eastern Time US) // 9-11am (Pacific Time US)
- Tuesday 1 December
- Tuesday 8 December
- Tuesday 15 December
- Tuesday 22 December
Please confirm that you will be available to attend all sessions before applying.
Who is this Advent Retreat in Daily Life for?
This retreat is suitable for anyone who has an established practice of prayer, and would like to bring that into the Advent season. Perhaps you recognise yourself as someone who:
Prayer Material
Meditations from the Contemplative at Home archives are suggested for five days of the week, with an Examen or review practice on the sixth day of the week. Each of the three weeks follows a slightly different theme.
Daily prompts for reflection will be provided. Most of the meditations are around twenty minutes in length, with a suggested 15 minutes after the audio meditation for journalling or reflecting on your prayer experience. It is suggested that you set aside around 45 minutes/day for prayer.
There will be three weeks of guided prayer, from 1 to 22 December, with a few suggestions for meditations you may wish to use through Christmas, once the retreat has finished.
Further Details and Commitment
The times listed above reflect the time for the group calls. Please be aware of your local time zone. Kristi is in the Eastern time zone and call times may be listed for that region.
There will be one call before the retreat begins, and one at the end of each week, for a total of 4 calls.
There will be a maximum of six participants in the group.
Please check that you are able to attend all of the group sessions before you apply.
The daily prayer can be done at any time that suits you but, if you don't already have a 30-45 minute window of time devoted to prayer each day, do take some time to think about when you might fit it in. For example: Will you wake up earlier? Will you do it at lunch time? in the evening? How realistic is this? Is there a place in your house where you could sit to pray? Will those you share space with will be able to respect your commitment to the retreat?
This won't be for everyone, but for those who are drawn to take part in this prayer experience, I have no doubt that it will be a positive and enriching time. You are warmly welcome!
