Spiritual Direction

Spiritual direction is the name long used in Christian tradition to describe the careful listening one person offers to another (in the presence of the Spirit), helping the “directee” to listen more deeply to God’s presence in the heart, and to live more clearly with the compassion at the center of every religious and spiritual path. All so-called “spiritual directors” know that the true “director” in any conversation is God’s very self, for whom both are listening carefully. God is mystery, and every form of religion is an effort to respond faithfully to the mystery of God by whatever name. The Divine breaks through into human experience in many ways, and humans respond variously to the awesome experience of God. Although today many of us experience and offer spiritual direction or companionship, generalizations are often inadequate in the search for fidelity to the Mystery. However, a genuine effort always helps to break us open more fully to Divine Love.

If re-invited past re-enters…

If re-invited past re-enters present.
do postponed futures turn prematurely old
– losing their impulsive freshness?

Or do they mellow, perhaps like wine,
inviting tastes?

Or maybe letting me, independent of
concatenating months, move forward,
able to welcome newness,

to enjoy…
to endure…
to anticipate…
to create?

I borrow now from the definition of spiritual direction or spiritual companionship on www.sdicompanions.org, including a quote from longtime director Marion Cowan, CSJ:

“First, Here’s one definition:

Spiritual direction aims to help us experience the eternal and the infinite aspects of our true nature through the wise, experienced and compassionate company of another human being.

But that definition, though accurate, is inadequate in important ways.

Here’s the truth.

Comprehensively defining an intensely personal and sometimes mystical experience is an impossible challenge. Any definition is limited by its very nature and therefore bound to come up short when compared with the actual experience of the limitless.”

This quote from SDI member Marian Cowan, CSJ gives important context:

“Spiritual direction is a time-honored term for a conversation, ordinarily between two persons, in which one person consults another, more spiritually experienced person about the ways in which God [or however one names the Divine, Holy or Universal] may be touching her or his life, directly or indirectly. In our postmodern age, many people dislike the term ‘spiritual direction’ because it sounds like one person giving directions, or orders, to another. They prefer ‘spiritual companionship,’ ‘tending the holy,’ or some other nomenclature. What we call it doesn’t make any real difference. The reality remains conversations about life in the light of faith. Across both the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures, we find people seeking spiritual counsel. The Queen of Sheba sought out the wisdom of Solomon. Jesus gave us examples in his conversations with Nicodemus, with the woman at the well, in the ongoing formation of Peter and the other disciples. In the early church, people flocked to hermits in the desert for spiritual counsel. Across the centuries we find striking examples in some Irish monks, in some German Benedictine nuns, in Charles de Foucault, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales, and others. Today, spiritual directors come from many traditions … [including Judaism, Sufism, Buddhism and other faiths].“