Spiritual Directiton

Spiritual writers encourage all people seeking spiritual growth to have a companion who listens, a guide, or friend. We all need someone at one time or other. Some people are helped by spending time with a counselor or psychologist, a professional or someone able to help at a critical time in one's life. We all need someone to help us along the way in life. God is always faithful to guide us to the right person to help us in the proper context. He never fails us even when we do not recognize the gift as such.

What is Spiritual Direction

Spiritual Direction is the art of accompanying an individual on their journey to deepen their relationship with God and further develop their own spirituality. Each of are brought into being out of the superabundance of God's love. We are called to a transforming union with Him. Scriptually put, "We return to the Father with His Son in the Holy Spirit."

The Son proceeds from the Father from all eternity and is begotten by Him in time. The only begotten Son, Christ Jesus, is God's Word made flesh (Jn 1:14). Jesus returns resurrected to the Father. His return to the Father is the Passover of the Lord.

God creates the human person destined to "participate with God." Together with Jesus and through him, we return to the Father in the Spirit. Our return to the Father is our Passover.

The return journey may be called spiritual growth or transformation (Jn 3 and 4), (1 Co 15:28, Col 3:11), or transformation in Christ, in God (2 Co. 3:18). It is called transformation (Rm 8, 1, Co 2 & 15); growth of the inner man ( 2 Co 4:16); and sanctification (1 Th 4:3).

Spiritual Direction then is the gift, the charism, the ministry of guiding a person in and through his or her Passover in the Lord. It is a unique participation in another's spiritual journey and transforrmation. Spiritual direction is a God-willed contribution of one person to another's spiritual journey, inner growth, and sanctification.

Our Part

There are many paths towards fostering psychological, emotional, and spiritual growth within a person's exchange with another that benefit and contribute to a deeper integration of spiritual direction in the human personality. By spiritual direction, I mean true and sound spiritual direction.

We live in a unique time. More than ever, the signs before us see more people seeking some form of spiritual guidance. The problem for many seekers is that it is hard to find someone who has experience or who can provide guidance in spiritual growth. Many people who we believe are qualified spiritual directors are either reluctant to accept the responsibility of guiding someone along their journey or are not competent.

Many people are writing about the practice of spiritual direction that gives some insight into the process. For the most part, many writers of spiritual direction fail to explore in sufficient depth the theology of spiritual guidance. What is lacking is a thorough investigation and treatment of the contemplative element that is inherent in all spiritual direction.

I am not speaking necessarily about the spiritual guidance of the contemplative. More precisely, I am talking about the direction of the contemplative element found in the people who seek interior progress, within the human personality, irrespective of vocation or lifestyle. For those seeking inner growth, I am speaking about trust that is integral to the contemplative element, and the call that is universal to the idea of holiness in living and in life. The teachers I believe genuinely advanced in progress of inner growth are some writers of the past. Among them is Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Jan van Ruusbroec, and contemporaries, like Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating. Their teaching on the contemplative element, it’s dynamics and dimensions of spiritual direction are found scattered throughout their writings. Their writings can be difficult to understand or navigate for the inexperienced reader.

Our method of spiritual direction takes from the insights gained from scripture, from the Christian mystical experience and tradition, and from some of the masters noted above. We build on their understanding in their day and time and apply them to fit our contemporary needs. We present synthesis for the sincere seeker of interior progress, for their journey and walk in the spirit.

The program we provide is not an essence or a model that one must follow. What we offer constitutes the complete study of the dynamics and mystery of the contemplative element and dimension that is intrinsic and essential to spiritual direction for any person, of any lifestyle, seeking interior progress, in any walk in life.