Just as we are made up of a body and a mind humans also, in our very being, are spirit! Spiritual direction offers us the opportunity to care for our spirits. Its long history in all faith traditions includes the early desert ascetics and the Celtic ideal of the “soul friend.”
In a spiritual direction session two people come together with the Holy Spirit as the true “director” of the session. “Directees” are invited to reflect on their life, noticing where God was and was not present to them. The director listens, offers her presence, and helps to discover and integrate the movement of God. Questions about life’s meaning, faith, prayer, vocation discernment, doubt, guilt, relationships, and death are all topics often addressed in spiritual direction. Since God is present in every life situation, anything is appropriate to be brought forth in spiritual direction.
Spiritual direction is not something reserved for only specifically holy people, or people struggling in their faith. It is for anyone and everyone wanting to take their faith journey more seriously and desiring to grow in their awareness of God’s presence in their everyday lives.