“What is shared in spiritual direction is universal. It is about how one loves, forgives, grieves, and chooses what is most life-giving. It walks through the questions: Who am I? Who do I want to become? How am I going to get there?”
…SND Associate Tam Lontok
“I will always cherish a conversation with a Baptist minister who said to me: ‘We are alike, we search, we fail, we want good. So we share questions not to find answers, but to become one.’”
…Sr. Rita Marie Schroeder
“I am awed by the fact that others trust me to keep our conversations confidential. For example, one young woman said, ‘I am telling you, but I’m not ready to tell my mother yet.’” …Sr. M. Judeen Julier
“Being a spiritual director has been one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. One of the first people I directed, now deceased, was an African-American Episcopalian priest, Rev. Albertine. A powerhouse of the divine presence herself, she reminded me of what a spiritual direction supervisor told us one day: ‘Spiritual direction is two people sitting in a room trying to find God. The saving grace is that God desperately wants to be found and is always revealing Himself.’”
…Sr. Mary Amy Hauck
The synod theme of community reflects one of the key tenets of Christianity. In gathering the apostles together, Jesus made it clear that faith is not exclusively a one-to-one relationship, but that faith includes a sharing of beliefs, common prayer, fellowship, mutuality, service and a sense of shared destiny.
In the book of Genesis, God said, “It is not good for Adam to be alone.” Simply stated, everyone needs companions on the journey. In more contemporary parlance, “it takes a village” not just to raise a child, but for mutual support.
Contemporary Christian spiritual direction traces its roots to ancient philosophers and various faith traditions. It is the practice of sharing one’s experience of God and cultivating a life of ongoing spiritual growth.
The word “director” is a bit of a misnomer. The best example is from the entertainment industry in which a director interprets a script with a certain element of control over casting, artistic renderings, music, etc. By contrast, a spiritual director is a companion on one’s journey into a deeper relationship with God. In every spiritual direction conversation, there are three participants: the directee, the director and the Holy Spirit.
A number of Sisters of Notre Dame and SND Associates have heard the call to formally journey with others, and they have pursued the training and formation to be certificated spiritual directors. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, both the directee and the director experience transformation that is growth-filled and healing. The experience of being a spiritual director is summarized by Sr. Leanne Hubbard:
Being a spiritual director feeds my faith in the Living God. I am witness to the movements of grace in the everyday lives of my directees. Sometimes I feel like a safari leader looking at the same landscape together and being able to point out the wonders ever so subtly hidden in the ordinary brush. Sometimes I feel like a marriage counselor helping to facilitate the conversation between the directee and his or her Beloved. This work is “evangelizing,” that is, proclaiming the Good News that God is alive and active, loving, encouraging and saving even now, and especially in our age. Walking with others in spiritual direction in their “joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties” (Gaudium et Spes #1) is the closes I come to the heart of God in my own life of faith.
I stand in awe at every encounter.
Sr. Leanne Hubbard, SND
For further information about engaging with a spiritual director, please email your request to [email protected].