What is Spiritual Direction?
What is Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual direction is “help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship.” (William A. Barry and William J. Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction)
• Spiritual direction focuses on religious experience. It is concerned with a person’s actual experience of a relationship with God.
• Spiritual direction is about a relationship. The religious experience is not isolated, nor does it consist of extraordinary events. It is what happens in an ongoing relationship between the person and God. Most often this is a relationship that is experienced in prayer.
• Spiritual direction is a relationship that is going somewhere. God is leading the person to deeper faith and more generous service. The spiritual director asks not just “what is happening?” but “what is moving forward?”
• The real spiritual director is God. God touches the human heart directly. The human spiritual director does not “direct” in the sense of giving advice and solving problems. Rather, the director helps a person respond to God’s invitation to a deeper relationship.
For more information contact Jane Zimmerman, Pastoral Care Associate, at 630.355.8980, x108.
What is Spiritual Direction?
Do you ever feel the need just to be heard? To have your experience understood and validated? To be supported in prayer and contemplation?
Spiritual Directors are focused listeners who can listen deeply without judgment or advice, and offer compassion and support. They create a safe space for prayer, self-reflection,and companionship on your spiritual journey.
If interested, you’re invited to call Jane Zimmerman, Pastoral Care and Behavioral Health Associate, at 630.355.8980, x108.
Spiritual direction often begins and ends with prayer or a scripture reading. Sometimes it begins simply in answer to the question, “How are you?” Sometimes it begins when a person starts sharing an issue of deep concern.
The role of a spiritual director is to listen deeply, sometimes asking a question for clarification and often restating what was heard. We share a sacred space, fully present to each other, and to God, discerning or sensing in our hearts and minds what God might want us to know.
If interested in learning more about how to deepen your faith through spiritual direction, call Jane Zimmerman, Pastoral Care Associate, at 630.355.8980, x108.
