"Spiritual direction is necessary"

There are many facets and practices of our rich Catholic faith that GW Catholics are just coming to know and appreciate. One of them is spiritual direction. Spiritual direction is when a person meets with a holy man or woman (usually a priest or a nun) on a regular basis in order to get, well, some direction spiritually. The director is like a guide on the spiritual path who helps the person to know which path to take to follow Christ. The main role of the director is to help the person discern the Will of God. He represents the Church in providing an objective point of view to the person’s situation or problems. It can be extremely helpful! One young man has been coming to me for direction for almost two years; he made the comment at our meeting last night that direction has helped him to figure out what he couldn’t discern on his own. Now, he is beyond excited to enter a religious community in July.


Don’t think that spiritual direction is only for people who will become priests or nuns! God has given me almost two dozen current directees, most of whom are not GW students. A handful are already married (and former parishioners), many are discerning marriage, and a few are discerning religious life. While discerning what their vocation is and how to live it are important to them, the common denominator with all of them is discerning their call to holiness. Btw, people who come for spiritual direction learn much about our Lord and His Way from their directors, but often give so much to them in terms of inspiration and witness.

I know that many of you want to grow in your faith. You want to grow in holiness. You wouldn’t be reading this blog if you didn’t. But, you don’t know how. Many people start spiritual direction with me and say, “I know that I need this, I just don’t know how to do this”. I describe spiritual direction to them, saying that they simply tell me what is going on in their lives. It can be different from person to person and can often go in any direction (no pun intended). Really, it’s any direction that the Holy Spirit takes it; He is the real Director! Usually, though, it involves Confession, talking out problems or moral situations, prayer life, family life, q&a about faith, and vocational discernment. My director and I spend half of our time each month, it seems, talking about the Redskins or sports….I’m a deep guy.

I would like more GW Catholics to go to spiritual direction. Once a month is preferable, or at least a few times a semester. It doesn’t have to be a long meeting (an hour is the longest) every time. It’s just like going to the doctor…and a spiritual director is a “doctor of the soul”. It’s like a check-up for your soul. Many of you are carrying a lot of junk on your souls. I don’t just mean sin. I mean serious problems that you’ve been carrying around by yourself for a LONG time. Jesus basically says in Matthew 11:28, “bring me your junk”. Spiritual direction is a way to bring your junk to Christ (through the priest). It doesn’t have to be to me (I make this clear every time I start with a new directee), but it should be to some priest or religious.

In case the sin of pride is creeping in and you are thinking, ‘I’m not telling Father Greg my problems’ or ‘I don’t need this’, consider a few things. First, many GW students from different backgrounds and situations have come to me with their problems….even those who I have gotten to know well outside of direction. I believe they have had an experience with the Holy Spirit through our conversations. The Spirit has given them wisdom, joy, and peace…which is really Christ’s promise of Mt 11:28: “come to me…and I will give you rest”.

Second, as far as the need in general for direction, here are two strong witnesses. The first is a woman who just asked me to be her director. Wow, what a beautiful and powerful statement she makes! The second is a holy man in Rome you might have heard of who makes the case for spiritual direction. Check these out, look up Matthew 11:28, and plan on starting spiritual direction this fall.



1) “Why spiritual direction? Well, in reading the saints and teachings of the Church, it is clear that if a soul desires to progress in holiness, spiritual direction is necessary. Furthermore, I (humbly) acknowledge that God has had His Hand on my life (since a very young age), despite some necessary troubles and adversity, in a remarkable way. In fact, such have been the graces that He has granted me that I cannot take any credit for my own spiritual journey . . . I view all as a gift, that I have neither had the knowledge to understand in advance, nor the knowledge to seek for myself. Recognizing that I have a particularly strong will, yet even stronger desire to abandon my life completely to God, I know that my soul is in need of spiritual direction to accomplish His ends for my life. Currently, I am in a serious courtship with a fine young man (also a serious Catholic), and have recognized several points of conflict that might have been avoided (or recognized sooner) if I had been under good spiritual direction. Ultimately, I want to serve God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength; and in my prayer and sacramental life, God has been emphasizing to me that I need to put forth the effort to find a spiritual director.”



2) VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Anyone who wants to live their baptism responsibly should have a spiritual director, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this today when he addressed members of the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum. The faculty was founded in 1935; the audience with the Holy Father was part of the institute's celebrations of its 75th anniversary.

Benedict XVI reflected on the Carmelite institute's emphasis on spiritual theology in the framework of anthropology. He said that in today's context, studying Christian spirituality from its anthropological foundations "is of great importance."

The Pontiff recognized that an education at the Teresianum not only prepares students to teach this discipline, but has an "even greater grace" in that it gears students to "the delicate task of spiritual direction."

"As she has never failed to do, again today the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction, not only to all those who wish to follow the Lord up close, but to every Christian who wishes to live responsibly his baptism, that is, the new life in Christ," the Pope stated. "Everyone, in fact, and in a particular way all those who have received the divine call to a closer following, needs to be supported personally by a sure guide in doctrine and expert in the things of God."

The Holy Father noted how a spiritual guide helps ward off subjectivist interpretations as well as providing the counseled with the guide's "own supply of knowledge and experiences in following Jesus."

He likened spiritual direction to the "personal relationship that the Lord had with his disciples, that special bond with which he led them, following him, to embrace the will of the Father (cf. Luke 22:42), that is, to embrace the cross."

The Bishop of Rome urged the Teresianum students to "make a treasure of all that you will have learned in these years of study, to support all those whom Divine Providence will entrust to you, helping them in the discernment of spirits and in the capacity to second the motions of the Holy Spirit, with the objective of leading them to the fullness of grace, 'until we all attain,' as St. Paul says, 'to the measure of the fullness of Christ.'"