When Alonso Sanchez de Capeda decided to raise his daughter in a pious Catholic household, he did not anticipate his child of seven would run away in hopes of being martyred by the Moors. This event in the life of the young St. Teresa of Avila revealed two concepts that would color her entire life: She would have an unquenchable thirst to love and serve God, and she would be in need of spiritual direction.
Our use of athletic metaphors to explain spiritual concepts is almost as old as the Church herself. St. Paul exhorted us to run the race of life as to win and to attain the imperishable prize of eternal life. Yet, how many times do we find ourselves suffering from spiritual atrophy? Maybe we wake up one day to realize not only have we stopped running the race, but even the race itself is a puzzle. The spiritual life of a Catholic is never one of self-sufficiency or independence, but is deeply woven within the community of faith. And within that community we see a need for a kind of spiritual coach. We see a need for spiritual directors.
In her own spiritual life, St. Teresa was plagued by questions regarding the gravity her own sins and the mystical graces that had been given her. In the beginning, her incredible sensitivity toward sin led many to misunderstand the actual sate of her soul. Unfortunately, this led to questions of whether her visions were of divine or demonic origin. Influenced by poor opinions, St. Teresa began various mortifications to hopefully free herself of these “demonic” visions.
However, her spiritual director and confessor St. Francis Borgia worked with her, and they came to see that her visions were a grace from God. With her soul at peace and properly focused, St. Teresa was able to embrace the most wondrous of visions.
Over her life, St. Teresa had a number of prudent spiritual directors, including St. Peter of Alcantara, several Dominicans (Pedro Ibanez and Dominigo Banez), many Jesuits, and the aforementioned St. Borgia. St. Teresa’s unyielding passion had to be tempered by the prayerful insights of directors that loved both her and the Lord. Under their guidance, she flourished in the will of God, and was able to lead sweeping Carmelite reforms, write numerous works on the mystery of living a vibrant relationship with Christ, and experience the glory of God in the most vivid and sublime of ways.
Pope Benedict XVI has regularly called for everyone—priests, religious, and laity—to place themselves under the guidance of spiritual directors. Spiritual directors are instruments of the Holy Spirit that form us in the ways of holiness. They are coaches who speak from their knowledge and experience of the faith. And like athletic training, it can be arduous and frustrating. It is a spiritual exercise that demands regularity, a devotion to the work of the Holy Spirit in the process, and a humble and teachable heart.
St. Teresa shows us that it can be a difficult path, but she also shows us the magnificent fruits of a well-directed soul. This Saturday is the memorial of St. Teresa. May her heart—which is now a relic in Avila—not only remind us of the wonders of mysticism, but also of the benefits of having a spiritual director.
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us.
Pope Benedict on Mystical Experience
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Sounds good on paper. In what typical American parish can any ordinary soul find spiritual direction when our priests and staffs are overburdened just seeing to the sacraments and the whole physical plant that provides the setting for those sacraments? Clearly, there is a pecking order of access. Only the pushy, pre-seminary/religious get any special attention because THEIR spiritual progress is what’s truly important. The rest of us are on our own. The Church does not put its limited resources into the adult, mature, and working-in-the-world Catholics. Who cares if they want to cultivate a mystical life of deep communion with God? They just need to pay and pray. If all Catholics would seek out spiritual direction at the same time, say tomorrow, the demand would overwhelm the hierarchy. Since the Church does not trust, prepare, or encourage laypeople to give spiritual direction, it is idiotic to promote a desire for it. We just don’t have the numbers. While there is always a danger that the popular will be shown to have feet of clay (Pavone/Corapi/etc.), at least ordinary Catholics can have access to some spiritual guidance through the media. At your own parish, the message is usually: “Father is busy right now”.
This simply isn’t realistic. There’s no pool of suitable spiritual directors out there. I personally have seen people led badly astray by poor spiritual directors, both religious and lay. Until we have a resurgence of strong Catholic spirituality, this is an idea that should be put on hold. Somehow, God will provide in other ways.
I agree with the previous. Father is too busy crisis managing at best. Imagine how much of that he could short circuit by preaching solid doctrine from the pulpit during the 45 minutes most Catholics bother practicing the Faith each week…....then he might have enough time to spiritually direct some of his parishoners.
Friends: The situation is challenging and can be very frustrating. However, the Pope doesn’t agree with the idea of bailing out or giving up. He has continuously encouraged spiritual direction to the lay faithful and is providing specific instruction for priests through the Congregation for the Clergy. In my own research I have asked over 6,000 committed Catholics about their spiritual direction relationships (or lack thereof). About 2,000 indicated that they were in relationships. That is quite an astounding number. I also just interviewed Archbishop Joseph Naumann on the topic as under his leadership the archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas has started a school to train lay spiritual mentors. They had double the number of participants than planned. A faithful school in Florida is also experiencing the same thing. Beyond that, there are ways to engage even very busy priests in the context of confession that can be just as beneficial as direction outside of confession. My own spiritual director is the priest of a large understaffed parish. Don’t be discouraged. There are many ways to solve this problem and thousands are making it work.
Like Dorothy and Toto, we’re not in Kansas, Dan. It is certainly a credit to Bishop Naumann that he’s doing anything about this. God bless him! But, per your survey, only a third of your respondents are getting spiritual direction. The majority are not. Obviously, it’s going to be a long slow molasses like trickle-down from Rome to non-Kansas dioceses. We ordinary Catholics have to circle our wagons and hold out as best we can.
Magistra - I don’t live in Kansas - thousands of others live outside of Kansas and Florida and are making it work. “Only a third”! - yikes - the glass is certainly half empty in this comment. There are many ways to make this happen - with both desire and hope we will make progress. Even those who pursue diligently but don’t find the ideal situation have reported that the commitment to engage and search and wrestle against sin, toward virtue, and to deepen their relationship with Christ has been rewarded with great gains. God honors the heart of desire and tenacity. I have seen over and over again that the negative scenarios presented in this thread have been overcome. My emphatic tone may sound condemning - if so I apologize. However, it is a big mistake to dissuade yourself or others to look only at the barriers in their pursuit of God. Some call it “realism” I call it defeatism.
Dan, look it’s just math: 2000 is a third of 6000. I’m not saying give up. I’m saying be realistic. Even St. Therese had difficulty finding a confessor who could even deal with her. She put it before the Lord. She let Scripture be her confessor, hearing Our Lord’s counsel in His Holy Word. We aren’t helpless. We can do something. With Christ we can do anything…except delude ourselves. Furthermore, I do not take your tone to be condemning. There’s nothing wrong with your tone. It’s the math.
Magistra - you are right - the math isn’t great.
St. Teresa of Avila is such a babe! Especially in that picture, but even in her writings and the way she lived her life. Perhaps some brief insight into her relationship with St. John of the Cross, because I believe he had some sort of “spiritual director” type role in her life, did he not? Anyways, great post!
Just because a priest says he is busy doesn’t excuse the laity to not try. One can always make an appointment. And as was mentioned above, one can receive spiritual direction in the confessional. Also unless the priest is spending 18 hours per day in the confessional like St. John Vianney then he is not truly too busy. Also, I hope everyone knows that when it comes to confession the priest is at your service. You can wake him up in the middle of the night to go to confession if necessary. The priest cannot refuse you without serious sin on his part. Obviously one should not abuse this and should go at a reasonable time if necessary. But if one truly needs to go to confession at 3:00 AM then the priest must hear your confession. Above all if one is in danger of death one should not be afraid to wake up a priest anytime. Yes the priest could be impatient or grumpy, they are human too. But this should never stand in your way. Again, numbers is not an excuse. Those that really make an effort can make it happen.
I agree with Sam above and his argument against Magistra’s complaints. The number of those actually recieving direction from the poll shouldn’t have any regard to its importance. Whether it be millions that recieve direction or only ten, the neccessity and importance of it will never diminish. The spiritual fruits and blessings one recieves from direction are incredibly innumerable.
There are certainly other parishes besides the one you go to, with many other priests who would love to serve the community through spiritual direction. Having a defeatist attitude certainly won’t help increase the humbers. If you’re distraught about the very few who have found a spiritual director, then be the one to help encourage and spread the word about its importance and benefits.
If the holiest among us clung to spiritual directors for guidance, then shouldn’t we fall in their footsteps as well? All of the mystics I have read about witnessed and experienced incredible things, but still needed others to discern God’s will and grow in holiness. God created us as social beings who need eachother to find God.
There is a lot of truth in all the posts above. I don’t want to write a lengthy post. My contribution to this post is: There should be a structural/formal method available for spiritual direction, one that could be managed, as not to overwhelm the system. It should be promoted visibly and initiated by the Shepards of the Church. This is my suggestion. As to the where, how, and frequency, this is the question.
I’ll second Ariel’s comments by adding something else: isn’t it also true that people have to first realize that spiritual direction is a good idea? Given that we point out time and time again at The Register and on other Catholic blogs that the faith of many, including perhaps our own at one time, is lukewarm and that there’s the spiritual blindness that comes with avoiding the “hard teachings” of the Church, it shouldn’t surprise us that enough people don’t yet understand how beneficial spiritual direction can be. Enough Catholics, if our “Confession by Appointment” is any indication, barely even know the benefits of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“St. Teresa of Avila is such a babe!”
No offence to the OP, but that is probably the most repulsive description of a Saint it has been my lot to read. It’s now impossible not to think of her as a combo of Pamela Anderson (AKA Our Lady of Baywatch) & Madonna (Miss Ciccione, that is, not the other one). *Not* a nice picture. What next - “St. Augustine is my homey” ? Ouch.
A spiritual director need not only be a priest. It can be a nun or an anointed lay person. For myself, I have placed myself under the direction of consecrated-single lay missionary…this too, after earnestly praying to God to provide me one. It is God’s prerogative to provide you what you ask for, and especially in the matter of spiritual direction, it important to take his counsel before settling for one.
If you ever read the book ‘The Way of a Pilgrim’, what you will notice is the thirst of a man in need of spiritual direction. He doesn’t make the choice of looking for the most available priest but the Lord provides him one best suited for his needs. Even after the early demise of his spiritual director, he still continues to receive instruction through his dreams.
The Lord never send any away empty-handed…
xxxx
And we must learn to be saints the American way huh?? From Facebook or from the Republicans who obviously cannot see anyone else other than themselves..
I think God doesn’t need to be pleased with decorated fabrications of those going out of their way to help others!
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