What Spiritual Direction Is …
This post is a definition of what constitutes spiritual direction, its main focus, its central aim and its ultimate end as well as a listing of posts which explain what spiritual direction is not and a link to spiritual direction posts on this site.
Now that we are clear on what does not constitute spiritual direction (see the posts listed below), we can provide a summary of what makes up spiritual direction: a relationship between three persons: 1) the Holy Spirit, 2) the director, and 3) the directee. God’s will for the directee is the main topic of spiritual direction. Spiritual direction’s central aim is to help guide the directee to purposefully, consistently, and substantively grow in his or her relationship with God and neighbor by discovering God’s presence and embracing his will through the fruitful practice of prayer and virtue. The ultimate end of spiritual direction, as Jesus commanded, is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:29-31).
This post and the posts below are excerpts from Dan’s book Navigating the Interior Life – Spiritual Direction and the Journey to God. To learn more about the book, click here.
Other Posts on Spiritual Direction:
- Spiritual Direction is NOT a Boss-Employee Relationship
- Spiritual Direction is NOT Spiritual Friendship
- Spiritual Direction is NOT a Catholic Self-Help Program
- Spiritual Direction is NOT “Just me and Jesus” or “Just me and the Holy Spirit” Effort
- Spiritual Direction is NOT Confession
- Spiritual Direction is NOT Psychological Counseling
- Spiritual Direction is NOT Wandering Around With a Spiritual “Companion”
- Spiritual Direction is NOT Just About Prayer… or Virtuous Action
- Spiritual Direction is NOT a One-Time Emergency Room Event
- Spiritual Direction is NOT Spiritual Reading
- Spiritual Direction Post Index
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Art for this post on what spiritual direction is: Christ and Saint Mina [or Menas], iconographer unknown, 6th-century icon from Bawit, Egypt, PD-US author’s life plus 70 years or less, Wikimedia Commons.
