Why Does Spiritual Direction Matter?
St. Bernard of Clairvaux once said, “He who constitutes himself his own spiritual director is the disciple of a fool.” Why would such a gentle saint make such a harsh statement?
It is because he saw many good souls get stuck spiritually.
He once also lamented that many who make initial progress in the interior life get stuck and very few make it past the most basic progress. St. John of the Cross also reveals in his writings that very few gain the great graces of the life that God desires to give them because they don’t understand the spiritual life.
The good news is that God has provided all we need to gain every grace He intends for us. Beyond the sacraments, prayer and the Mass, there is no more powerful tool than spiritual direction.
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Image credit for this post on “Why does spiritual direction matter?: “Laughing Fool,” By Netherlandish (possibly Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen), ca 1500, PD-US, Wikimedia Commons.
