Are You Called to Be a Spiritual Director?

People around the world are starving to know the God who loves them and who made them for an eternal relationship with Him. But who will lead them? Who has the time, the training, and the desire to help souls who thirst and hunger for God?

I recently had the blessing of spending time with Msgr. David Toups, the Rector of St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. I asked him if he was training priests to provide Spiritual Direction and his answer surprised me. He said, “In an era where we have well-formed laity and good schools of spiritual direction, the art of spiritual direction should not be relegated solely to the priesthood. It should be a gift that the laity also offer souls seeking to deepen their relationship with God.”

Pope Francis, in his recent trip to Korea, echoed this sentiment when he said, “Whatever your particular contribution to the CPopeFrancisinMarch2013hurch’s mission, I ask you to continue to promote in your communities a more complete formation of the lay faithful through ongoing catechesis and spiritual direction.”

Those familiar with the history of Spiritual Direction know that Spiritual Direction began among the laity in the early church and has never been the sole domain of priests. In fact, St. John Paul II was deeply influenced to the heights of sanctity through his lay Spiritual Director, Jan Tyranowski.

One of the reasons I wrote Navigating the Interior Life – Spiritual Direction and the Journey to God was to rekindle the hearts of the faithful both for the need for Spiritual Direction and to prompt the hearts of those were called to this work to look into it and understand how they can live out this important calling.

The good news is that those who heed the call can find several good schools of Spiritual Direction scattered around the United States. However, many people may not yet be convinced that they are called to this wonderful work, or they are unable to travel to these regional schools. If you are among them, we have good news for you.

The Avila Institute provides live/online courses in Spiritual Theology. Spiritual Theology is the theology of Spiritual Direction, so any course at the Avila Institute is going to help the current or would-be Spiritual Director to better understand how to grow in their own spiritual life and help others to do the same.

What can you do if you want to learn more?

In December, we will offer a course entitled Spiritual Direction Foundations, taught by Fr. David Songy. Fr. Songy has both a PhD in psychology and in Spiritual Direction (from the Teresianum in Rome). In this course you will learn the relationship between the Director and Directee, how to better discern where the Holy Spirit is leading the Directee in their life, and how to help the Directee develop a closer relationship with God.

If you would like to explore ways that the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation might help you pursue this calling or just to deepen your own spiritual life, contact our admissions counselor Nicole Garcia at [email protected] or click on this link to apply.

About Dan Burke

Dan is the founder of Catholic Spiritual Direction, the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, and author of the award winning book, Navigating the Interior Life – Spiritual Direction and the Journey to God. Beyond his “contagious” love for Jesus and His Church, he is a grateful husband and father of four, the Executive Director of and writer for EWTN’s National Catholic Register, a regular co-host on Register Radio, a writer and speaker who provides online spiritual formation and travels to share his conversion story and the great riches that the Church provides us through authentic Catholic spirituality. Dan has been featured on EWTN’s Journey Home program and numerous radio programs. If you have an interest in having Dan come speak at your parish or Catholic event or group, contact us at [email protected] or call 818-646-7729.

This article is reprinted with permission from our friends at Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction.

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