Luke 10:25–37 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” That is, “Who must I love if I want to inherit eternal life?” And then Jesus hit him with the story of the good Samaritan: A man is robbed and beaten. A man just like the lawyer asking the question, perhaps? Two upstanding citizens walk past without helping, but a Samaritan (read: outcast) bandages his wounds, gets him a room at a hotel, and leaves a credit card in case the man needs more help. Jesus asks which of the three is a neighbor to the man who was robbed. The Samaritan, of course. Neighbor = the one you must love if you want eternal life. Neighbor = the amazingly generous outcast who isn’t too busy to help the story’s “me” (the man to whom Jesus is replying). Therefore, the one you must […]
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Luke 8:26–39 Jesus cast a squadron of demons out of a crazy guy. And then… …they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. At the 8 a.m. contemplative mass at St. Cuthbert’s, a twenty-minute silence follows the reading of the gospel. I listened to the story about the lonely, unclothed, crazy man who had broken his own chains again and again, but still wasn’t free, and how it was only Jesus who could clean up the nasty mess of his life. And then I sat there for twenty minutes at Jesus’ feet thinking and feeling this: I am in my right mind. I haven’t always been and might not always be, but for now, I am in my right mind. And I am grateful. At 9 I headed off to visit a place […]
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A spiritual director is a compassionate, concerned observer whose task is to help people notice the ways in which Spirit is moving in their lives….
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Ask around at your place of worship, or check the Spiritual Directors International Seek and Find Guide. Spiritual direction is not a licensed profession in any state or country, as far as I know, so it’s up to you to ask questions and make sure that you feel comfortable with whomever you select as your spiritual director.
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Ideally, every spiritual director should be under some type of supervision. The differences between spiritual direction and therapy, pastoral counseling, friendship, and caretaking are sometimes tricky to discern, and meeting regularly with a supervisor or supervision group can help.
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I ask my supervisees to read and sign a boilerplate agreement that covers some general ground: what services I can and can’t provide, our agreed-to rate for payment, my commitment to confidentiality, and the limits that I must put on confidentiality in exceptional cases.
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When someone contacts me about meeting for spiritual direction, I am curious to learn what the person is expecting and hoping for from direction, and how the logistics of a direction relationship would work for them and for me. It’s a chance for both of us to get a sense of each other and whether we are a good match.
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My review of Candlelight, by Susan Phillips.
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