Holy Listening
Spiritual Direction

Do you ever yearn to feel closer to God?

Do you wonder what God desires for you?

Do you want to explore your sacred story in your daily life?

Do you seek companionship on your spiritual journey?

Have you ever wished for a deeper prayer life?

These are some of the yearnings that bring people into Spiritual Direction.

Spiritual direction provides a relationship in which one can consider: How is God present here? What is sacred about this? How is God calling? Spiritual direction honors and supports the directee’s yearning for God, which may be expressed as a search for understanding and meaning, a desire for discernment about decisions and directions for one’s life journey, a hunger for deeper and fuller life, a longing to deepen one’s relationship with God.

Spiritual direction is a sacred ministry for our times, proven through centuries of experience. A seeker (the directee) is accompanied by a guide (the director). Their relationship is characterized by trust, openness, and reflection. The focus is on listening for the presence of God in the directee’s life – in relationships and work, in questions and doubts, in changes and losses, in challenges and joys, and in prayer. The director helps you, the seeker, to discern God’s presence where you might not have noticed it, and to integrate your awareness of God into your daily life.

“Spiritual direction is, in reality, nothing more than a way of leading us to see and obey the real Director – the Holy Spirit hidden in the depths of our soul.”

Trappist monk Thomas Merton

Many people yearn for meaning and depth in their lives, and every person has a sacred story to explore and to share.

Some people’s past exposure to religion has been more about learning what has been written about God rather than direct engagement with God through prayer and reflection. And now, as seekers, some people may say: “I wish I could pray.” … “I don’t have time to pray.” … “I don’t know how to pray.” … “I get so distracted when I pray.”

Prayer is not an end in itself! Nor is it a rigid formula that you have to “do the right way,” or God won’t pay attention to you! Prayer is a path of communication with God. This is the “why” of praying. Prayer = a relationship with God. For many seekers, Spiritual Direction provides a path for developing a deepening prayer life. Prayer is about enjoying God and saying, “Yes” to God.

Ignatian Spiritual Direction

Saint Ignatius of Loyola helped souls as their spiritual director, and bequeathed, as part of his legacy, the ministry of Ignatian spiritual direction. This is a sometimes-misunderstood term, and because I am a spiritual director and a retreat director in the tradition of Ignatius, let me offer a few words of explanation. If you are yearning and wondering how to grow toward God, or if you want to invite God into your relationships and issues at work, into your fears and doubts and joys and losses, Spiritual Direction might be what you are looking for. It’s for regular people like you and me. The persons who meet with me for Spiritual Direction come from varied life experiences, ethnicities, educational backgrounds, and religious or non-religious belief orientations. I am glad to welcome persons who are marginalized by church or culture, those who are bereaved, and those who are seekers, yearning for an unnamed, mysterious “more”. Spiritual Direction is not about knowing theology or following rules, and the direction comes from God, not me. The conversation is about your life, and your choices, and your heart, and your prayer, and your relationship with God – with holiness – by whatever name you use. I am there to accompany you in discerning where God is moving, how God may be calling to you, how God is offering comfort or maybe challenge. Spiritual direction is a way to find God in the sacred story of your own life.

Ignatian spirituality responds to the hunger with ways of prayer and reflection that help the person to deepen their relationship with God and to integrate their awareness of God into their daily life.

If any of this attracts you, I invite you to be in touch with me. My practice is called Holy Listening. Spiritual direction meetings may be held in person or by telephone. Offerings may be made on a sliding scale.