What is Spiritual Direction?

A woman approached me a number of years ago, and asked if I would be her Spiritual Director.  I told her I wasn't a Spiritual Director, but that I could meet with her as a prayer partner.  We began meeting on a fairly regular basis, as she tried to work through a few concerns in her life.  All was confidential: she shared; I listened.  There were times when she would have liked me to tell her what to do.  I never did.  But together, we would try to discern what it was that the Lord might be calling her to.  Not an easy task at the best of times.  Things changed, and this dear woman moved on.  I trusted that our time together had been a help to her, as she moved forward to new things in her life.

Soon after another woman came to me, with the same request.  And I responded in much the same way.  We met regularly.  This lady was interested in deepening her prayer life, and her relationship with the Lord.  We would meet to share, and again, I would not tell her what to do, but I would listen, and sometimes make suggestions.  Her relationship with the Lord deepened, and eventually she began to meet with an accredited Spiritual Director, who would eventually lead her through the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.


A topic for a future blog.

This pattern of being approached for Spiritual Direction continued.  I wouldn't say yes to everyone; I would prayerfully consider each request before responding.


A beautiful friendship developed between myself and one person in particular.  Her gift to me was to invite me to provide Spiritual Direction, not just to herself, but also to a small group of women she was meeting with. I will be eternally grateful to her for her encouragement; she has now gone home to be with her Lord.

One day I felt particularly drawn to consider more closely the call to Spiritual Direction; I brought the matter to prayer.  I went to the Ignatian Centre for an interview, and was matched with a Spiritual Director.


My training had begun.


At a meeting tonight, I heard of a woman who refers to her Spiritual Director, as her Spiritual Accountant.  A retired banker, I couldn't have said it better myself.

Prayer for What I Want
Lord, grant that I may see thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
follow thee more nearly.
- Spiritual Exercises 104


To know more about Spiritual Direction, watch the following video with Joyce Rupp, OSM, and Susan Loretta, speaking about the importance of "generous listening" and integrating body, mind, and spirit.

Joyce Rupp is well known for her work as a writer, a spiritual "midwife", and retreat and conference speaker.
Joyce Rupp


Here below are links to several Ignatian Spirituality Centres in Canada.
The Ignatian Spirituality Centre of Montreal

Jesuit Spiritual Renewal Centre in Pickering

Ignatius Jesuit Centre of Guelph

Praying for the Graces we need

My name is Penelope Olive, and I truly am a Spiritual Director In Formation.


When I began the process of formal training as a Spiritual Director, I had the thought that I would need particular Graces to do this work.  My next thought was: I need help to do this work - who better to look to than Saint Ignatius himself; I will ask God to bless me as He did Saint Ignatius, with the graces that I need to do this work.   And that has been my prayer ever since.


I did the research and found a beautiful chaplet of prayer which I have been using for a couple of years now.  Being a frugal person, I decided to make my own chaplet using a cross which my sister Deb had given me, a medal of Saint Ignatius, a string of brown cord, and some beads I had that had broken off from a necklace received long ago from a friend who had visited Egypt; my completed chaplet is pictured above.


After a year or so of praying the chaplet, I found that the prayer had now become a part of my life, and I asked our parish priest to bless my prayer beads, which he happily did.


The prayers are by Saint Ignatius himself.


My prayer intention is simple: that the Lord will bless me with the graces that I need to do this work.  And He does.


For anyone interested in this devotion, here below are the prayers.  For those of us who are not familiar with the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be, I have included the text for these prayers at the end of the instructions.


God bless you, and may you be blessed indeed with all the grace that you need to do the work God has set before you, as:
Husband, Wife, Mother, Father, Daughter, Son, Grandmother, Grandfather, Grand-daughter, Grandson, Student, Teacher, Worker, Caregiver, Volunteer, Intercessor...in whatever vocation that the Lord has placed you, and gifted you.
In Jesus' Holy Name.  Amen.


On the medal, begin with:
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will.  All that I am and all that I possess You have given me:  I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will.  Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.
Grant, O Lord, that my heart may neither desire nor seek anything but what is necessary for the fulfillment of Thy holy will.  May health or sickness, riches or poverty, honors or contempt, humiliations, leave my soul in that state of perfect detachment to which I desire to attain for Thy greater honor and Thy greater glory.


On each group of three beads, pray:
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be


Conclude on the cross/crucifix with:
O my God, teach me to be generous:
to serve you as you deserve to be served;
to give without counting the cost;
to fight without fear of being wounded;
to work without seeking rest;
and to spend myself without expecting any reward,
but the knowledge that I am doing your holy will


Saint Ignatius of Loyola


Prayers:
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.


Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.


Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.