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        Spiritual Direction   

 

           

 


 

Discerning the Call in the Marketplace Webinar

Discernment as the Ontological Act of Knowing: A theological-pyscho-social examination of the act of discernment during spiritual direction

The Dark Night of the Soul (Janice Tay)

How Useful Is The Group Spiritual Direction In Myanmar Baptist Church? (S Htike Wai Saing)

Spiritual Mentoring Culture of Than Le Gyi Asho Chin Baptist Church and Ignatius Spirituality (Salai Moses Oo)

The Journey to Emmaus or Spiritual Direction on the Walk

Eugene Peterson Spiritual Director Extraordinairé

Contemplative Companions Spiritual Director Training Program (CCSDTP)

Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Formation

What is Spiritual Direction? (Spiritual Directors International)

Learning Settings Summary for Spiritual Direction (SD)

The Learning Process in Spiritual Direction

Kathleen Fischer, Working with the Emotions in Spiritual Direction: Seven Guiding Principles, Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction. Vol.12. No.13. September 2006

John Wesley and the Reflective Christian

Busy and Hurried Soul

The Dark Night of the Soul

Discernment and Decision Making

Discernment and Model Making

The Enneagram and Spiritual Direction

Mentoring and Spiritual Formation

The Risk of Mentoring

Discerning Personal Prayer Styles

Soul Care: The Art and Science of Spiritual Direction Course 2012

Soul Care Postcards

 
 
Soul care is slow painstaking work, with ebbs and flow, up and down, freshness and dryness, progress and regression. It is hard work for it is the renovation of our souls to the character of Christ; the fully restored image of God. Like drops of water than can wear down a mountain, soul work needs patience but is a powerful vocation.

 
spiritual direction is the process where two or more companions on a spiritual journey help one another to be open to God, to their inner lives and to each other

 
spiritual direction is mainly about rest; rest in God's goodness, rest in believing God will reveal Himself to us and guide our actions, and rest in His sovereignty

 
Trust is holding the hand of God as we walk through the woods that is our lives

 
spiritual direction is cultivating awareness-the awareness of the movements of the Holy Spirit in our lives; of what God is working with our lives in the past, present and future; and to get on board with what ever He is doing now. Awareness is seeing God in all things.

 
Love is the emotion and the passion that is the matrix of our spiritual life

 
 

 

 

 

 

Online Resources

Ignatian Spirituality and Spiritual Direction (Dr Lilian Lian)


 

What is spiritual director?

1. A person who has a continuing hunger for intimacy with God.

2. A person who has an ability to forgive others at great personal loss.

3. A person who has a lively sense that God alone can satisfy the longings of the human heart.

4. A person who has a deep satisfaction in prayer.

5. A person who has a realistic assessment of personal abilities and limitations.

6. A person who has a fundamental freedom from boasting about spiritual accomplishments.

7. A person who has a demonstrated ability to live out the demands of life patiently and wisely.

 


 

What is spiritual direction?

1. Spiritual direction is an interpersonal relationship in which we learn how to grow, live, and love in the spiritual life.

2. Spiritual direction involves a process through which one person helps another person understand what God is doing and saying.

3. Discernment is a crucial gift in the work of spiritual direction.

4. In spiritual direction there is absolutely no domination or control.

5. The spiritual director/mentor/pastor guides another in spiritual things through the spiritual world by spiritual means.

6. God has ordained that there be spiritual directors/mentors/pastors among his people. This is the structure of love in practice.

7. Supremely, spiritual directors/mentors/pastors are persons who have a sense of being "established" in God. Otherwise they are too dangerous to be allowed into the soul space of others.

 

Trained and Untrained Spiritual Directors

We are not alone in this work of the re-formation of the heart. It is imperative for us to help each other in every way we can. And in our day, the desperate need is for the emergence of a massive spiritual army of trained spiritual directors who can lovingly come alongside precious people and help them discern how to walk by faith in the circumstances of their own lives.

Please note that I said "trained" spiritual directors and not "certified" spiritual directors.

There is a genuinely bad idea circulating these days that if we take a certain number of courses and read a certain number of books and receive a certain kind of certification, we will be ready to be spiritual directors. I'm sorry; I really do wish it were that simple. But no, we are here talking about life training. And it is only by life training that we will see the development of a certain kind of life, a life of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is this quality of life—the ability to forgive when it is painful, the yearning for prayer—that we are looking for in trained spiritual directors.

Richard Foster
Spiritual Formation Agenda

 

My notebook on spiritual formation for other resources

 

                                                         

"treat, heal, and comfort always"

 "spiritual forming disciples of Jesus Christ with informed minds, hearts on fire and contemplative in actions"  

 

     
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