WHAT IS SPIRITUAL DIRECTION?

Spiritual Direction is a specialized ministry in the Church. It is a graced way of helping another to grow in intimacy with God and to live out the responsibilities of that intimacy. All intimacy depends upon noticing and responding to another. We may not notice signs of God's presence, of God's communications. We may be unaware of what God is doing in our daily lives or what God desires for us.

A good spiritual direction has the gift of helping us to notice God's activity in the "stuff" of our ordinary lives and then to notice and offer our responses to God. Once we begin to notice God and our responses, our whole relationship with God becomes much more intimate and real.

WHEN WOULD I NEED A SPIRITUAL DIRECTION?

Need for a Spiritual direction comes when we want to develop a deeper relationship with God, when our search for God seems to be at a crossroads, when we feel the need to explore other methods of prayer; when our prayer becomes difficult, or when we sense that God wants something but we don't know what it is.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT?

We can expect a good companion to help us focus on our relationship with God. Contemporary direction presumes that God communicates through ordinary human experience. Within that experience are found God's invitations, urgings, and confirmations. Good direction helps us notice these activities of God and respond to them. Direction also assists with resistances and roadblocks along the way.

Specifically, we can expect a one-to-one meeting, about an hour in length, during which we share what is happening in life in prayer, in relationship with God (or what we wish were happening!) Through this sharing, God's strongest activity is noticed so that our response is evoked more deeply and thus it is given to God more fully. Because Spiritual Direction is an ongoing process of growth in intimacy, it is usually scheduled on a monthly basis. Sr. Carol is available by appointment at several sites in Fort Myers, Naples, Port Charlotte, and at the House of Prayer.

As with all our programs, all denominations are welcome.