A spiritual director is not quite what either part of the title suggests. Such a person is not like a board of directors, with authority to guide the course of a directee’s spiritual life. Nor are they like a director in the theatrical or cinematic sense, with the vision of an auteur for how a directee’s spiritual life should be played out, delivering notes on their performance. Moreover, to say that such a person is concerned with one’s “spiritual” life might be taken to imply that they have nothing to do with its other aspects, which is far from the case.
Let’s address the “spiritual” bit first. It would probably be pointless to try to convince Christians to get out of the habit of talking about “spirituality,” but it’s really quite antithetical to the deepest tenets of Christian faith, especially as the Catholic tradition understands it. The Incarnation is at the heart of that faith, the conviction that God became human in the person of Jesus, with all that that implies. Christian faith is about the whole person, body and soul, and the whole of creation, in all its materiality, which we (in continuity with the Jewish tradition) believe that God created good. No amount of human sin can detract from the essential goodness of everything that has being. Our faith is not concerned with the spiritual to the exclusion or neglect of the material; indeed, our rich tradition of sacramental worship gathers into our life of prayer in community not only our own bodies, but such things as water, oil, bread, and wine.
The “direction” that a spiritual director offers might better be described as “guidance,” although even that word falls short. A spiritual director is perhaps most like a trusted companion on one’s journey. Their role is not to command or critique. It is, rather, to bring along on the directee’s journey with God through life the wisdom of the Catholic tradition, interpreted through the director’s own experience of that tradition and of life in general. Direction may include the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, commonly called “confession.” Certainly, it includes the director’s prayer for the directee.
Importantly, spiritual direction is not psychotherapy, though such therapy can certainly complement spiritual direction, and vice versa.
While there are now classes, even degrees, available in this area, in most cases one does not set out to become a spiritual director. It is something that gradually evolves from one’s life of prayer and from ministry in other contexts, usually because people ask one to be available to them in this way. Certainly that has been the case with me, beginning during my years in the monastery.
If you would like me to be your spiritual director, I suggest that we meet first to talk about it, then see where the Spirit leads.