Who should be a spiritual director?

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By Marcia Moore

Becoming a spiritual director is a journey. The journey begins with someone who has a strong faith background and has a desire to be a spiritual director. The desire continues for a long period of time. Many times the Holy Spirit gives that desire.

Marcia Moore

Once it has been discerned by an individual and his or her spiritual director that this calling is from the Holy Spirit, the individual will apply to a qualified school. Some of the very good schools forming spiritual directors include the Apostles of the Interior Life Spiritual Mentorship Program in Kansas City, Kan.; the Cenacle of Our Lady of Divine Providence School of Spirituality, which is run in association with the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio; and the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality in Denver, Colo., established by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. All three schools are concerned with helping people answer the Second Vatican Council’s universal call to holiness.

A spiritual director will have completed training in spiritual direction, has read/studied the spiritual masters, knows the Bible and practices virtue.

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A spiritual director keeps confidentiality, practices what he/she prescribes to others in prayer and spirituality, speaks the truth in love and is ahead of those he/she directs on the journey.

St. Francis de Sales said the director must be full of charity, knowledge and prudence. A lack of any of these qualities indicates a danger.

The most important thing is that the director has his/her own spiritual director.

(Marcia Moore, M.S. Ed., is a longtime professional Christian therapist and certified Spiritual Director who founded Eagles’ Wings to provide counseling from a Christian perspective. She is a member of St. Alphonsus Parish, Davenport.)


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