Spiritual Directors…
As I told Father Tim Finigan in response to his comment on an earlier post, I’m beginning to understand the desire for the Catholic practice of having a spiritual director. When I first heard someone mention their spiritual director, my ears perked up… ‘your what?’ I must admit that I was skeptical at the time. Ok, that’s putting it nicely. Seriously though, that’s a lot of trust to place in someone. I couldn’t imagine ever trusting someone to ‘direct’ my spiritual life, and yet, there was an appeal… which I squished. What can I say, I was a new convert…
Time passed, I learned that many things I once said ‘uh uh, no way’ about were really huge blessings (the rosary for example) and I ran across books which piqued my interest by Thomas DuBay. Seeking Spiritual Direction: How to Grow the Divine Life Within and Deep Conversion/Deep Prayer among others. Besides my own… reticence… I recognized the difficulty of finding an appropriate director and could see how I had a companion (and more now) on the journey who were somewhat described in the first book.
More time passed, and here I find myself tackling some things. The continued desire to implement the Liturgy of the Hours more fully into my day. The nagging thought that daily Mass really would be a good thing to do, even if it IS at 7 am. A real understanding that my assessment of myself isn’t always accurate and sometimes the objective assessment is a real blessing. Enter Father Finigan’s comment, the thought that a spiritual director has great wisom to offer, clearer insight, and the growing desire for a spiritual director finally breaks through the subconscious.
Which of course, brings me back to the ‘real difficulty of finding an appropriate spiritual director’ thing. **sigh** The Lord doesn’t give us a desire that He doesn’t have an answered prepared for, so if He desires this for me, I trust He’ll provide one. In the meantime, I must be patient and wait upon the Lord… and that will be spiritual exercise aplenty.
