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Experience and Convergence in Spiritual Direction

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Abstract

The practice of spiritual direction concerns the human experience of God. As praxis, spiritual direction has a long tradition in Western Christianity. It is a process rooted in spirituality with theology as its foundation. This paper explores the convergences between aspects of philosophy (contemplative awareness), psychology (Rogerian client-centered approach) and phenomenology. There are significant points of convergence between phenomenology and spiritual direction: first, in Ignatius of Loyola’s phenomenological approach to his religious experience; second, in the appropriation by spiritual directors of concepts of epochē and empathy; third, in the process of “unpacking” religious experience within a spiritual direction interview

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Notes

  1. The first stage is lectio (reading), reading the Word of God, slowly and reflectively. The second stage is meditatio (reflection), thinking about the text, ruminating upon it. The third stage is oratio (prayer response) in which our hearts speak to God. The final stage is contemplation (rest), resting in the Word of God (http://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/what-lectio-divina).

  2. Taking a more pastoral approach since the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church now refers to the confession and remission of sin as a sacrament of healing and reconciliation. Through the ministry of the Church, Christ the Good Shepherd seeks out the lost and heals the sick (Miller and Benedict 2011).

  3. “There are directors who, when they undertake the care of a soul, totally turn it upside down in order to form it in their mode. This is not my approach” (Mother Madeleine of St. Joseph, seventeenth century founding prioress of Carmelite women in Paris) (Thompson-Uberuaga 1989).

  4. Palmes writes that God is found in nature, the signs of the times, in one’s brothers and sisters, in oneself, in the events of daily life, the social situation and the structures of society, in the delicate traces of the Spirit when one recognizes his Providential care. But God is also present in the injustice and violence of society. God is found in the cry of the poor. If this were not so, God would be an imaginary God, and not incarnate in the midst of the world (Palmes 1996).

    “Y también está presente en la injusticia y en la violencia; no solo en las cosas bellas y en las historias edificantes. También se halla en ‘el grito de los pobres’ y en las situaciones de oppression y en el abanono y en la muerte. Si ‘nuestro Dios’ nos llevase a desentendernos de la situación de las masas marginadas o de los problemas del mundo, sería un Dios imaginado, pero no el que se encarnó en mido de su pueblo.”

  5. Other websites and apps are available: www.ignatianspirituality.com; www.pray-as-you-go.org (with apps) (http://www.loyolahouse.com/about/beliefs.html).

  6. “El primer paso en el camino místico es el asombro.”

  7. “De fait, ma vie n'est qu'une perpétuelle écoute ‘au-dedans’ de moi-même, des autres, de Dieu. Et quand je dis qu j'écoute ‘au-dedans,’ en réalité c'est plutôt Dieu en moi qui est à l'écoute. ce qu'il y a de plus essentiel et de plus profond en moi écoute l'essence et la profondeur de l'autre. Dieu écoute Dieu,” (Etty Hillesum).

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by a grant from the Louisville Institute’s Pastoral Study program in 2012. I am grateful for the support of the Louisville Institute in giving me this opportunity.

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    Jean Evans

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Evans, J. Experience and Convergence in Spiritual Direction. J Relig Health 54, 264–278 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9824-4

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