Spiritual Direction 3 of 3: Director

By Nathan Miller 

A first article laid the groundwork by defining some few 1. Key Concepts. Later I touched on the very 2.Definition of Spiritual Direction. Here I would like to touch on some reflections which pertain more pertinently to the 3. Director, namely, the indispensable qualities of humility, study and a solid life of prayer, because these elements help us to explain the core of spiritual direction.

A Life of Prayer

First, an apparent necessity can be seen promptly: the blind cannot lead the blind. For those advancing in perfection the best guide is one «who is both theologically informed and well advanced in contemplative prayer» (p.76). Dubay is considering the plain need to know about prayer, and thus to have made a personal experience of it.

Needless to say, a spiritual director who does not understand a type of infused prayer or one of the two nights of purification is necessarily going to misunderstand the directee in these situations. The lack of grasp solves no problems, of course, and it adds to whatever pain was present in the first place (p.76).

Secondly, the need for personal prayer is for the sake of holiness and personal maturity. For this

experience often mentioned as needed in spiritual directors includes … a feel for the things of God which accompany a deepening prayer life. … The suppositions are, of course, that those advancing in age … have matured a great deal through reflection, (and) prayer (p.77).

Humility

St. John of the Cross is ruthless with guides who follow their own method and condition, says Dubay. «Not knowing “what spirit is,” these inept guides show disrespect to God “By intruding with a rough hand where He is working.”» (p.82). Thus humility means not to presume to know what one doesn’t. Directees are even advised to consult at times a second director, for «there are priests who are suitable in most aspects of the spiritual life, but wisely disqualify themselves in» (p.99) others.

Study

After a page and a half of laying out Vatican II on what the ideal priest should be, Fr. Dubay remains with a difficulty—to convince «people that spiritual direction requires, among other things, long and extensive study» (p.65). This difficulty is what he tackled by listing and explaining in the next six pages what he calls only the more commonly occurring problems and questions. I have already listed some of these tasks in earlier when I talked about the concept of director. This training is necessary because «the psychological, moral, and spiritual dimensions of the human person are far more complex than the merely physical» (p.65). For this reason «extensive preparedness and studies (perhaps sometimes not-for-credit) are indispensable» (p.65). Fr. Thomas in this point is keen on quoting St. Teresa of Jesus, who insisted that directors «have outstanding academic credentials».

Two last aspects of this necessary study include knowing where to turn when faced with new problems, and the need for habitual study throughout one’s life (p.71).

As a summary of these three Dubay quotes St. Teresa again:

Among the traits of the director about which the directee was to make a judgment, prominent on the Teresian list was theological knowledge. ... Academic qualifications were (to be) accompanied with humility, a serious prayer life, and fidelity to the mind of the Church (p.75).

Conclusions

As we have seen here, the task of becoming a saint, let alone guiding others effectively along the path, is no easy one.

Spiritual direction exists for the purpose of salvation—to seek God with all our heart, to realize the whole world as nothing compared to reaching heaven, and that we rejoice in God’s loving closeness (Cf. p.270).

Our goal is what drives us forward. The salvation of souls pushes us on to make the sacrifices necessary to make spiritual direction possible—on the side of the director, who forms himself and makes himself available, and on the side of the directee, who seeks God with an undivided heart.

People growing toward God find that more and more the indwelling Trinity is their center of gravity. While they do not neglect duties toward others, their thought and choices are focused on their one love. ... [A]ll the saints did indeed rejoice in the Lord always; they sought and found the supreme Beloved everywhere, even in hardships and suffering (p.269-270).

For both directors and «those who are seriously pursuing God» (p.50), the center remains God, the Trinity, who is the source and end of all sanctity and all happiness, both here and in eternity.