Continuing Training in Spiritual Direction
by Fr. Jeffrey T. Simmons

The Benedictine Abbey at Pecos, New Mexico

Three members of the convent community, Fr. Jeff Simmons, Jan Armstrong, and Deacon Sue Taylor, have just returned from a month of training in Spiritual Direction at the Benedictine Abby in Pecos, New Mexico. This is the first of a two-part program, originally inspired by Morton Kelsey, that the Abbey has been offering for several decades. The goal of this training is to help St. Mary's Spiritual Life Center offer a stronger ministry in Spiritual Direction to its associates and friends.

The past 20 years have seen an increase in interest in Spiritual Direction. Even though Spiritual Direction in the Christian Church dates from the time of the Bible (St. Paul's letters to Timothy are letters of Spiritual Direction), the concept is new to many people. My excitement about the ministry of Spiritual Direction comes from the benefits I've received from other people's directing me over the years. In preparing this article, I went back in my memory and made a list of the things that Spiritual Direction has done for me.

It was a spiritual director (although he would not have called himself one) who discovered when I was 18 years old that I had a deep fear of God. His prayers and the example of his own trust in God led me to my first deep experience of God's forgiveness and acceptance.

I had a spiritual director during my first few years as a priest in my own parish. During a time of deep self-doubt and depression, he was able to identify an emotional wound in my past that I was totally unaware of, and lead me to a significant emotional healing. There is some possibility that I might have left the priesthood in despair if I had not been seeing him for direction.

Spiritual directors have spotted and helped me work through my tendency toward scrupulosity (being more aware of my sin than of God's forgiveness), and have helped me achieve much more peace of mind than I would have without them. Most often my spiritual directors have acted as a sounding board, giving me a chance to work through problems and explore my emotions in a loving and safe atmosphere. Over the years it has become obvious how much I need this kind of ministry, because I cannot see myself and my spiritual life as objectively as they can. In making my list, I have convinced myself that whatever spiritual progress I have made my life would have been almost impossible without the help of loving, faithful spiritual directors, who have been channels of God's love for me, and in the process have become close personal friends.

At St. Mary's, we hope to keep expanding our ministry of Spiritual Direction. If you would like to explore how our ministry can benefit you, I would like to talk with you.