What does a spiritual director offer?
They listen. They engage in conversation, one to another. But, with a focus, to pay attention to what happens when they try to engage in a relationship with God. They encourage them to talk about their experience, asking for clarification and expansion.
They foster a contemplative attitude in directees. Often, the first question isn’t “What does this mean?” rather, “What happened during this experience?”
They help directees discern. Once an experience has been explored in some detail, the Spiritual Director can help the directee with the question of whether this experience is an experience of God, or rather, what in this experience is of God and what is not.
They help directees to notice resistance to new developments in the relationship with God. Exploration of what might be getting in the way.
Prayer. They will pray with and for you. Additionally, they may offer different ways to pray, expanding the way you may already be communicating with God.
*William Barry, “Review of Ignatian Spirituality”, XXXVI, 1/2005
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