On Via de Cristo weekends, we talk about spiritual direction, but for many people don't know exactly what that is. I know most Lutherans are not familiar with this practice. Here are a few quotes that will help you to understand how spiritual direction works.
"Spiritual direction takes place when two people agree to give their full attention to what God is doing in one (or both) of their lives and seek to respond in faith ... Whether planned or unplanned, three convictions underpin these meetings: (1) God is always doing something: an active grace is shaping this life into a mature salvation; (2) responding to God is not sheer guesswork; the Christian community has acquired wisdom through the centuries that provides guidance; (3) each soul is unique; no wisdom can simply be applied without discerning the particulars of this life, this situation."
Eugene Peterson
"We define Christian spiritual direction, then, as help given by one Christian to another that enables the person to pay attention to God's personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God and to live out the consequences of the relationship. The focus of this type of spiritual direction is on experience, not ideas.... Moreover, this experience is viewed, not as an isolated event, but as an ongoing expression of the ongoing personal relationship God has established with each one of us."
William Barry and William Connolly
For more about spiritual direction see these posts:
Is this Spiritual Direction?
Individual Spiritual Direction
Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen with Michael J. Christensen & Rebecca J. Laird–Book Review
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