How Can Spiritual Direction Help You?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
After a series of powerful events, I’ve had quite the dramatic Catholic reversion.
As my curiosity and yearning to know and depend on God grew, it drastically reshaped my behavior. In fact, actions that I would have previously called radical started to become the mainstay of my daily life:
I started reading and praying with the daily Mass readings at home.
I began to attend Daily Mass whenever I could.
I was drawn to spend time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in our Adoration chapel as much as possible.
I began to study the Bible.
I committed to monthly Confession on the first Saturday of each month, which includes spending time examining my conscience.
I sought out regular spiritual direction with my Priest.
What Is Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual direction is a Catholic tradition can assist the clergy and the faithful (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2695)—religious and laypeople alike. To learn more about what it is and who should use it, here is a great video that explains more and can assist you in discerning God’s will and growing in faith without a spiritual director. Fr. Mike Schmitz also has a great video on finding a spiritual director.
I first heard about spiritual direction when I read “The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Ávila.” (Psst: Here is a free full audio version of the book). As I read, I fell in love with St. Teresa, deeply relating to the way she described her interior life and her thinking. She makes a profound impact by exposing the reader to her thoughts (even her sinful ones) in a vulnerable way and describing her loving relationship with Christ.
While my holiness cannot be compared to St. Teresa of Ávila, I do strive to become a saint, and her words encouraged me to check my thinking and observe God’s will with the help of someone more experienced than I. I knew that I would become stronger in my relationship with Christ if I could find someone to help me not waste any more time getting caught up in worldly things and ideas.
How Does Spiritual Direction Work?
When asking for advice from business colleagues, mentors, or a mastermind cohort, I typically gain practical or measurable advice. In my experience, counsel in spiritual direction is less concrete—but it has been the missing link in my professional life.
I meet with my spiritual director every three months or so. Consistent check-ins are helping me to make discernment of spirits a normal part of my spiritual life. Much like my monthly Confession commitment, I go consistently not only because I want to stay as “squeaky clean” as possible but also to stay in the consistent practice of examining my conscience.
When I enter meetings with my spiritual director, I commit to putting the worldly on a shelf. Our conversations are discussions about my interior life and how it is reacting to my exterior life. I talk about the stirrings of my heart through all of life’s moments.
There is also an understanding that I had been actively discerning the will of God by watching my daily actions and thoughts throughout the period before our meeting. These observations form the basis of our conversations.
Said another way, I have to make sure I have been doing “God’s homework” consistently in order to use my spiritual director’s time most wisely.
Getting Started
When I started meeting with my spiritual director, I was directed to these helpful resources to more deeply feel and discern God’s stirrings of my heart:
“Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living,” a book by Father Timothy Gallagher.
“Discerning the Will of God: The Ignatian Guide to Chrisitan Decision Making,” a book by Fr. Gallagher.
Discerning Hearts With Fr. Timothy Gallagher, a series of sequential podcast discussions with Fr. Gallagher to talk through the practical application of the 14 Rules of Discernment of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
I devoured these resources, and I continue to study and apply the concepts they teach in order to establish a practice of daily examination. The discernment of day-to-day decisions has helped me with the bigger crossroads as they have come up. What’s more, I can attest that I have never felt so confident in my business and my personal life in letting my yes mean yes and my no mean no, as Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:37).
Aimee Arnold owns multiple small businesses, and her professional experience in marketing, operations, and hospitality spans a handful of industries. Depending on the season, she can also be found foraging wild mushrooms with her husband for homemade pizzas, latin dancing to live music, or cross country skiing off the grid or stand up paddleboarding with her gordon setter. While active in the church in her youth, as an adult, her mass attendance slowly dropped off and eventually became nonexistent. After experiencing the beauty of the sacramentals in a variety of the magnificent churches around the world, like a magnet she was drawn back to consistent mass attendance, and she now encounters Christ in a way she’d never before experienced. Connect with Aimee directly on Instagram, LinkedIn, or at AimeeArnold.com.