Spiritual Direction

This week’s first reading, from the Book of Wisdom, asks how we can know God’s will without the gift of wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit. Our human worries, concerns and temptations to sin can blind us from seeing God’s will for us. Therefore it’s important to seek the wisdom from above to be our guide. St. Francis de Sales knew this, and told anyone who was serious about spiritual perfection to seek out a spiritual director, a trustworthy person with experience in the spiritual life to guide them. Once they found him or her, they should trust and follow, being obedient to the advice given. Of course we do need one very important condition: no one ever has the right to tell us to do something sinful or contrary to the teachings of Scripture and the Church. We should be open to the challenges presented to us and not expect the road to be easy, but at the same time if what is being asked of us or taught to us is not in keeping with the Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition we know we have the wrong spiritual director.

I wrote “him or her,” because a spiritual director can be a priest, religious brother or sister. But even if our spiritual director is not a priest, the first step on the path is to make a good confession. St. Francis recommends that we first make a general confession of our life, though this is not absolutely necessary. Again, I have to give a warning here. I knew a deacon (in another parish, in a different diocese) who made this recommendation and left the people very confused. Once we make an honest confession of our sins to a priest and receive absolution, our sins are forgiven. We do not have to keep on going back over the sins of our past life. This general confession St. Francis recommends is a way to examine our lives, to see where God has been working in us and how we haven’t cooperated with His will as we should. It helps to show us where our weaknesses are, and what sins we may still struggle with. It can also make us appreciate the mercy God has shown us in the past. If we do choose to do this it is a once or maybe twice in a lifetime event. While it is important to regret our sins, and yes even feel a healthy sense of shame, it is unhealthy to constantly relive the faults of the past. Instead we need to make a firm resolution to not sin in the future and trust in God’s mercy and forgiveness.

At this delicate stage of the spiritual journey we must avoid two extremes; one is to look back at our sins and become discouraged, thinking that progress is impossible, or that what we have done is so bad God could never forgive us. Because of this discouragement we either standstill, or worse yet, go back to our old life. The other temptation is to think that this purification will be quick and painless; that our sins are few and that we have little or no need to change. This can lead to pride, and keep us from really examining ourselves thoroughly. Our serious sins may be few, but conversion of life, as we shall see, involves more than eliminating sin. This is only the first step, and unless we are honest and open now, the future steps will be much harder to make. Next time we’ll discuss how to make a good examination of conscience.