Spiritual Direction

After a bit of time working at Shalom, I meet with Sr. Jo for an hour of spiritual direction. I have decided, since she did not want to meet with us as a couple as we were accustomed, I would see this as a time of personal integration, of trying to connect the myriad experiences that have happened to me in the past months.

She asks me what I hope to get out of our time together, and I begin to speak, letting the Spirit bring up the memories and yearnings. I recount the books I have read and the ones I have begun here at Mt. Angel. I bemoan that I seem to pick up one title only to begin another that speaks to me. At the present moment, I am juggling Merton’s The Inner Experience, Life and Holiness, and two volumes of his poems. I’ve also started reading some of the selections of A Tremor of Bliss, about the saints. All this while still trying to finish Palmer’s, The Active Life and Rohr’s Everything Belongs, that I began in Gilroy!

Then I begin talking about my vocation of teaching. I lament that I lose my patience --- and sometimes my temper--- with my students. As much as I want to a Christ-like servant, I fail so often. Sr, Jo reminds me that I am human, and we continue to discuss my aspirations for the coming school year.

By the end of our time together, I feel that I not only know myself better, but I have learned about Sr. Jo. I want to continue my reading ---but with less frenzy. I need to take more time to let the ideas sink into my soul and reflect on their meaning for the direction I am to take in my life. That is what spiritual direction is about: having a spiritual companion who listens to the deepest yearnings of my heart and helps me to understand and articulate them so I can truly find and follow God’s will for my life.