Are You Obligated To Follow Your Spiritual Director?

[Lea]

On 5/6/2024 at 8:22 AM, GraceUk said:

Would you be obliged to tell the a spiritual director that you wouldn't be following this advice and why. I think you would or else it would be  a waste of everyone's time.  But isn't the idea to guide you towards your goal and explore maybe exactly what your goal is. Not that I know that much about it

Actually, the director for my last retreat explicitly told me not to use all the ideas he proposed to me (because it wozuld have been way to much to fit into the schedule) but to decide for myself which ones to follow and which ones to leave out. But different directors might have different approaches. (: 

Edited May 8, 2024 by Lea

[Sister_Laurel]

Quote

Actually, the director for my last retreat explicitly told me not to use all the ideas he proposed to me (because it wozuld have been way to much to fit into the schedule) but to decide for myself which ones to follow and which ones to leave out. But different directors might have different approaches. (: 

Yes, I tend to give my own  directees a number of suggestions of things to try, write about, pray over, etc. I expect them to determine which they will try, which actually work for them, and so forth. We will discuss all of this but I am a resource and the actual decisions re which ideas to use or keep belong to the directee. This is by far the dominant approach to spiritual direction today. Again, the terms direction and director in spiritual direction have less to do with telling someone what to do than they do with assisting the person to continue in the right direction in their growth toward a mature and authentic humanity in communion with God. Best, Sister Laurel