spiritual direction

Christian Counseling and Spiritual Direction: Balancing Psychological Self-Esteem with Spiritual Humility

Posted on by Mark Moran

Christian Counselors and Spiritual Directors help many individuals coming from deeper issues of loss, trauma, pain, and spiritual darkness that are searching for healing and love in the presence of God.  The dichotomy of Christian theology that expresses the human soul as a child of God but at the same time notates the nothingness of self compared to God is a striking polar opposite.  Obviously, a person in need cannot be declared as nothing and stripped of all goodness that innately exists within their personhood.  With an awakening of self, the spiritual journey and crosses have life has injured many elements of self image and concept, so it is important to elevate self esteem but also eliminate pride.  There lays the delicate balance of understanding and communicating the value of humility but also the praise of self in the healing process.

Humility ironically leads to greatness because it recognizes our dependency upon God

Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification, as well as its Spiritual Direction program

As Creatures

God the Creator, chose to create humanity from nothing due to His infinite love.  As a creatures, it is an essential truth to acknowledge two things.  First, creatures are nothing in comparison to the Creator and second, creatures owe the Creator everything.  God does not wish to force servitude on His creatures, but He is the source of their creation and hence it is only natural and right that creatures worship and adore Him.   This is not due to a sense of entitlement by God, or self-interest and pride in His greatness but a true reality of existence.  When creatures cease to worship and serve the Creator, then their end becomes unnatural.  This unnatural end results in corruption.  Lucifer and his minions rejected this law of nature and instead chose their own will and attempted to alter the natural reality of existence by refusing worship and obedience to the Creator.   The choice did not liberate them from worship but forever corrupted them in pain and suffering.  Since God is infinite love, when one abandons self and seeks God, the act of worship is likened to breathing.  It is natural and just.

As creatures, justice alone suffices to acknowledge the creature’s obligation to serve and worship.  It also clearly points out the dependency and imperfections of the creature in relationship to the Creator.  It would be a delusion of grandeur to glorify one’s stature, talents, appearance, or works as one’s own accomplishments without reflecting the design and influence of the Creator.  This is not a false humility but a reality that every creature must accept as natural.  When a creature attempts to glorify self, it leads to delusion and corruption, but when a creature understands its relation to the Creator, it lives in truth.  Mary, the greatest and most magnificent creature ever created by God, teaches others one’s own nothingness.  At the Annunciation. she responds to the Angel Gabriel’s salutation with a statement of her graceful state as a reflection of God and not of her own doing.

As Children

God transformed creation with His infinite love.  He transformed creatures to His children, from something to someone and ultimately nothing to everything.  God’s love elevates His creatures to children of God.  It is in that relationship that individuals have true identity, self-image, value, and beauty.   God created humanity in His own image and likeness according to Genesis.  In this way, He infused intellect and will.  This permitted His creation to possess a true image of the Divine that possessed sentience and freedom of choice.  It permitted the relationship to be a mutual relationship of love as between parent and child.  In this way, humanity became a prized possession of God, so much, that even after its fall, He was willing to become human, suffer, die and rise to save them from their own folly.  It is through this additional act of love, beyond creation, but also redemption and sanctification that one sees the great value of one single human soul.  The ransom price for each soul at the cross was a heavy price and God gladly paid it through Jesus Christ.

From this, one can see a balance of creature and child.  Nothing and everything.  It is within reflection and acknowledged dependence of the Divine that humanity’s nothingness becomes everything and it is through that a true Christian self esteem can emerge in a directee and spiritual child.  It involves anchoring self-esteem and self-image to the connection with the Divine.

Christian Humility

Since pride corrupts and distorts reality between creature and Creator, then it is important to flee it and foster humility.  Ironically, Scripture points out, the last will become first, and the one who destroys his own life will save it.  These phrases in Christianity all point to a deeper mystery.  It points to the truth that for one to truly find value in self, it is dependent upon complete rejection of self.  This is clearly the opposite message of Lucifer and his fallen temporal world.  The world whispers success at all costs, elevation of self, collection of riches, and exaltation of achievements.   In modern psychology, congruence is seen as self-fulfillment and finding happiness in what one deems to be good.  So many false images of happiness are sought to fulfill one’s own ego and desire in the mirage of temporal happiness only to be illusions that lead to chaos, loss, dissatisfaction, and moral degeneration.  As Lucifer looked to idolize self, and how Adam sought self actualization without God, the temporal and secular man seeks self approval, pleasure and acknowledgement of others.  The demand and adoration of the narcissistic self distorts the reality of creature and attempts to worship self as Creator.  While this may seem subtle and maybe not as dramatic as Lucifer or Adam, the continuation of actions and their temporal gratification and glorification of self create narcissistic qualities that through habit become one’s own deification.  Whether its through social media, fame and fortune or power, the creature becomes intoxicated with self and loses its identity.  This in turn leads to corruption as pride, the source of all sin, leads to further deformity in greed, avarice, lust and envy for more.  It is of no wonder then that creatures then attempt to define their own laws of moral conduct since they have become their own god.

Christian humility is the answer to this disastrous corruption of self.  It is not a degradation of self but is a truthful mirror of a creature in dependence of a Creator.  Like new born babies and infants, Christian humility acknowledges the need of a parent and the inability to exist or succeed without the Divine.  It acknowledges that all accomplishments, successes, fortunes, riches, blessings, talents, virtues, and spiritual progress are God’s grace.  It acknowledges that the creature cannot walk without the gentle guidance of the Creator.   Likening the fallen world to a baby’s crib or playground, the great empires that are built in the creature’s mind are merely tall Lego blocks as compared to omnipotent and eternal presence of God.  To exalt such feeble success to infinite greatness is a folly that Christian humility illuminates.  Christian humility in spiritual direction does not look to tear the person’s success down, or make the person feel insignificant, it seeks to awaken the person from the illusion of the Matrix and to embrace the truth that all good comes from God and not self.  Humility protects the creature from corruption and aligns the creature to reality and truth so that it can grow and become fulfilled as a child of God.  Humility teaches a far greater self value then the self can ever afford for it is supported by a Divine enterprise and loving Father.

When the God, via the Second Person, became incarnated in Jesus Christ, He taught creation these truths.  Jesus highlighted the folly of self adoration and the foolishness of seeking the world before the soul.  Jesus refused the powers afforded to Him by a mere creature, namely Lucifer.  Who in his delusions sought as a creature to afford the Creator power and wealth in a fallen world.  Jesus rejected the pride of Lucifer in the desert and revealed the truth that humility over pride is reality.  Jesus did not grant Himself a rich palace, but instead chose to be born in a stable.  He lived for 30 years under moderate means as a carpenter supporting His mother.  He enjoyed life in its simplicity as a testament to truth of reality.  In His ultimate act of humility, as both God and man, the omnipotent and eternal God, hid Himself in His humanity and permitted the profane hands of creatures to mock and crucify Him.  He stood before the pompus pride of Pilate and permitted this execution to take place, although as Creator, He could at any moment smite the entire Roman legion.  In this humility, He surrendered Himself willing out of love for all His creation to be openly executed.  He never reprimanded them, or exposed His Creatorship but with humility accepted the will of the Father. Christ said to His apostles regarding this fallen world, that if this place rejected Himself, the Creator, it will reject His followers.  He taught them to seek these injustices, these rebukes, and embarrassments and to offer them to God.  These slights should be seen as opportunities to suffer with Jesus and for Him to offer our imperfect deeds to the Father in His name.

In the text, “The Spiritual Combat” by Dom Scupoli, like many writers of his time, there was a great emphasis to acknowledge the nothingness of self.  One sees this in the writings of Avila, as well as Loyola.  Scupoli states that one should completely distrust self and place all trust in the Creator.  In doing so, one accepts the reality that without God, one is truly nothing.  One cannot do a single good deed without the merits of grace earned for oneself by Jesus Christ.  In addition, one should honestly realize that without the gift of love from God, one deserves nothing from God, but nonetheless owes Him everything.  Scupoli points out that pride corrupts the soul and breaks one from the reality of a creature’s true status.   One should then seek the opportunity to be humbled by others and to always reflect one’s accomplishments to God.  In this way, one experiences the truth of reality and avoids the destruction of self glorification.

Self Esteem in Counseling Vs Christian Humility

Christian humility acknowledges God as Creator and source of all our gifts and virtues. Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification and Spiritual Direction Program

While many humanistic counselors may see the degradation of self and one’s inability to do good without the external source of God as undignified, the reality is it prevents the disastrous lies that lead to vice and ultimate maladaptive coping.  Self-esteem is critical for the depressed and broken.  Individuals need to be taught to respect themselves, to love themselves, and to find joy in success.  Counselors help them cultivate the tools to create and meet goals.  It is healthy to find “pride” in accomplishments.    It is also not sinful to accumulate temporal goods and find joy in temporal successes.  However, when the source of one’s self esteem is rooted in self-glorification and one’s own morality and laws, then it becomes untruthful to reality and can cause degradation and misery.  One’s self-esteem must be tied to God.  When tied to God, it is more than it can ever be alone.  One whose self-esteem is tied to God values and loves oneself because God loved oneself first.  One whose self-esteem is tied to God is placed on an objective and unbreakable foundation of Divinity rather than  shaky subjective weak foundation of frail humanity.  Finally, humility with God grants a calm sense of peace in the presence.  Unlike pride which is always moving and self serving, seeking and never content, humility grants peace about the past and security about the future.  Depression of the past or anxiety of the future is tied to pride and not humility.  The humble soul is content and secure in the grace of God because it submits to His will and serves Him.

It is natural than that true self-esteem correlates not with humanistic pride and narcissism, but with Christian humility.  The acknowledgement of weakness and dependency does not weaken self-esteem, but grants it the source of its power through the Creator.  Humility grants to the Creator His reflection and image in the creature.  This humility then elevates the creature beyond any limits imaginable.  This may not translate in this valley of tears as success but it does translate in eternity with Christ by emulating Christ on earth.  Christ’s message of truth was humility because it frees oneself from the illusions of Lucifer.   A great saint once said, the greatest weapon against the devil is humility because he does not know it.

Humility and Psychology

Since humility is so critical to salvation, it is no wonder then that is critical to temporal existence as well.  While counselors help navigate individuals through issues of depression and low self-esteem there needs to remain a balance that does not transgress into narcissistic behavior.  While even secular psychology looks to free the self to find happiness, even it recognizes the dangers of extremes in behavior.  When self esteem becomes narcissistic pride it becomes dysfunctional and socially impedes a person’s mental and emotional progress in life.  In the article, “What Is Humility & Why Is It Important?, Schaffner points out various critical elements of humility in psychology and social interaction.  She points out that humility is key accurate self portrayal, modesty and awareness of others (2020).  In addition, Schaffner lists other key elements of humility which include a willingness to see one’s true self, an understanding of one’s appropriate place in the world, an understanding of one’s faults, limitations and mistakes, a true openness to change, a focus on others, and an ability to appreciate other things outside ourselves (2020).

Like the spiritual benefits, the emotional and psychological benefits seem to both open oneself to others, service, and truth.  Pride that becomes malignant is detrimental to self, growth and society.  Pride becomes an injustice to reality, self and others.   It makes sense than that a Christian perspective on humility is far from detrimental to self-esteem but in reality beneficial.

The Devil and Spiritual Pride

Pride becomes narcissism and creates the illusion of greatness which leads to corruption.

For those who seek God, spirituality opens many doors of illumination and unity with Him.  However, like the souls who seek power in secular venues, spiritual people can befall pride in spiritual endeavors.   Instead of riches and money and fame, the soul boasts of virtue and sanctity and holiness.  Scupoli notes that this is one of the traps of the devil.  Individuals exposed to the world are ensnared differently than individuals seeking spiritual perfection.  Like the Pharisees, spiritual virtue becomes source of power over others.  It becomes their own cultivating gifts instead of a grace given by the Creator.   These souls then find pleasure in their own virtue as a end in itself.  In this pride begins to rot within the soul.   Instead of thanksgiving, gratefulness and humility for grace, the individual gravitates towards holy deeds as their own.  In turn, instead of empathy for others in sin, they find judgement.  Instead of reflection of their own failures and past falls, they only condemn those committing the same offenses.  They feel a sense of entitlement and status and wish for their spiritual sanctity or message to be seen and heard.  They fall into disobedience to spiritual authority and envy others of spiritual status, as well as seek ways to overcome spiritual rivals.  This is the corruption instilled by Satan in spiritual pride.  It utilizes the same schema but unlike utilization in a secular setting, it finds its use in a spiritual one.  This is why Christ was so abrupt with the Pharisees because He understood their rottenness and pride.

Scupoli recommends that individuals flee all vanity in the spiritual life and to recall one’s own distrust of self and complete reliance of God.  While thankful and happy to receive graces from God as any child, he also reminds one to never believe that these gifts are a result of sanctity or worthiness.   He warns one to never find disgust in another’s faults but to remember the same faults that exist in oneself and if not for God’s grace, how one would be no better.  He reminds one that one fails God or sins to not scrupulously over analyze the fall but to seek immediate forgiveness.  When one over analyzes failure, one tends to oppositely attribute success or failure as to one’s own means.  One can never reach perfection.  One is never worthy.  Only through blood of Christ and the ransom paid is one made worthy.  A humble soul participates with Christ but no works or deeds can ever save himself but only through the faith of Christ which produces a living faith of works energized by His grace.  So, no matter how hard one may try to reach Christian perfection, no creature of himself or herself can ever be perfect.  Many sincere souls rightfully fear offending God and seek each day to avoid sin at all costs.  While this is important, it is equally important to understand that one when fails, it is due to our one’s own brokenness and one cannot allow pride to seep in the crevices of thinking one cannot sin.  Humility since it is based in truth is also aware of brokenness and sin as a part of an imperfect nature due to Original Sin.  Hence when sin occurs, one should humbly acknowledge the brokenness and pray harder to God for future graces.  Humility constantly re-directs oneself to God after sin because it acknowledges that oneself cannot live a good life without God’s grace.

Scupoli reminds individuals that sin and suffering and crosses are tools God utilizes to foster humility.  Through failures, the soul realizes even more so its utter dependence upon God.  The moment the soul falsely feels it can move forward of its own devices and virtue, then it is destined for failure via the vice of pride.  In this way, God reminds His children that they need Him, not out of arrogance but out of necessity of reality.

Conclusion 

Work hard, stay humble and reflect all greatness to God in your life. Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification and also its Spiritual Direction Program

Christian humility is not meant to deface self-esteem, or identity.  It is meant to strengthen it through connection with God.  It is based in reality and not the false assumptions and illusions of the world that celebrate arrogance, power, and success over piety, reliance and thanksgiving.  Pride is the great illusion of self where one puts self on a pedestal as god.  It corrupts and destroys like it did to Lucifer.  The great deceiver hopes to trick humanity into being prideful about self and elevating the creature to the level of Creator.  It is not depraving or neglectful to rightfully and truthfully understand one’s nature of dependence upon God.  It does not depress self-esteem but permits self-esteem to actualize itself through the connection of grace with God.  Humility is the tool for this relationship because it, unlike pride, acknowledges the reality between Creator and creation.

Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification as well as its Spiritual Christian Direction program

Additional Blogs

Christian Happiness and God.  Access here

Christian Suffering.  Access here

Reference

Scupoli, D. (1589).  Spiritual Combat (2024 edition). Holy Water Books.

Additional Resouces

Schaffner, A. (2020). “What Is Humility & Why Is It Important? (Incl. Examples)”. Psychology Today.  Access here

“4 things everyone should know about humility”. Active Christianity.  Access here

Johnson, S. “The Vice of Pride”.  Access here

Christian Spiritual Direction and Counseling: Analysis on Ignatian Discernment of Spirits and Election

Posted on by Mark Moran

This is a short blog that will analyze and clarify St. Ignatius’ concept and semantics regarding desolation and consolation and their use in discernment of spirits and election or choice.  This is a general blog for any interested reader as well as a synopsis for those in AIHCP’s Christian Counseling or Spiritual Direction courses, as well as those enrolled in Ignatian Spirituality.

Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification.

Introduction

Desolation and Consolation are spiritual phases and states that come and go throughout the spiritual life. Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Certification

For those in the Spiritual Direction Program, consolation and desolation are universal Christian terms but primarily stemming from the Catholic tradition.  So for those who are Protestant or from non-denominational faith traditions, do not feel intimidated.  These concepts can be applied and should be applied in spiritual direction regardless of Christian denomination.  None of these concepts deal with any dogmatic dispute between denominations of Christianity and can be universally applied to Catholic/Orthodox and Protestant traditions.  These concepts are extremely helpful in guiding souls as well as helping alleviate spiritual times of suffering.

I would like to point out that the terms desolation as well as consolation can be utilized more generic in sense regarding mood of the soul.  St Ignatius points out that in consolation, the soul’s interior is aroused with spiritual sweetness from the Creator and inclined to the will of God via this good spirit.  In contrast, he states that desolation is a time of inner turmoil and restlessness of the soul when it is inclined away from God and influenced by a false spirit.

This may seem confusing when we hear the term consolation and desolation its pure emotional semantic meaning.  In cases of other mystics, such as St Teresa of Avila, consolations are times when the soul feels God’s presence and desolations are when the soul does not feel God’s presence.  I myself in a video reference the term in this more simple format.   Ignatius would refer to desolation in this sense as difficult consolation because the soul is still inclined towards God and pushing forward while in Ignatius’ concept of true desolation, the soul is falling away from God, albeit not necessarily in a state of sin but one of spiritual apathy.   St Teresa of Avila refers to simple desolation as more spiritual aridity, while Ignatius seems to refer to it more as spiritual apathy.  These are big differences but I wanted to notate this when reading the Ignatian texts.  Again for Avila, it is a simple emotional state, for Ignatius it is more than just mood but also a disposition of the soul that comes and goes in different phases and periods of times.  So there is a distinction between Avila and Ignatius between an emotional state and a spiritual state in regards to the word.  Again, desolation is not in itself sinful but it can lead to sin and bad habits because it is guided by false spirits and interior dispositions.

What are Consolations and Desolations?

Consolation

A soul in consolation is in sync with God. While some saints use the word semantically to explain emotional states, Ignatius broadens it to also mean states of being.

A consolation can be considered an emotional state of intense union with God but also a spiritual state of union with God that is in sync with God’s will and laws.  According to Thibodeaux, it can be dramatic as well as placid in nature (2020). In a dramatic state, the soul experiences a moment with God that is overwhelming and exciting to the soul and the body’s senses.  It is uplifting and warm.  One in a state of placid consolation is not a in a current state of intense excitement but a consistent balance.  In comparison, consider dopamine and serotonin.  Dopamine as a neurotransmitter produces an intense edge, while serotonin as a neurotransmitter produces stability of mood.  I think this best explains this balance between dramatic and placid consolation.

It is important to remember that consolation itself is gift.  It cannot be earned by praying a certain way or meditating but is a gift from God.  He grants it to whoever He desires.  We should then be grateful and thankful to God when He chooses to gift the soul with more intense presences.   St Teresa of Avila expresses different states of reward in prayer, namely the Prayer of the Quiet when God reveals Himself without effort on the part of the person, as well as Prayer of the Union, when the soul also receives an unexpected and unearned gift of a deep unitive gift with the Divine.  These are all greater examples of consolations.  Ignatius also speaks of unexpected and memorable spiritual experiences and refers to them as Consolations without Previous Cause (Thibodeaux, M., 2020).   This is similar to extraordinary spiritual experiences that the soul is granted by God.

Strangely enough, even during consolation, the soul can feel what St Teresa of Avila would refer to aridity.  St. Ignatius does not refer to this state of aridity as a desolation but a Difficult Consolation (Thibodeaux, M., 2020).  In this, Ignatius points out that the soul is still directed toward God and is not facing a desolation that puts the soul out of sync with God.  Instead, while still experiencing aridity, the soul still is orientated toward God.

Desolation

In contrast, desolations, according to St. Ignatius, are darker moments of the soul’s spiritual phases.  It is time associated with anxiety, depression, and inclination towards false spirits and bad habits.  The soul is not in sync with God.  These false spirits can but are not necessarily even demonic in nature but more natural inclinations of humanity’s fallen nature.  Energies or inclinations towards the world, or particular vices that bring the soul downward away from God towards other sources of “completeness”.   This state does not designate sin in itself but can lead to sinful situations and sinful aspirations.

Like consolations, the desolation can be dramatic or placid in nature.  They can be an intense anxiety or merely a tiresome and gradual decay of the soul’s spiritual life with God.  In other cases, there can be False Consolations, where the soul feels it is following God’s calling but in reality is fulfilling one’s own desires and needs (Thibodeaux, M., 2020).

The Spiritual Life: A Spiritual Rollercoaster

Spiritual life is filled with waves of consolation and desolation, as well as emotional “consolation” and “desolation”.  Life happens and things can occur that make us very happy or very sad or angry.  These life events can steer us closer or away from God through certain phases of life.  The loss of a child, or a parent, or any loved one can lead some individuals into a desolation against God which includes anger and resentment.  Likewise, individuals can go through numerous loses and pains in life, but still remain in sync with God, but feel truly empty and sad over such losses.  These are natural bio-rhythms.  Like the body, the soul also goes through natural ups and downs.  What is important is to orientate one’s self to never lose sight of God even in the rough times, even in times we do not feel His presence.

It is also crucial to understand the psychological components of desolation as well as consolation.  Psychotherapy tends to separate soul care and mental health but both are uniquely tied together.  This does not mean clinical depression should only receive spiritual advice but it does mean within all melancholy, there is also a saddening of the soul.  States of depression can distort thinking and value of self as well as one’s relationship with God.  Desolation can make one doubt one’s love from God, as well, as to hate oneself for past sins and feel a lack of forgiveness.  These deeper states of desolation leave the soul out of sync with the Divine and can lead it to other maladaptive practices to find solutions from the pain.  So, spiritual desolation itself can be a dark time, but it is even darker when tied to mental health issues.  Spiritual Directors, while understanding the union between soul and mind, but also understand the need to refer individuals for psychological help when signs and symptoms of clinical depression emerge.

Guiding others through Spiritual States

The Spiritual Director is trained to help souls through consolation and desolation and also in helping them in discernment

Thibodeaux discusses multiple applications of spiritual direction through different states of consolation and desolation.

In consolation, he lists numerous points but importantly, one needs to remember to encourage humility and thankfulness in these states, but also to prepare one for future desolation.  In times of consolation, he recommends that individuals journal the good times so when tougher times arrive, they can fall back on these emotions and feelings as a spiritual anchor.  He also points out that it is during these times that one has the most clear head to make elections or decisions (2022).  Ignatius believed during consolation, the soul is able to understand God most and be able to make decisions.  Decision making is difficult enough.  Life decisions are not easy mathematical equations but require our whole being partaking in it.  When one’s conscious and subconscious –mind and soul–find God’s presence and can hear His voice, then elections can be made.   However, like any dopamine affect, it is important to reflect also on these decisions which are indeed well-founded, but once a more stable mood is restored, one can reflect on the extraordinary insight God has given.   This is why Ignatius, while dictating the validity of election in this state, does think it is wise for immediate action on it until it is reflected upon.  Ignatius teaches that discernment also involves feeling the spirits of the movement.  In consolation, these are genuine, but one must be certain of the genuine experience.   This is especially true if one experiences an extraordinary spiritual state, as as Ignatius would refer “Consolation Without Previous Cause”.  In this state, the soul, as well as the body feeling in the intake of dopamine and happiness, should wait a short period to stabilize mood wise.  In this way, the intellect can share in the evaluation of the message before acting in  haste (Thibodeaux, M., 2022).  Spiritual Director help souls recognize true consolation over false consolation and also help souls discern the messages and movements of the soul during them.  They help the soul understand when it is good to make a choice or election when sound mind exists that correlates with the valid message of a consolation.

In regards to desolation, it is a time for even more renewed prayer and  to remind the directee that acting on any impulses or changes during this time is dangerous.  A soul in desolation, even in troubled consolation, should not act due to the variety of emotional blinders.  Until the blinders are removed, the soul could be influenced to poor decisions.  For instance, many depressed individuals turn to maladaptive coping or choices for a quick fix.  They will try to feel good by merely making a move in life to alleviate the desolation.  Spiritual Directors must utilize empathy, patience, and unconditional positive regard to these souls.  They need to help them cognitively reframe false assumptions or low images of self that have influenced them via the false spirit.  Psychology gives many tools to help people rethink about themselves.  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy teaches individuals that bad thoughts create bad self image and behaviors associated with those thoughts.  It is important to reframe these thoughts or images and help the directee re-evaluate in a different light.

Another important thing to consider in desolation is the movement of the enemy within the soul.  A soul that begins to change itself will be met with loud noise and anger from the enemy.  Those looking to re-orientate themselves will face stiff resistance that can produce anxiety and depression.   It is not only a spiritual battle, but also a psychological rewiring of neuropathways that are tied to bad habits of the past.  Likewise, the soul who is muddied and stuck in desolation quietly acquiring bad habits of spiritual sloth, or any other vice, will form habits but the approach of the enemy will be far more quiet and less disturbing.  Only till the soul pulls away, will the enemy become loud again with persistence in pushing bad habit and vice.

It is of no wonder then that Ignatius emphasizes the danger of making an election or drastic decision in this state of being.  Only until balance or equilibrium is restored with God can the soul regain composure to make healthy and good decisions that are aligned with God.  Spiritual Directors who work with souls in deep and acute desolation need to help the soul again find balance and then exhibit extreme patience with the individual as he or she again looks to hear God and answer Him.

Desolation is obviously a natural part of life.  It can be caused by life itself and the sorrows of this world.  It can be deep and disorientating but it does not necessarily mean the soul needs to lose sight of God.  Those in desolation, or even simple aridity, are called even more so to daily prayer, even if there is no warmth or sense of happiness.  Eventually, the soul will come out of desolation, but again, those with psychological issues, with also require professional mental health providers to help them.

Why would God permit this?  First, it is the natural state of humanity.  In regards to abandonment, Christ Himself felt alone or desolate, albeit, never out of align or not in sync with God, since He is God incarnate, but this does not mean He did not sense or feel within His human nature, the fear, anxiety and angst of life.  In the Garden, He wept blood, and on the cross, He felt forsaken.  So, whether in desolation, aridity, or troubled consolation, the emotions and feelings associated with it are part of the natural world.  Jesus teaches us how to fight them.

God also uses these moments as teaching moments to train the soul on its dependence on God.  St. Ignatius points out that the soul can become proudful of its own accomplishments in false consolations, or may feel consolations of intense proportion are earned or deserved.  A soul that continues to fight, sees its own humility and dependence upon God can learn much through desolation and aridity.

Conclusion

Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling as well as Spiritual Direction Certifications

I hope this clarifies some of the semantics regarding desolation and consolation that we hear in spiritual states of life.  Obviously this is more so focusing on St. Ignatius and the Thibodeaux text in understanding consolation and desolations in Spiritual Direction and how to guide souls through these states to make better choices.

Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Program as well as its Christian Counseling Program

Reference

Thibodeaux, M, SJ. (2022). Ignatian Discernment of Spirits for Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Care: Going Deeper. Loyola Press.

Additional AIHCP Blogs

Vocation and Discernment: Access here

Desolation and Affliction.  Access here

Additional Resources

Peoples, I. (2022). “Jesuit 101: Consolation and Desolation”.  The Jesuit Post.  Access here

“Consolation and Desolation”. Ignatian Discernment Institute.  Access here

“Discernment: Consolation and Desolation”. Loyola Press.  Access here

 

 

Christian Spiritual Direction: Spiritual Discontent

Posted on by Mark Moran

Within the realm of spiritual combat and spiritual warfare, Satan looks to cause discontent within a soul and stir it into anxiety and upheaval.  Various souls at different levels of spiritual formation can experience this at different levels and varying degrees.  Ultimately, spiritual discontent leads to discontent in life which then leads to lack of peace and calm.  The focus of Christ who grants peace is less focal as the person looks to find satisfaction to the illusion of discontent within the world.  As the soul distances itself from Christ and embraces physical comforts, it then becomes more vulnerable to sin, vice and demonic influence.  Spiritual Directors, as well as Christian Counselors, can help direct and re-orientate clients/directees to the causing source of why they feel a certain a way, expose it and redirect them to Christ.  This blog will examine discontent, tools that lead to it and re-calibration of the soul to God.

(Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Certification, as well as AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Program.  The Spiritual Direction Program is a Christian based program to help train directors in helping individuals enhance their relationship with God and cultivate a holier interior life, while the Christian Counseling Program is an integrated program of counseling with a Christian world view.  Programs are open to both clinical as well as only pastoral counselors, but bear in mind, all professionals must retain their services within the scope of their professional and legal practice.  This means pastoral counselors, as well as spiritual directors who are not licensed counselors are limited in care beyond pathology, cannot diagnose, and cannot prescribe.  However, Spiritual Direction, unlike Christian Counseling, is more concerned with spirituality than psychological and secular issues.)

Christ Calls Us to Peace and Calm

When one takes their eyes off Christ, the storm of reality can overtake oneself.  Like Peter, when he removed his eyes from the Lord during the storm, he no longer walked on water, but began to sink.  One must constantly focus on Christ amidst the storm.   Christ also compared individuals to the birds of the air.  He stated that even the birds of the air and their requirements are met by the Father, and if so, why would human beings who are more important receive less?  Yet, when individuals take their eyes off Christ, His peace and  calm can easily be replaced with chaos and anxiety.  A soul in the state of anxiety, depression, or discontent looses focus of the present.  The soul then becomes distracted by other illusions of happiness that meet immediate needs that distract it from the truth.  It is the opposite call of the peace and calm of Christ which promises long and sustaining happiness.

Happiness and Discontent

Finding calmness and peace in God and aligning one’s will with His leads to true happiness here and in the next life. Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Program

Happiness and being content are essential drives in the human will.  Souls can fall into a holy discontent of lostness while other souls can fall into a state of discontent that looks to find happiness in temporal things of this world  Unfortunately, the human will numerous times is attracted to false idols of happiness that is mistakes for truth and beauty.  Individuals instead of fostering virtue which promises long term peace, calm, and joy, individuals reach out for the quick and easy fix of many vices that lead to immediate satisfaction and pleasure, but ultimately chaos, suffering and despair.  Individuals who are suffering or in despair or discontent will many times turn to maladaptive coping strategies to find this illusion of happiness.  They will turn to addictions, drugs, and practices that harm the body and soul over the long term, despite the temporary respite of illusionary happiness.  Human beings will grasp at tangible, temporary,  secular goods, objects or money that do not grant true happiness but only temporary distraction.  All of these things can fade and fail to give the person true deep sense of self and happiness.  Even, when individuals throw themselves into work, or hobbies, or other secular activities, once the noise is gone and one finds oneself alone to self, does the true discontent and lack of fulfillment manifest.  Chasing other gods in the secular world leads to misery.  These images, ideals, or relationships cannot ensure or sustain the true calm, peace and happiness found in God.  Yet, the discontent seek things that give the temporary relief.  They seek the dopamine effect instead of the serotonin effect.  Instead of long term stability, they seek the thrill of the moment to mask the pain.

Like all gifts from the world, they are temporary and when secular gifts are dominated through the vices of avarice, greed and envy, then they lead to pathways of greater discontent.  Satan never grants something without future suffering attached.   The moment a soul engages in vices that demand more and disregard simple poverty of spirit, as well as justice in attainment of gifts, then the soul is open to manipulation to utilize any means to reach any ends.  At the source leading to these greater vices of avarice, greed and envy is the spirit of discontent.  It is the seed Satan sows to break down a soul and lead a soul to ruin.

Discontent is cultivated through three ways.  Satan induces into the soul regret over the past, anxiety over the future and ingratitude for the present.  Ironically, within the field of psychology and counseling, depression, anxiety and discontent are some of the top things that are dealt with, prescribed for and counseled.  The need and drive for happiness is so great that it can lead to a multitude of sorrows when not properly directed.  A calibrated and orientated soul to God, lets go of the regret of the past.  It is not haunted by guilt but knows their sins have been forgiven and paid for at a high price.  A soul in daily prayer with God is promised of hope for the future and given a grace of calm and peace when presented with uncertainty.  A soul that understands lasting happiness is in God, properly understands the hierarchy of needs and wants.  It is grateful for what is present, but can differentiate between secular needs and secular wants.  It recognizes the humility and spiritual poverty of Christ while on earth and the lavish lies of the world.  It further grasps the importance of eternal salvation and spiritual graces over the fading riches of the world. Yet, the soul of discontent is blinded.  The blindness may be due to a loss and a discontent with God over it.  It may be due to a past trauma that has pushed the soul to maladaptive practices to ease the pain at all costs.  It may be due to a poorly orientated conscience that finds value in material goods, being consumed by avarice, greed and envy.  Whatever the reason, the source of the discontent needs to be addressed in order to properly realign the soul to God.

Tools of Satan to Spread Discord and Discontent

Any gift given by God to humanity, or for that matter any advancement in science and society can be twisted by Satan for his own purpose.  The freedom of human will to love God was distorted to reject God, the gift of sex in marriage for procreation and love was distorted for pleasure, control and manipulation, and the list goes on and on.  The same is true of invention and social advancement.   Communication through radio, television, the internet, as well as social media are gifts to a modern society when properly utilized to spread God’s word, to communicate needs of others and share news of disaster, to allow one’s mind to rest with innocent entertainment and to share and greet other friends and loved ones but when things are used in excess or directed towards selfish ends, then gifts quickly become curses.   These curses can also become addictions that steal from one’s prayer life and communication with God.  They can take away from physical exercise, work, family time, and academic pursuits.

Like any drug, or addiction, things can become excessive, chip away from duty, and cause ultimate distress and discontent.  The devil has moved on to modernity with new tools to cause discontent.  Yes, the classics still exist, drugs, sex, material goods and greed are still staples of his plan, but he has utilized modern tools to spread even faster the 7 capital sins to the world through mass media, television and social media.   News on demand, social media posts, twitter comments, and opinions of someone never met can know harbor within the soul great frustration and daily anger.  Instead of focusing on good things and one’s daily duty, individuals are more angry than ever and even more so, more manipulated into anger than ever.  In addition, life styles that were rarely seen are now on constant display through TikTok and other media platforms that display rich lifestyles, immoral behavior and perfect bodies.   Children addicted to their phones find themselves hypnotized by influencers.  Others see a life on social media they can never attain or have and feel immense envy or discontent in their own life.  They begin to question if their looks are good enough, their car, their clothes, or home, or money in the account.  Instead of grateful, they become ungrateful.  Instead of seeing how much they are blessed with, they see how much they do not have in comparison to others.  Envy, greed and avarice then grows.  No longer is one focused on Christ and His simplicity, but one is focused on how to get more of this world.  This pushed a greater wedge in life between the person and God, preventing grace, and allowing seeds of the evil one to corrupt.

Facebook too celebrates false illusions.  While like all social media tools, it is beneficial to spread information, share life events (hopefully not too personal), it still responsible when misused to create an altar to oneself.  While sense of pride in self is good and pictures are sometimes more taken due to low self-esteem, the vice of pride and vanity can quickly take power if one is not proportionate in one’s relationship with God and others.  One can be proud of one’s achievements and share them but they must always be done in a sense of humility attributing success, physical looks or talents, or material possessions as gifts from God.

Within itself, the modern cell phone, whether Android or Iphone has given individuals instant accessibility to so many things that others have never had before.  The mere invention of the internet, was equally as powerful as the dawn of the radio and television.  It opened so many venues for business, communication and entertainment but for new generations who are growing up immersed within it, there is lack of appreciate for patience, work, and research.   Information can be quickly accessed instead of laboriously researched or sought out.  This is not a bad thing but when appreciation is lost in the process for this great marvel, then human defect can emerge.   This defect expects instant gratification instead of endurance and enduring fortitude.  This instant gratification has also enabled immoral resources to be more ready available to the consumer.  Television when misused could grant options for porn but with federal restrictions, one had to order special prescriptions for late night programs, or rent pornographic material from a store with all the labeling of shame and embarrassment accompanied with it.  With the mobile handheld phone, any website of illicit and immoral behavior became available.  Without the communal nature of a television or family computer, one can quickly and without hesitation discover immoral material simply via search within one’s privacy of a bedroom.   These conveniences for sin and instant gratification have presented serious problems for the spiritual life.  In some ways, it has afforded one forbidden knowledge which ironically is displayed upon an Iphone with a bitten apple!

Treating Discontent in Spiritual Direction

As pointed out discontent is the tool of the enemy to drive a wedge between God and the soul.  The role of the Spiritual Director to help repair that wedge by helping the soul receive God’s grace to realign itself.  This involves not only a spiritual movement of the soul but also a cognitive reframing of one’s life.  The Spiritual Director needs to help the soul identify needs and wants and create a hierarchy of goods.  The Spiritual Director needs to address the differences between pleasure and happiness.   He or she needs to help the directee see the false idols of happiness and how they may grant temporary pleasure but fail to give the soul true happiness in peace with God.  Ultimately, the director needs to express to the directee, that one must have faith in Christ and allow for God to unfold what plans He has.  Seeking out the world, prevents and blinds the soul from finding God’s plan which will lead to contentment.  So many times, individuals resist and resist God’s design for them, and they wonder why they suffer from discontent.  Like a child who thinks he or she knows best, many push one’s own agenda over God’s agenda.  The agenda of God is not meant to imprison a soul, but to free a soul to true happiness.  This step of faith, this acceptance of what God has designed for an individual is the true source of happiness.  This is why Satan seeks to distract everyone from this path.  Instead one must trust in God’s plan, open oneself to discern it, and trust the outcome.  The director can help one see everyone has a plan that is tied to one’s true peace and happiness.

A Spiritual Director can help a directee align one’s need and wants with God and His ultimate will. Too many times souls are misled by worldly things and seduced by the devil through avarice, greed and envy

The Spiritual Director can also point to the simplicity of Christ.   He or she can compare and contrast the life of Christ as compared to so many s0-called influencers, stars, socially elite, wealthy individuals and powerful politicians.   Jesus, Mary and Joseph never were rich or powerful in this world by its standards.  The powers of Satan and his world, as the Gospel of John states, knew Him not.  The same world rejected the life of the world.  Christ could have by His own decree, riches and power, but instead He chose a stable to be born.  His mother and foster-father lived in simplicity, while all knowing, the King of Kings was their Son, yet they accepted this simplicity.   Spiritual Directors can ask directees how much more, does Christ even bless them in this world  than He did His own life and family?  The powerful image of the Holy Family represents an important image to content and discontent and the lies of the world that brew this depression, anxiety, and ingratitude.

Cognitively reframing one’s life as a blessing, as a glass half full, and appreciating the many gifts granted by God is important, but many have far less.  Many are disturbed by depression, or face severe trauma and intense addictions.  Obviously Spiritual Direction approaches these issues from a spiritual perspective, but unless a clinical professional, many of these issues need also addressed by other clinical professionals to help heal the fullness of the person.  Working in conjunction with clinical professionals, upon approval of directee, can help heal the person at all level of his or her self.

Spiritually, the director can point out that the past pains, addictions and maladaptive coping, or whatever vices present are results of horrible things.  Sometimes, spiritual discontent is tied to emotional trauma, extreme loss, and heavy crosses.  It may be very difficult to see the glass as half full.  Neither should these complaints be ignored in spiritual direction.   The spiritual director approaches the vulnerability of each directee with empathy, unconditional positive regard and a genuine concern in agape love of neighbor.  The director wishes to share in this pain and help the person find oneself out of this spiritual darkness.  Through acknowledgement of the evils and losses, then one can begin to face them and to weed out the misconceptions planted by the enemy to use these horrible things as wedges from God. Instead, one can acknowledge the hard and horrible nature of life, but also find the love and peace God offers.

One must recall, that Christ not only through the Holy Family serves as an example for most souls who express ingratitude when life has not been that horrible, but the Holy Family also serves as an example for souls who have suffered unjustly.   The Holy Family fled to Egypt because King Herod sough to kill the Christ Child.  The Holy Family experienced loss, the death of St Joseph.  Christ wept at the tragic and traumatic beheading of His cousin, St John the Baptist and He wept over the death of Lazarus.   Mary, herself, experienced the most painful spiritual martyrdom of watching the execution and crucifixion of her Son.   So, the Holy Family, as a source of calm and peace and gratitude in simplicity illustrates examples for those suffering basic spiritual discontent and traumatic emotional discontent.

Through this reframing and education about gratitude and life, the director can then re-introduce one to giving oneself to Christ.  By simply saying “Jesus, I trust in You”, the soul can re-orientate itself to Christ.  One can then realign needs, and desires with what matters most.  Does this mean, one is called to live a vow of poverty?  Does it mean, one is to wear sackcloth, or never want or desire a nice new pair of shoes, or maybe buy a nice new car?  For some, maybe, if their calling, but for most, absolutely not.  God does grant one physical gifts within His will, but they must be understood as means to an end on this earth.  The director helps one understand the nature of temporal goods in relationship to spiritual salvation and human relationship.  The director helps one to find joy in the temporal goods, or talents, one possesses as gifts from God.  One’s material possessions are understood as good but also as fleeting and not permanent.  They are made to be seen as not ends in themselves, or things to obsess over, or envy, or become emotional over.  Is it natural to lose one’s temper or feel frustration, if one stains a new shirt, or an car is nicked in the parking lot?  Of course, but to what extent?  What extent does one feel discontent over mishaps over these physical gifts?

Again, some souls are called to a more absolute material poverty, while others are not, but the important thing for the director in regards to the majority of the population is to properly attune one’s  connection with those goods, as well as one’s desires to attain future goods in relationship and proportionately to God’s will, salvation and the relationship with others.

Conclusion

Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction and also its Christian Counseling Programs

Spiritual Directors need to understand the nature of discontent and how it sows within the soul depression, anxiety and ingratitude.  The evil one hopes to steal the focus of Christ for other material goods or achievements and destroy peace, calm, and contentment.   He primarily pushes one to regret the past, worry about the future and be discontent with the present.  Some individuals suffer greater losses or traumas to be pushed to these extents and require both spiritual and also psychological aid but for many, the discontent finds its place in illusionary idols of happiness which grant immediate pleasure with future discontent over sustained happiness with calm and peace.  Satan never grants gifts without future suffering!  All gifts from God, whether spiritual, physical or temporal are distorted by the evil one to cause discontent.  Satan uses many modern conveniences to cause discontent when these things should be used for the greater honor and glory of God and the betterment of humanity.  Despite this, many souls fall victim to avarice, greed, pride and envy.  Spiritual Directors need to help souls understand the hierarchy of needs and wants.  While some may be called to absolute poverty, most individuals are not and they must be shown the value of material goods as gifts and means to an end as opposed to the end itself.  They must be taught that temporal gifts are temporary and not permanent and not as important as salvation.  They must be taught to emulate the Holy Family in simplicity to better find true peace and happiness.  Spiritual Directors can help individuals reframe desires and needs and attune them with the Will of God and the peace and calm that comes with that.

Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Program as well as its Christian Counseling Program!

Additional Blogs

Spiritual Planning.  Access here

Spiritual Desolation.  Access here

Additional Resources

Fr. Reheel “On  Problems of Social Media”.  Access here

Rev. Oganlade. “What the Bible Says About Discontent: Understanding Its Definition and Implications”. God’s Blessing.  Access here

“6 Steps to Handling Holy Discontent”. CrossWalk.  Access here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual Direction: Spiritual Planning Strategies

Posted on by Mark Moran

The secular world voices concerns over many types of planning.  Financial planning dominates most venues as critical to one’s security and future retirement.  Commercials flood the television with various firms that can assure oneself and one’s family’s future through the guidance of financial advisors.  One also sees the shift of importance to health and dieting, as well as intense workout plans.  Life coaches, personal trainers all help create unique physical and dietary plans to the needs of one’s personal goals and health number parameters.   Such concern over health and financial security is important and should be on the top of everyone’s list but in the secular world, seldom does one hear of spiritual planning.  If one’s bodily health, or financial security or stability of one’s retirement in the temporal realm is important, where is the more pressing concern of one’s spiritual health, spiritual security or heavenly retirement?  In the secular world, as St Teresa of Avila points out, so many exist outside the interior castle of the soul and its inner monologue and relationship with God.  The soul is so blinded by the needs of the body that it forgets itself.  Instead it ONLY sees the needs of the body, its health, its security and its future at the expense of the soul’s eternal salvation.  When imbalance of such exists, then these physical goals and planning become illusions and false idols that detract from one’s final end.   This is a very perilous life style.

Spiritual planning based upon God’s will is key. Spiritual planning should be as primary a concern as any financial planning. Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Program

In this blog, we will look at Spiritual Planning and how to implement some the most basic elements of it to provide spiritual growth and stability and a closer relationship with God.  In this blog, our financial planning is interest in grace not money, growth in virtue not assets, security in God not bonds, and retirement in heaven not Florida.  This blog in itself could be a long manuscript on such a broad subject, but will attempt to keep the subject as compact as possible with also consideration to other blogs and concepts, as well as texts, within AIHCP Christian Counseling as well as Spiritual Direction resources that have already touched on similar concepts found in this blog.

Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Program, as well as its Christian Counseling Certification.

A Christian Mindset in Spiritual Planning

It is imperative for Christians to remember that salvation is not an accounting book of one’s own good deeds versus bad deeds.  One cannot live a sinless life.  The fall of Adam has prevented such endeavors and as broken human beings, we need the grace of God, earned through His Son on Calvary for salvation.   One’s faith in Christ is essential for salvation, for one cannot find salvation in one’s own works.  Pelagius, an early Church heretic, attempted to heretically teach that one’s human nature was not completely corrupted and that one, albeit rare, could imitate Christ and possibly live a sinless life.  Pelagius believed works could save oneself.  This was condemned by the Church at the Council of Carthage, and equally rebuked by the great saint, St. Augustine.  St Paul indeed teaches that it is through Christ and His death and one’s faith in Christ that souls are saved, but it is important to understand that faith is more than a formal assent, but is a cooperation with the graces earned by Christ at Calvary.  Christians are not saved by faith “alone” which was never included in the original translation but through faith which encompasses a working nature. Scripture emphasizes a working faith in Christ that balances the assent of faith with its fruits and works, for St James emphasizes the balance of spiritual works in faith.   Christ, Himself, commands His followers to keep His commandments.

Hence as Christians believe that one cannot earn heaven by oneself, as if balancing a ledger, but one must completely rely on the grace earned by Christ, at such a high cost for each of us, for one’s salvation.  The fruits of the working faith, the cooperation with the grace earned by Christ for one’s salvation, does not belong to oneself but a when connected to Christ, and under the grace of the Holy Spirit, become salvific.  Spiritual Directors, as well as Christians who attempt to better themselves in spiritual life, must first come to this ultimate surrender that their salvation is not their own but a gift from Christ and applied through the Holy Spirit.  The Blood of Christ cleanses one of sin and pays the price for that Original Sin of Adam as well as the actual sins committed by oneself.  Alone, no matter what one does, like the past sacrifices of patriarchs, are insufficient, but when aligned with Christ and His death, where one’s cross becomes tied to Christ’s cross, then they become pleasing to God.   Christians are not activators of their salvation, nor are they passive recipients of it, but are cooperators with what was earned at the cross, motivated by grace to the gift of salvation.

The Spiritual Planning strategies in this blog do not replace Christ’s gift of salvation, but are grace motivated gifts of the Holy Spirit to participate in that redemption at a more efficient way.  While the soul participates, it is the grace of the Holy Spirit that encourages it, strengthens it and molds it.  Unlike physical fitness and planning, where one plays a key role in physical transformation-albeit guided and trained by another, the spiritual transformation of a soul is the work and grace of the Holy Spirit.

It is important then to find humility upon any spiritual transformation-for all virtue and grace come from the Holy Spirit that was earned by Christ at the cross.  One must come and apply the Blood of Christ and Grace of the Holy Spirit, but it is not one’s own deeds and actions but the work of God existing within one’s faith that permits such a cooperation.   So, like all endeavors, one must be mindful of pride.   Like financial planning, or physical training, pride can easily corrupt a healthy self image with vanity.  Likewise, in spiritual transformation, pride can create the illusion that one has made oneself holy and that one is more holy than other people.  Like the Pharisees, one can have one’s own spirituality become a weapon and tool for one’s own damnation.  It is so important as one enters into a deeper relationship with God to be mindful of spiritual pride and to pray daily for continued spiritual humility and complete reliance on the grace of God.  Salvation and faith is a gift from God and something earned by Christ.  We are merely partakers of this gift and must always give honor and glory to God for any spiritual gifts or insights.  With this understanding, the remainder of this blog will look at some helpful techniques in spiritual planning and growth.

Spiritual Planning

Supplied with the grace of the Holy Spirit to transform purely human thoughts and deeds into something more, one can work with those graces to better obey the commandments, submit to God’s will, grow in virtue, and enter into a deeper and more healthy relationship with God.   This direction and progression towards God is a life long process with pitfalls, crosses, joys, successes, failures and losses.  However, what it needs to be is a progression and a perfecting of oneself in virtue to have a deeper relationship that translates into the next life with God.  Padre Pio points out that progression is key.  A soul, even one that has sustained growth, that fails to continue in growth or progression becomes stagnant.  The soul, like a plant seeking light, must continue to grow in the direction of that light, guided by the light and nurtured through it.  The moment the soul stops seeking that light, it ceases to grow in communion with God.   One can consider the temporal analogy of financial growth.  If one has grown in wealth and has seen continual growth in the one’s accounts with a health market, then suddenly notices a stagnant level of return, there would be great concern.  Why not for the soul?  If growth has suddenly stopped or become stagnant with relationship with God, this should be a serious concern.  For instance, a soul that regularly attends service in Protestant churches or Mass in Catholic churches, but has no spiritual connection despite obligatory attendance has entered into a state of concern.   This is why Padre Pio reflected the vital importance of continual growth, despite setbacks, but continued renewal.   If a soul falls, does it immediately seek God’s forgiveness?  If one fails, does one immediately identify the issue and rectify it?  As sinners, we all fail, but what is critical in spiritual planning, is not only the “attempt” to limit failure, but one’s quickness to rectify it.  This again stems to one’s insight on humility and pride.  If one understands one’s nature as broken, then one who falls, falls in humility but also seeks forgiveness in humility.  One in pride who falls, has a far harder time seeking forgiveness.

All spiritual planning requires grace for we cannot earn our salvation. Spiritual planning is participating in that grace

Spiritual planning must acknowledge the reality of failure, but it almost acknowledge the life long nature of the journey.  In life, some look for quick investments without securing a solid foundation.  Others in physical training, desire a physique but lack the discipline to attain it.  Some who diet, see a diet as a temporary status to attain a particular weight to fit in that dress, instead of a life long purpose of dietary health.  Spiritual growth is not fast, it is not temporary, but it is a life style.   It not likened to a New  Years resolution, or a Lenten journey.  Lent, for many Christians, is a spiritual diet.  It lasts 40 days and then is suspended after Easter.  The spiritual disciplines of Lent should be intensified in unison with the Church and in memory of Christ’s passion, but it should not be a spiritual diet for 40 days.   The experience of more prayer, Scripture, introspection, fasting, denial, sacramental experience and spiritual growth in virtue should not be a 40 day experience but should represent the base line of all Christian life.   This is not to demean the naive view of Lent by some Christians, for it is far better to sense some need than none at all, but, as Avila points out, these souls represent the utmost basic relationship with God and His grace.  They, like a first level mansion, walk in, walk out, may peek inside its windows, but fail to grasp the greater beauty further inside the interior mansions of relationship with God.  They become distracted by the lures of the world and progression spirituality ends abruptly until a later existential emergency or spiritual feast day.

Spiritual Planning is a life long journey that is about constant growth, humility in that growth, acknowledgement of failures, and complete trust in the grace of God to allow one’s working faith to manifest fruits and a closer relationship with God; A relationship that manifests in its finality in Heaven with God.

Spiritual Planning Ideas

Counseling strategies, life coaching, and physical training plans are quite similar to spiritual training.   As Mark Walberg commonly states, “Are you prayed up”.  Spiritual Directors are Spiritual Trainers in this sense.  They are not just spiritual but also should have a core understanding of counseling techniques based in goal setting and facilitating change.  In previous blogs, we discuss the psychology of change and habit.  We discuss neuro-pathways and how habit takes time to form.  One does not suddenly become a a horrible sinner by one trip  nor a great saint by one wonderful moment, but it is a character and progress of that character that defines both virtue and vice.  As the ancient philosophers noted, character is a continual presence of a particular excellence in action that is unhindered but natural to the nature.  This is natural habit is not something easily gained, or lost.  One merely can look at the horrible nature of sin and its addiction itself.  One who works to rid oneself of vice must work with the grace of the Holy Spirit to heal, change and transform.  God can miraculously change and convert a person, but in most cases, the journey is one of a cross, one where one’s nature learns of the love of God and His continual mercy as change is undertaken and achieved.  So, suffice to say, the process of change involves counseling.  It involves goal setting.  Just like certain financial goals are discussed, set and hoped for, so certain goals spiritually must be discussed and planned.  Like exercise, the goals of a certain weight, or certain amount of reps in a particular weight training, concur with a particular habit or virtue that one aspires for.  As meticulous journals keep weight training numbers, so one may need to keep track of one’s modified behavior in recollection and examination of conscience.  How many times, did I sin today?  How many times, did I accept the grace of God and overcome temptation?  St Ignatius Loyola in his spiritual exercises in week one, challenges the person to almost scrupulously monitor and track one’s failings.  As if tracking calories, St Ignatius asks us to track sin and vice!  A working faith demands such accountability to a God who has paid such a high price for us and has made such graces available to the soul for its salvation.

Goal Planning

Goal planning is part of the counseling paradigm.  This is especially seen in behavioral therapies where behavioral change is based on how one thinks.  Behavior is greatly modified and altered by how one thinks.  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps individuals think differently so as to feel differently and finally behave differently.  Within the behavioral model, desired changes take time but they are planned changes in behavior starting in how we think about things.   Spiritual Directors can help individuals think differently about life through the prism of grace, God, and virtue.  In doing so, desired behavioral modifications as well as targeted virtual habit can be set in goals.

Like all behavioral modification, spiritual change shares common counseling goal setting strategies

Again, though, before any planning can be undertaken, unlike temporal planning which relies on the strengths and powers of oneself, spiritual planning must be placed entirely into the grace of God.  Goals and noble desires are attained through grace and normal actions are spiritualized and made perfect when united with Christ.  Hence no spiritual plan can have any value if placed in pride and self or the belief that one’s own works and deeds have value without the guidance and grace of God.  Without God, these works, dreams and aspirations are utterly worthless.  This is why any plan, before undertaken, must be placed within the guidance and protection of God.  Daily prayer, devotion, and commitment to God’s will is essential.  When one rises, all plans, all duties, all vocational assignments, all crosses, and all joys must be given to God.  The morning offering gives to God everything one does in a day before the day starts and unites everything to Christ to be offered to the Father as a perfect sacrifice to be guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit.  One must then relinquish control and unite one’s will with God. One must acknowledge one’s utter dependence on God and again unite one’s will to Him for transformation.  Placing one’s plan under the guidance of God and allowing it to fall under His will is a big differing point between temporal planning and spiritual planning, but for the Christian, why not submit all plans-even temporal- to God’s will!

In counseling, especially behavioral therapies, plans need to be discussed and identified.  The goal need identified but also how to attain the particular goal, the challenges to that goal, possible setbacks and time frames.   Because of the human nature, the counselor needs to curb enthusiasm so as to prevent burnout when goals become difficult.  Great zeal can quickly turn to great despair.  The counselor is trained to set intermediate goals for a person.  Little goals that track progress can help build confidence and lessen despair upon failure.  This can be seen in financial expectations, as well as weight loss expectations, or even behavioral modifications to stop smoking or drinking.  An individual with a spiritual plan to evict a vice from one’s habitual orbit, may find despair if one fails on a particular day.  Like a person who succumbs to a cigarette or donut late at night, one can succumb to a vice.  A good spiritual director can calm the person and identify why and how it occurred but also to remind one that habits take time and goals take time to achieve.  One needs to find mercy in God when one fails and not find complete pride or joy in one’s own accomplishments but to reflect all in God.

Pitfalls are part of all plans.  Individuals attempted to escape habits, fall, but what God cherishes is the choice to change and the direction.  This is why spiritual directors should encourage the soul and point out the importance of gradual change in severity and frequency and the mercy and grace of God.  Intermediate goals do not demand perfection but gradual growth.  Once intermediate goals are met, one can move forward to the next step.  Like weight training, once a certain number of reps are met, or a certain weight is attained, one is able to advance.  Like so in spiritual life.

Like all planning, it is crucial to keep the person focused but also humble and also remind one of one’s nature.  Many times during change,  individuals become obsessed more so with the numbers than the journey and end goal.  One can become scrupulous and focus more on avoiding or worry or fretting over the smallest of actions to the point it causes extreme distress, despair and guilt.  The devil can be very subtle in derailing a soul working towards God.  So it is important that whichever habit, or spiritual goal one has, to not mistaken the goal or new habit as the ultimate end.  Unlike the view of the  ancient philosophers, virtue itself is not the end goal of our worship.  Virtue is a vehicle and intermediate step to the ultimate goal which should be relationship with God.  So when one focusses more on numbers, one begins to focus more on self than God.  God is the ultimate goal in the entire endeavor of spiritual planning.  Unlike physical training, when one only looks at the body and its change, but not the overall health, then derailment can occur to various maladies.  Likewise, when virtue is sought for the sake of virtue, instead of its purpose as a vehicle to God, then it can be turned against oneself.  In this, one needs to see things that are means as means, and clearly in planning contrast it with one’s end.  Counselors help individuals navigate this, as well as spiritual directors.

Spiritual Strategies

With a stronger understanding of the nature of planning, as well as setting goals, and understanding the difference between means and ends, we will quickly review some types of spiritual plans.  In my daily life, I believe in planning.  Calendars are essential but also journals as well as notes to self, as well as self talk to keep one on track.  Life is comprised of professional, academic, family, self, physical and spiritual aspects and we need to balance these in accordance.  We need to structure these vocational duties that we owe to God, self and neighbor.  First and foremost, they must be prioritized.  Certain things on lists are non-negotiable.  They are priorities that must be met before others. Obviously physically, diet, grooming, and sleep are among those.  Spiritually, prayer, worship and communion with God should top that list.  However, in any planning, there are events, assignments, or obligations that are secondary to primary ones.  Some may be flexible and able to be moved, while others may be optional.  It is important to define these when planning.

Spiritual strength involves not only God’s grace but also an active participation of developing spiritual habits. Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Program

Planning wise, like financial plans, I like to plan by the quarterly year.  While I have daily duties, weekly duties, bi-weekly duties, and monthly duties, that lead to fulfillment of the quarter, I like to see set goals for that period.  Some goals are primary, others may be flexible, but they are listed.  The 3 month period serves as a reminder of what needs done in some cases, but also where I would like to be as a measuring stick.  Obviously one can see where this can be applied financially, physically but also spiritually.

From a spiritual context, how has one’s daily, weekly and monthly habits gradually changed over the 3 month period?  Daily journaling, weekly remarks and monthly checks can keep one on pace with possible goals.  If one is stricken with the vice of drunkenness, one can review the number of drinks a week and its gradual reduction from week to month to quarterly period.  If the goal is to reduce this habit, then one may discover a new trend that one can find solace in as recorded numbers show reduced intoxication as well drinks per week or month.  One can then ascertain if one has met the quarterly goal or not and how to access the next quarter.  Remember, this is a life style, it is a marathon, not a race, so gradual is better than nothing. This again takes one to the importance of daily and weekly monitoring, so that data and change of habit can be documented.  During this examination of conscience, at the end of each day, or week, or month, or every one quarters, one can see the weaknesses, what one can do better, and most importantly remember on one’s complete reliance in God for any change. The spiritual director can encourage the soul in this progress and also help set new intermediate goals, or re-ascertain certain strategies or time tables to help maintain the confidence of the person in this change and ultimate better relationship with God.

The spiritual director also becomes a spiritual coach in this endeavor.  Upon reflection of plans, one’s attainment, progress, or failures, a coach helps develop a person’s skills.  This may consist in different prayers or penances, or fasting that help foster a particular virtue or habit.  Particular spiritual readings of the saints and their writings, as well as Biblical books or chapters that correspond with one’s troubles can be utilized.  Goals within a particular time table may include within a 3 month span to work in charity, or read a certain amount of books, or become more acquainted with a particular book of the Bible that will help one move forward.  In may also include if Catholic, more frequent reception of the Eucharist, as well as confession.  These things not able help the soul in despair, but also give the soul sources of grace to help transform over the spiritual planning time.  Spiritual directors or confessors can become original in their ideas to share with individuals various particular deeds, or readings that meet a person’s needs and direction.

With all planning, one seeks change, and good change agents produce change.  This involves within the spiritual planning, promoting healthier communications and removal of vice associated materials.  These things that promote sin are referred to as occasions of sin.  It can be a person, place or thing.  Spiritual directors need to encourage souls to avoid places associated with particular sins.  If bars are associated with drinking or lewd conduct, then these places should be removed from a person’s habitual visit.  The same holds true for any addict of any vice.  In regards to lust, avoiding imagery or situations that promote lust should be removed from one’s life.  If a cell phone in close proximity calls one to pornographic imagery, turn off the phone or remove it from one’s reach.   Many of the saints practiced far greater mortifications, beyond what I would recommend, but one must, if seeking change, remove the occasions of sin.  Like a person a diet who removes donuts and cakes from the cabinet, one must remove occasions associated with the detrimental behavior.

Like wise positive change agents must be introduced into any spiritual plan promoting change.  Like in a diet, one supplies their refrigerator with wholesome foods, so the soul must supply the daily routine with wholesome content.  Good spiritual reading, better company, prayer, as well as support from other religious persons who share the same ends is crucial.  A clean home promotes change, so does a clean spiritual environment.  One needs to remove the spiritual filth for the soul to change.  Like a dirty body that needs cleaned to become healthy, so does a dirty soul need cleaned to move forward.  Christ’s blood and the grace of the Holy Spirit provides the solution.  One must wash oneself in these things and provide oneself with healthy reminders of those things that promote new spiritual change within oneself.  Healthy and positive change agents replace negative occasions of sin and replace maladaptive coping with healthy spiritual coping founded in prayer and faith in God.

Conclusion

Spiritual planning is a life style change that takes time and is a life change of progress towards God.  One cannot earn this change but it is gift from God that we partake in.  While the grace of God is a gift, one still must work with that grace.  Spiritual change, like any change, or plan in life, is something that one must dedicate oneself to and purposely plan to achieve with commitment and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  There are many ways to promote a better relationship with God and when we find time to plan prayer, worship and submission to Him, He will guide us in all our plans to find better communion with Him.

We should plan ahead spiritually and work on our relationship with God as much as we do with other types of financial planning or health training. Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Program

Spiritual planning in itself should be a big part of one’s life.  It should take priority over everything else we do because our ultimate end is God.  Spiritual planning acknowledges the necessity of Christ’s death and the grace for salvation and how to apply it to our lives so when we stand before God, we will know Him well, as we enter into paradise.

Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Program, as well as AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification.

Other AIHCP Blogs

Behavioral Therapies: Access here

Behavior and Change.  Access here

Theology and Psychology of Moral Actions.  Access here

Recommended Reading

Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius

Interior Castle-Teresa of Avila

Other Resources

Leontis, A. (2025). “Virtue Ethics: What it is and How it Works”. Philosophos.  Access here

“Spiritual Direction”. IgnatianSpirituality.com.  Access here

Moore, M. “Goal Setting in Counseling and Therapy”. Mentalyc.  Access here

 

Spiritual Direction and Guidance in Prayer Life

Posted on by Mark Moran

As St Teresa of Avila states, a soul that does not pray is likened to a body that is limbless. The importance of prayer is central to life itself.  One can use any physical analogy, as oxygen, or the heart, and none still compare to illustrate the importance of prayer to the soul and life itself.   Through grace, gained through the death of Christ on the cross, communication with God was restored.  The price of sin was paid in full.   Through the great price of each soul, souls could again via application of Christ’s Blood which earned for humanity the gift of grace, again possess a parental relationship with God.  Fueled through sanctifying grace and the removal of Original Sin, a soul bought by Christ, could again commune with God in an effective and purposeful way.

Prayer is essential for spiritual life. Please review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling as well as Spiritual Direction Program

Hence, prayer is communication and participation in the Divine while on Earth.  As creatures, justice demands prayer to God.  One is to know and serve God through adoration, contrition and thanksgiving, and petition, but through the virtue of charity, one not only serves and worships out of justice, but also prays out of love.  God has elevated humanity from mere creatures but to also images of His own likeness in which one can share in His Divine Life.  Prayer opens this door and should beyond its mechanical functions of proper worship be also a conduit of love.  This love is that of a child for his parent!

When the soul becomes deeper in love with God, prayer then becomes more profound and connected to God.  Spiritual Directors should help and teach their spiritual children how not only to pray and its purposes, but also how to develop and foster a deeper and real relationship with Jesus Christ.

Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Program but also its Spiritual Direction program.

Jesus Taught Us How to Pray

Jesus told His followers that the Father and He are one and no one can go to the Father but through Him.  He also taught His followers the “Our Father” which encompasses the core values of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and petition.   This is purely the most basic and mechanical structure of prayer but it lays the ground work and reasons of it.  Through the simple words of the “Our Father” our Lord leads one to deeper mysteries of prayer that are essential for spiritual development.

Types of Prayer

Prayer entails adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and petition.  Most likely, one of these four elements will play a role in one’s prayer at a particular point in life.  All are essential.  Christ teaches that one must love God with one’s whole heart, mind and soul.  He also teaches one must seek forgiveness as well as be thankful for what the Father has granted.  In addition, He reminds one to ask the Father for what is good and what one needs.  In one way or the other, one’s prayers have centered around these themes.

 

Christ taught us how to pray throughout His ministry

Vocal prayer can be singular or communal.  Worship must be balanced.  Spiritual and religious are complimentary concepts not competing ideals.  One who is religious partakes in communal and ritualistic prayers, such as Sunday worship, or Mass, or communal prayer gatherings.   One who is spiritual endears oneself to Scripture, daily and morning offerings, rosary, or other meditations.  One who is only religious lacks spiritual growth but only visual status.  Like the Pharisees, they are dead inside.  One who is only spiritual embarks on their OWN journey and OWN dogma and disengages from the Mystical Body of Christ.  Humility and obedience demand more.  So, like two lungs, prayer life must be religious and spiritual, communal and singular.  One must have a personal and communal life with God to function fully as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ.  It is important then to balance these two elements of spiritual life.

Within personal prayer, there are many ways to speak to God.  One can use pre-ordained prayers of trusted tradition, but they must not just be words recited but words felt.  One can also use one’s own words to express worship, thanksgiving, petition and contrition to God.  In fact, speaking to God, as if speaking to someone in a room, but of course with the respect God deserves, is a powerful way to form a strong relationship with God.  God should be so close to oneself, that one should speak to Him throughout the day about occurrences and issues.

Mental prayer is an essential aspect of spiritual life.  Mental prayer is conscious choice to engage God in the quiet of the mind.  Some religious propose postures of kneeling, or upright posture to avoid drowsiness, others support ideas of comfort, especially if one is seeking to fall asleep in the arms of God.  Depending on the situation, body posture can determine alertness and ability to focus on the conversation with God.  St Teresa of Avila refers to this as Prayer of Recollection because the soul is putting itself together as it enters deep within itself to speak with God.  This prayer is deeply personal and open.  It involves visualizing being with Jesus and speaking with Him in an intimate and real way.  This is an active prayer though which involves the activation of the will to seek out God.  The feelings of joy or peace that result are graces and consolations bestowed upon the soul by God, but it is the soul, especially in its early stages of spiritual development, seeking out the union with God.  This is not to say God was not always available, but in many ways, one’s spiritual anchors tied to the world, muddy or dampen one’s soul and its ability to hear and receive grace.  By seeking out God, this type of mental prayer grounds oneself and opens oneself to many graces.

Tied to the mental faculties but different in direction is meditative prayer.  Also known as contemplative prayer, meditation or visual imagination of an event of the life of Christ excites the soul to dwell on upon the mysteries and extract from it deeper meaning.  Many meditative prayers find their source in reading Scripture, or focusing on a sacred image or symbol.  The mind then reflects on the event and focuses on finding meaning of the event to oneself.  The mind completely opens itself to the Holy Spirit to guide it through the meditation to find the truth of the mystery.  This is very different from Eastern Meditation which looks to become divine or find unity in the divine, but this seeks to participate with the divine.

It is common for meditation, like its Eastern counterpart, to also find a place of quiet and relaxation.  Thomas Merton explored many of these Eastern strategies in an attempt to utilize some of the practices to meet Christian ends.  This resulted in a mixed reactions from different circles of Christianity which saw some of the Eastern practices in themselves detrimental to Christian beliefs, while others saw the exercises as universal human ways to prepare the mind and body for spiritual realities.  Such exercises as breathing seem to be neutral and safe when applied with Christian ends and they are supported by medical science as ways of initiating the parasympathetic nervous system.  The key in Christian meditation is not to escape the body or become divine but instead to commune with God.  Quiet places, relaxed mindsets, and guided prayer can lead someone within the Christian tradition to these realities.  It is important that meditation is based on Christ and guided through Christ and opened to the Holy Spirit.

While there is a lot of physical and physiological benefits of Eastern techniques to prepare the body for meditation, the Christian tradition has numerous techniques to excite the soul and prepare the mind for communication with God.  St Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises encourages individuals to focus on the life of Christ and to choose events within it found in Scripture.  He invites one to activate the senses of sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing in all meditations.  He opens with preludes of thoughts to imagine about Christ.  He then presents one’s imagination to create within in the mind the entire set of the story itself.  From the weather, to the buildings, to the sounds of the time, to the actual touch of the ground itself.  He asks one to imagine in various preludes Our Lord teaching, or preaching, or healing and imagine oneself as a bystander watching and even maybe interacting.  Afterwards, one can even engage Christ in this meditation and it can develop more into a mental prayer of discourse.  Since Jesus is also divine, He senses our prayers and questions throughout history to that very moment.  So one can speak to Him there, or in one’s own present monologue.  This echo of prayer through time is possible because Christ is divine and not subject to temporal time itself.

So, far we have only spoken of prayers that are actualized through oneself.  These prayers are invoked by oneself and initiated by oneself to God.  God’s response can at times be overwhelming via consolations or one may simply feel peace.  Other times, one may fall asleep to the peace of God.  These are all from the sensory standpoint, natural in sensation.  They do not encompass supernatural overtones beyond the norms of supernatural and natural connection.   St Teresa of Avila compares this type of active recollection with the analogy of water.  Water representing the source of grace and God Himself is felt in prayer but through active recollection it is sought and migrated.  St Teresa compares it to a aqueduct that transports water from the source.  The water is artificially transported through manual intent but it arrives nonetheless, but there is a difference between experiencing the source as is without effort.  In this type of prayer, Avila refers to passive recollection and also the Prayer of the Quiet.  In this, God for His own purposes or designs, chooses freely to give this grace and gift to a soul through no effort on its own.  A stunning grace or consolation may appear to the soul where the soul finds the peace of God in its genuine form without effort.  In this, Avila states the soul should merely be receptive and thankful for such an act of love.  It illustrates that the soul is removing many of its blinders and has opened itself to such divine favors.

This, however, remains a natural within physical ramifications.  Avila points out that there are beyond more intense and higher forms of prayer and religious experience that are far more mystical and wonderous for the soul.  She points out the Prayer of Union is a type of prayer that again is passive and mystical where God elevates the soul to such a state of happiness with His presence that the body loses consciousness and the soul is free of the bodily senses.  Only the presence of God endures.  This can last for few minutes to even longer periods of time.  This gift from the Creator to the soul is an extreme gift of insight and love for a soul that has opened its will to God.  As one becomes closer to God, the mystical experiences become more intense but so does the crosses and sufferings of life.  Avila points out that with such gifts comes a greater longing to be with God and a more willingness to suffer for Him.

 

Issues in Prayer Life

Early Phases

Prayer at is basic level captures the act of worship but so many times it is seen as a choir or requirement.  It becomes a checklist of things that need done in a given day.  Many beautiful prayers become repetitious mantras instead of meaningful conversation with God.   Prayer also becomes a time of need.  When something bad occurs, individuals run to God with sometimes necessary concerns but also trifle things.   Of course, one should not dismiss the return to God in dire times.  This shows acknowledgement of God and His power, but it also portrays a selfish spiritual life and one that neglects a living relationship with God.  Also, one can see prayer as a contract instead of a covenant.   Individuals believe prayers that if not answered mean God does not care, or they did not pray well enough, or that God is not a God of love.   Instead, prayer should be one of covenant where the soul walks with God through tribulations and joys alike, seeking resolution but also accepting the cross and the graces needed to endure it.  Prayer is then not a magic cheat code or mantra but a communication with God that is about relationship and covenant due to not only justice but also love itself.  It is not something performed ritualistic becomes one has to do it, or because one needs something, but it is the life source of the soul in daily communication with the Creator and Father.

Many souls in their spiritual development face temptations and occasions of sin that call them back to the world.

Those on the peripheries of spiritual development have such illusions of prayer.  They are easily distracted by lies of the world.  They are hypnotized by occasions of sin, the needs of the flesh, and noises of secular concern.  Their prayer life is superficial at best.  For many, their faith is cultural identity.  One attends service or Mass on Sunday out of ritual and culture, not so much an act of love to God.  Some may not even attend regularly but only during holidays!  Prayers to them are in times of need or random acts of clarity that fade with new physical distractions.  Are these individuals evil?  By no means!  Many are good people but they are not directed to the higher priorities.  They may very well believe in God and the commandments but they have become stuck in the mud and progress in spiritual life has become stagnant.  Still, God has a way of shaking the soul and calling it to Him.  Spiritual Advisors and directors can help highlight this awakening and guide individuals from naive and spiritual immature assumptions about God and prayer and use these incidents as a way to cultivate a true relationship with God.

The soul that ventures into true prayer life still faces numerous issues.  The calls of the world are strong still.  Occasions of sin, old habits, and temporal desires still remain strong.  The devil does not release souls so easy.  The soul will be tempted and turned back to the noise but progress is key.  Encouragement, patience, and goals remain essential for this soul.  Much like a physical trainer, the spiritual director must expect setbacks.  Those who begin to train physically or diet have many set backs.  It is hard to retrain mindsets and replace old habits with positive coping.  Like addition, or bad diet, the brain has numerous neuro pathways that are set for default in times of stress, trauma, or triggers.  So, the soul that is experiencing new prayer and spiritual renewal faces the tugs of the world and bad habits.  These triggers should be expected.  Within training of the soul, goals should be realistic in prayer life, encouragement frequent, and progress modest but continual.  Setbacks should not be seen with despair but as opportunity to make better.  In this delicate early phase, the soul teeters back and forth between the cold lies of the world and warm truth of God.  Through grace, guidance and continual effort, new habits can be formed, virtues can replace vices, and a deeper understanding of prayer can ensure for the soul.

Later Phases and Complications

As anyone becomes more skilled in a process or shows progress, one naturally becomes proud of ones success.  In a diet, one becomes more confident and happy with how one looks as weight goals manifest in better clothing fits and reflections in the mirror.  As someone progresses in weight room training, one becomes more enamored with one’s growing physique and muscular definition.  In itself, this is not bad.  Self esteem and self concept is key in psychology and counseling for a healthy emotional self.  However, like so many times in psychology, subjective image and happiness can be the only goal for self satisfaction.  It is crucial to balance one’s own pride in improvement with humility and concern for others.  It needs to be evaluated not only in one’s own success but also in honoring the body that God has given as a temple of the Holy Spirit.  So both are important.  One should find sense of pride in improvement but not inherit the vice of pride in character.  This can be a tricky balancing act and is even more tricky in spiritual prayer life.

As the soul becomes more focused on God and more conscious of not offending Him, it can sometimes see itself as “better” than others, or even esteem itself.  This contradicts the gift of grace.  One works through faith, but one does not earn merit without the grace of the Holy Spirit gained by Christ at the cross.  Humility is key to maintain in this phase of spiritual development.  St Vincent De Paul emphasized the power of humility.  He pointed out that humility is something the devil cannot comprehend nor defend himself against.  This is why Mary was such a powerful adversary to him.  Her humility despite her grace stifled him and rebuked his very existence.  Christ teaches as well that the first shall be last and the last shall be first in heaven.  Humility is hence crucial when making gains.  As Mary declared to Gabriel, “my soul magnifies the Lord”.  One must then as one becomes more proficient in the habit of virtue, its cultivation and prayer life, reflect all glory and good to God.  These are the fruits of the Holy Spirit flowering within the soul allowing God’s inner presence of it to manifest, not the works of a broken nature.

Another later complication within prayer life includes the times of aridity or lack the emotional presences and joys experienced in prayer life.  Avila emphasized that not all prayer life is full of consolations, feelings of peace and joy, but many times, an aridity emerges, where the soul may not feel God’s presence.  Instead the soul feels as if the prayers are not heard, or as if the prayers are not good enough, or if the person is unworthy of God’s love.  This possible turn to despair or even return to physical distractions can attempts of the devil to test the soul.  It can also be a trial granted by God to teach the soul its needed humility and also purpose.  Yes, as children one should expect parental graces all the time, but one must also look at God as Creator and oneself as sinner.  To pray to receive consolations and good feelings, denies the very nature of justice and adoration to God for the sole purpose of His glory.  In love, one loves not for return, but for the very nature of the object itself.  Aridity teaches the soul to love without return, to humble itself before God, and to help it acknowledge how precious the presence of God is and how terrible sin separates the soul from God.

It is important to note that most prayer life for individuals is peaceful but never reaching of the states of extravagant visions or even the close union found by many saints.  Does this mean one’s prayer life is weak?  Does it mean God does not love the soul less than a great saint?  These are dangerous thoughts for the directee.  Again, it needs to be emphasized that prayer is an act of love and duty and if God shares deeper connections and feelings, then it is a gift but it is not a gift that shows greater favor or greater love.  The soul that remains faithful to God in aridity pleases God because it prays without desire of reward.  Whether God manifests in more supernatural ways or not, should never be the aim of the soul.  One should be wary of braggards who proclaim visions.  The saints proclaimed these things out of obedience to God or through the command of church authority.  The devil looks to allow vanity to break the soul.  A spiritual pride can develop where one feels the need to brag of such things and when one brags of such things, one can honestly question if such things are even occurring or if even worst, one is suffering from psychosis or being deceived by a dark entity.  The fruits of true visions in prayer do not accompany pride but a true humility.   So souls, should not listen to such words, or find despair if their prayer life does not generate these extravagant tales of God, saints and angels.   A soul should be satisfied with what God chooses to share and not seek things beyond the physical.   When seeking such things, the devil can utilize it against the soul, through deception, or push the soul into greater despair or even envy of others.

Many souls in later spiritual life face trials of desolation and aridity which God uses as ways to bring them closer and more dependent upon Him

Spiritual Directors can play a steadying force for souls who deal with aridity.  They can emphasize humility but also obedience to God’s will.  Many souls at this relationship level with God still are very connected to the world.  In fact, most of us are!  We have temporal needs and duties, but sometimes these temporal needs and duties can complicate a relationship with God when they become disordered or not properly prioritized.   Uniting one’s will with God realizes that prayer is a covenant and not only the consolations and blessings are part of the divine plan, but also one’s aridity, sufferings and crosses are also part of God’s will.  Christ told His followers, to take up their cross and to follow Him.  He accepted the Father’s will unto death in the garden.  Souls are expected no less to unite their wills with God and to carry their crosses.   In becoming closer to God, one must then find humility, obedience and acceptance of God’s will and understand that suffering and love of God is what matters most.

For Avila, life involved a convent, but for many individuals life involves a busy world where contemplation is not always an option.  Individuals can become distracted by deadlines, work schedules, family drama or emergencies, or basic temporal cares of the body.  Christ Himself lived such a life for 30 years.  He worked as a carpenter under St Joseph’s guidance.  He helped support His mother, Mary, and they dealt with daily struggles of debts, choirs and finding food on the table.  So how can a person advance spiritually in prayer, contemplation, and communion with God in a world that is so noisy at best, and at worst, tied to numerous occasions of sins, or as Avila describes “small reptile” scurrying along the floor?

First and foremost, everything ties in prayer to uniting one’s will to God.  As Christ said in the garden, “Let thy will be done”.  This was a difficult thing considering within the prayer, Christ asked for the cup of death to be passed on but He submitted.  Individuals too must submit their will despite their requests and by uniting one’s will, God’s plan unfolds.  Whatever state of being one is in, when one finally surrenders to God, things begin to fall into motion.  One may very well be surprised as well to see certain aspects of one’s life vocation fall into place into a greater plan as well with other pieces of the puzzle coming together.

Through submission of one’s will, the day becomes God’s day.  One then is open to offer up these daily tasks which can become distractions into living prayers.   Scripture teaches one to unite one’s sufferings and cross to Christ.  When one unites one’s temporal duties to God, they become spiritual prayers.  St Theresa the Little Flower, not to be confused with Avila, offered the most simple duties to God, such as sweeping the floor.  While many individuals feel the need to do great penances (which is good),  many forget the little things.  The little things are not in one’s control.  The little things are imposed and are not chosen.  When they are offered to God, they become a prayer.  Whether it is working a late shift, enduring a manager’s criticism, or doing the laundry when tired, the little things when given to Christ and shared in His passion, become not works of personal merit, but works of grace through Christ.  Daily offerings give each day, every joy, success, trial, tribulation or cross to Christ in advance and turn what would normally be a daily distraction into daily prayer.  It formulates humility, obedience, and keeps oneself focused on God.  Spiritual Directors should advocate within their spiritual children the necessity of the Daily Offering in all prayer life.

Prayer Cultivates Many Things

We discussed how critical prayer is to the life force of the soul.  It is in injection of God’s grace into the soul.  While it is only one of the many elements of communication with God and how grace is afforded to the soul, primarily actual graces, it serves as a function as critical as breathing in everyday life.  While other life giving graces are gained at Baptism and other spiritually nutritional graces granted for different sacramental needs such as in reconciliation, or Eucharist, daily prayer is the constant breathing and cycling of those graces throughout the self.  Through constant prayer, one’s primary end is always in sight.  It maintains that focus and spiritual exercise to keep the spiritual faculties sharp.  It helps cultivate virtues in daily life and directs the soul towards higher things.  It keeps the soul on the righteous road avoiding sideshows and distractions that can lead to spiritual ruin. When the soul is contact with God, it is able to see more clearly, act more purely, and perform its duties more perfectly.  Like making one’s bed in the morning, it sets the standard for the day.  Prayer organizes the soul and attunes it, so as to enable rest of the mind’s faculties to become more focused and aligned with the winds and storms of the day.  When one is spiritual set, one becomes mentally set.

With so many spiritual benefits that pour into one’s daily life, one cannot dismiss the necessity of prayer.  A new cultural phrase has emerges, as seen with Mark Wahlberg- He asks the question “Are you prayed up?”  Like food for the body, make sure the answer is always yes!

Conclusion

Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling and also Spiritual Direction Program

We have reviewed what prayer is, its aim, types of prayers and issues involving spiritual progression at early and later phases.  We have sought direction through the teachings of Christ Himself, Scripture, and the value of mystical saints who elevated their prayer life with constant devotion to Christ and faith in the Holy Spirit.  Spiritual Directors can help souls find prayer, maintain it, and set realistic goals in prayer life.  However it is important to note that the battle for spiritual life is one tied to mental issues, as well as physical issues.  Bad habits, traumas, occasions of sins, and old ways of thinking can become roadblocks.  Even later in spiritual life, the devil can turn confidence to pride.  So one must forever remain humble and obedient to God’s will and remain dependent on God’s grace.  This is not about our prayers but how God transforms our imperfect communication into something beautiful through His grace.

Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification, as well as Spiritual Direction Program.

Additional Blogs

Spiritual Suffering.  Access here

Spiritual Vocation.  Access here

Early Issues in Spiritual Direction. Access here

References

St Teresa of Avila.  Interior Castle

St Ignatius of Loyola. Spiritual Exercises

Additional Resources

Mulcahy, T. “THE SOUL’S JOURNEY TO GOD: A CONCISE SUMMARY OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA’S INTERIOR CASTLE”. Catholic Strength.  Access here

Ways to Build a Stronger Prayer Life. Bible Hub.  Access here

A Life Of Prayer (What It Is and How To Actually Do It). (2024). Daily Effective Prayer.  Access here

 

 

Christian Spiritual Direction: Vocation and Discernment

Posted on by Mark Moran

All human beings are called to know, love and serve God.  This is a Divine mandate that answers to the virtue of justice.  Within justice, the amount of what is due is given to the other.  In the case of God, His creation owes to Him worship and service, but God in His infinite love and mercy, has not only made us His creation but also His children.  By making us in His own image and likeness, He has called us into a real spiritual dialogue and relationship with Him.  Through grace, He has elevated us to the underserved titles of “sons and daughters”.

Discernment is key in discovering and uniting oneself to God’s will and God’s particular calling and vocation

Through free will, God gives us the choice to exist in this state of happiness or to choose our own happiness.  Like the demons before, many individuals reject this offer and use their gift of free will to their damnation.  Instead of knowing, loving and serving God, they choose to know the world, love oneself and serve indirectly Satan.  They walk away from the banner of Christ and instead choose the quick and easy road of immediate pleasure and vice that destroys the soul.

Each person beyond the basis of justice to know, love and serve the Lord, has unique a vocation or particular calling that is beyond our universal call to know, love and serve God.  There are different types of callings and vocations within life that compliment one’s universal calling.  One fulfills vocation when one offers to Christ all actions, no matter how mundane, and through God’s grace turns the ordinary events of the day into extraordinary events by tying them to Christ as one’s High Priest.  Every decision in one way or another is a decision that leads one to our ultimate end which is God.  In this blog, we will discuss vocations that are general as well as the existential vocation of one’s life and how to better think about, prepare and undertake it.

Spiritual Advisors and Directors are excellent resources to help souls discover their unique path.  All souls have a general path that we share through the Church, but we each have special unique trails we can discover through discernment and prayer..  Spiritual Advisors can help souls find these paths and trails and shine light on God’s direction.  Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification as well as AIHCP’s Spiritual Direction Program.

VOCATION

We all have a vocation.  Christ told the apostles, to pick up their cross and to follow Him.  As Christians, we are to know, love and serve God.  We are to manifest within our lives the light of Christ to the world.  This is our universal vocation.  All things we do must either contribute to this, or at least remain neutral and non-detrimental to that function.  While spiritually, our vocation to spiritual life is central, we must also fulfill our relational vocations to others.  Those in ministry have unique relations as well as those who are married or single.  All callings are important and equal when they meet the call of Christ. Our spiritual calling is the highest call of our vocation and this is met through prayer and love of God and neighbor.

As temporal beings, we have many other needs and hence vocational obligations.  As stated these temporal things are important to our existence.  They must either contribute to our spiritual end, or at least remain neutral and non-hindering to that end.  In this way, one’s profession can be seen as a vocation.  A father or mother who works long hours to support the children is fulfilling a parental vocation but also a professional one to afford basic care, food, shelter and clothing, as well as service to the employer.  Hence any duties in themselves can become daily vocations.   Any relationships that need to be cared or tended can also become a daily vocation.   Like St Joseph, we offer these daily duties as a worker, father, or spouse to God.  Like St. Theresa the Little Flower, we turn the most mundane act of sweeping the convent floors as duties we perform for the glory of God.  We hence fulfill our daily duty and vocation and transform something so mundane and ordinary into something extraordinary when we do them with excellence and love of God.  These daily events then themselves become prayers to God.

Beyond our universal vocation to know, love and serve God, we also have particular callings and vocations to ministry, the priesthood, married life, or a holy singlehood

Some events in the day can be distractions to salvation. Events that steal from our primary vocation and end which is God, as well as take energy, time and emotion from our core duties are distractions and illusions of the world.  These distractions hope to push us away from our duties to God, self and family.  In discernment, when we engage in activities we must diagnose them in accordance with our primary end, our daily duties and responsibilities.   Do these actions deviate from our end?  Are they inherently sinful in themselves?  Are they only an occasion to sin?  Are they taking time away from family and God?

St Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises makes it very simple when making an election or choice in life about doing or not doing something.  He suggest imaging standing before the throne of God on judgement day and calculating if the event or decision is helpful towards one’s salvation or detrimental.  He also asks us to examine our conscience in any decision as well the action.  What are the fruits of the action?  What can occur that is good versus bad?  Does it correlate with the laws of God?  Does the means equate our true end with God, or does the event itself become its own end?

Whenever making a choice or life decision, one must contemplate, seek counsel, and pray.  Many callings need thoroughly contemplated.  Of course the first and foremost sign is does it meet our final end?  Many things can meet this criteria but one must continue to contemplate further to see if this particular and exact choice or decision is meant for someone.  For those, usually three callings emerge.  The first, ministry, the second marriage, and the final single life.  All three vocational callings demand the universal vocation of all humanity but each one has its own unique place in the Mystical Body of Christ.  It is important to ensure that these callings and states are not one’s true end, but are means to fulling that end.

For example, marriage, or the religious life are equally beautiful callings but they themselves must not represent the end and culminating aspect of one’s life.  Instead they should represent means that help one reach their own end in unison with God’s will.  So, if the decision or calling in itself is good and aligns with humanity’s final end, one must begin to discern if it is indeed the calling and way God hopes to utilize us.

This involves not only prayer and counsel, but also evaluation of one’s own will.  Recall, the rich man in the Gospel had done everything he was supposed to do but one thing.  When Christ asked him to give up all he had and to follow Him, this troubled the man deeply.  So many are called but few are chosen because of our own free will.  Many times, even not at the cost of sin, our wills do not align with God in a preferred state in life.  God does not wish to force us any particular calling, but He does know what we are best suited for and what would give the greatest fulness to us..  We have been equipped with particular spiritual talents to meet the call of God, so when we submit our will to God, we then are ready to move more peacefully and perfectly in this life.

Take into account Mary.  She never questioned God.  She said to let it be done according to the will of God.  St Joseph as well without hesitation took Mary as his wife and raised the Christ child.  In all cases, individuals united their will to the will of God.  If one is to truly find their vocation, then one must submit oneself to the will of God in  humility and obedience.  For those that are willing to submit to God, this is good news, but it still represents a difficult decision in discerning.  Unfortunately God is not always loud and clear.

Hearing God

We have spoken about living a life first that fulfills one’s general vocation of knowing, loving and serving God.  We have also spoke about the importance of fulfilling our daily duty in humility and obedience to God.  That same humility and obedience should carry to the fulfillment of His will and service to Him within our particular calling..  Yet hearing and discerning can sometimes be difficult.

The noises of the world can sometimes drown out God’s voice.  We need to direct ourselves in prayer and meditation and seek counsel as needed but there are a few inherent signs of a particular calling (and when I say calling, I mean any calling, marriage, singlehood, monastic life, or priesthood).  Being first and primary a disciple of Christ, there are certain signs the Holy Spirit showers us with.  Sometimes, we may feel these signs and interior voices through the sacraments or the reading of Scripture, or while doing penance, or working with the poor.  Other times, indirect statements from strangers, or signs throughout the day can redirect one to the manifestation God is trying to display.

Prayer and meditation help us to more clearly hear the voice of the Lord in everyday life

In addition to signs and coincidences, our own inner self plays a key role.  We naturally gravitate towards what God has deemed for us.   If we feel a strong connection to a family with children, then our vocation could very well be the married life, or if we see and feel the grace of a minister or priest who proclaims the Gospel, this may be a inward desire towards that.  In addition, our skill, talents and spiritual charisms are many times tied to the vocation or calling that God desires for us.   Someone well trained in theology may very well be prepared to preach the Gospel at some level, lay or clerical, or may be called for higher levels of Church administration.   Those blessed with leadership skills, communicative skills, and higher academic achievement in studies may have a calling within Christ’s Church to lead.  Others may be more introvert but spiritual and feel a calling to a more private life with God in a monastery.  Others may have a calling to love another person and to share in the creation of new lives.  In this calling, they possess the qualities for partnership and compassion, while someone with a ministry or single life calling may naturally be more inclined to a life that is solitary.

God sometimes also pushes one to one’s particular vocation through the presence of need.  When someone sees the lack of religious or short handed churches, or less care for the poor, or less advocates for the weak and sick, then these are ways God instills into the soul a yearning to act.  These calls to action can feel very personal and one may have a strong passion residing inside to meet that need.

So while God can awaken us the way he did with Saul via an intense vision and conversion, He usually respects our free will and subtly turns so we need to be  attentive and listening.  It involves our humility and obedience to Him and most importantly our love for God.  We need to put God first and live a life that is based on decisions that reflect God and His laws.  When our conscience is well formed and sound, it can guide us to a position to truly discern and hear God.

St Ignatius again points out that messages from God, direct or indirect, reflect our holy end.  Discernment that leads to selfish ends, or immoral pursuits, or the production of bad fruits, are not from God.  So it is important to discern the nature of the election or decision, the objective reality of the choice and its consequences and to place it in subjugation to the laws of God.  Then and only then can we see beyond our universal end and see what is also our particular end.

Finding Peace in the Anxiety

Giving our day to God is the first step in finding peace and removing anxiety.  When the soul attaches it’s will to the Father, then it fears less.  It sees the bumps and discomforts of life, but sees them as happy crosses to suffer for.  The soul indeed soon discovers that God always has a plan.  So while one worries about one’s career, or if they should marry, or enter the religious life, or if they feel ambivalent in their social life’s decisions with their religious beliefs and unsure where to go, if we simply give God each day, then we can find some peace and direction.

Anxiety comes from the evil one.  It comes from association with things of the enemy.  St Ignatius points out two standards.  The standard of Christ and His banner, or the standard of Satan which is of this world.  When consciously or even indirectly choose things that are bad and of Satan’s banner, the fruit will produce.  The temptations and lies of this world associated with certain callings can never give true clarity, happiness and peace.  Only placement in Christ can our true ultimate end be met.  We may experience natural tremors in this life.  We may suffer our daily crosses, but these types of anxieties are far different when aligned with Christ.

Following the will of God brings peace and joy and good fruits. Yet so many fear tying their will to God over their own. This is what causes anxiety and pain

To remain within the standard of Christ and discover our particular calling one must turn to prayer.  Prayers to the Holy Spirit for wisdom, understanding and knowledge, and for the virtue of fortitude and temperance in daily dealings can help a person face each day with the necessary grace and guidance from God.  God desires peace and calmness in our life.  He understands that we exist in a fallen world and bad things can occur, but He is willing to walk with us and guide us.  He also helps us to avoid the temporal noises that are detrimental to our calling.   The devil utilizes the noises of anxiety and insecurity mixed with multiple detours that take from the time God deserves–hence these virtues serve as important protections.  In our daily life,  we must make the ordinary become extraordinary by giving to God each task.    As each day becomes a prayer, then one becomes more open to the grand plan of one’s life.  Each day given to God leads to the next which builds upon each other until in reveals the beauty of God’s plan.   This should remove anxiety because God loves us.  He loves us and wishes for us to be happy.  He also grants us numerous choices in our independence.  God wants our love and respects our choices in this life.  However, there will always be a inner movement towards what the soul was designed for and how blessed are individuals who answer the call that God ordained for them.

The quickest way to eventual find one’s unique calling and avoid the noises of Satan and the world is unifying one’s will to God.  When our will becomes one with God, then our decisions align regarding daily duties, as well as long term callings.  Each day, one should unite their will to God.  This is not subjugation or control but a passive release to become aligned with God.  God’s will is not one of pain and suffering, those things spar from the world, sin, our choices and Satan.  God’s will is for our peace and wholeness with Him.  When we unite our wills His, we show humility and obedience, as Mary and Joseph showed to God’s plan.  When these wills meet, not only will we discover our long term calling, but God will also guide us through our daily duties with better clarity and peace.  Even when loss, suffering and hardships occur, the soul that unites wills with God, will find consolation and direction.   God’s will is ultimately joy not control.   It is the map to one’s salvation as well as to one’s individual calling.  It seeks to direct us so we can have peace and love.  It should not be seen as a sentence to serve but a partnership that is for our own best interest.  When we choose the standard of Satan, we choose us, we choose the world, we choose things that are detrimental to spiritual growth and peace.  The moment the soul surrenders and trusts God over self, then daily duties and overall callings will manifest with graces equipped to help one face all crosses and obstacles and most importantly, to find peace in life.

In the meantime, if one is discerning marriage, or priesthood, continue to pray for guidance but do not allow thoughts of the future that are far away to cloud the present day.  The present day is rich with opportunities to please God and fulfill our daily vocation.  When individuals focus and allow anxiety to haunt them in regards to their future, they sometimes miss the moments before them.  The vocation of the present is just as important as the vocation of the future.  Today itself is a prayer and opportunity to know love and serve God.  It will build habits that may enable us one day to fulfill that calling more perfectly.   As Padre Pio rightfully saw, spiritual development is a motion of growing closer to God overtime.  The stagnant soul is unable to grow, or feel, or love, but the soul that is in process, even if far away from the finish line, is moving towards his or her ultimate end.  This is important to remember in monitoring spiritual anxiety as well as contemplating one’s vocation.

Conclusion

Please also review AIHCP’s Spiritual Director Program as well as its Christian Counseling Program

A vocation and a special calling beyond our daily life is exciting.   We should not fear it or become obsessed and anxious over it.  God loves us in the moment and we must remember that.  We need to tie our will to God so we can better fulfill that vocation.  God’s choices for us are for all well being in all facets, while the standard of Satan and self leads to illusions of happiness which cause anxiety, anger and depression.  We do not wish to be as Jonah fleeing God’s will.  We know as he fled Nineveh, he was swallowed by a large fish, only to be released 3 days later.  So we cannot flee our vocation, but we must realize beyond our duty to know, love and serve God, that we are also called in a special way with special talents to grow the Church and Christ’s Mystical Body on Earth.  We need to be receptive of this, know how to discern it, and how to listen and respond to it.  This involves unifying one’s own will and desires with God and trusting the path that God has plotted for us.

In the meantime, pray everyday for grace to fulfill daily duties with excellence but also illumination to truly understand one’s calling.  Please also review AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Certification as well as its Spiritual Direction Program

Additional Blogs

Early Issues in Spiritual Direction.  Access here

Spiritual Discernment: Access here

Spiritual Desolation: Access here

Crisis and Doubt in Faith.  Access here

Additional Resources

Vocations. Ignatian Spirituality.  Access here

Chapman, A. “5 Examples of Vocation in the Bible (And Lessons to Learn from the Stories)”.  Access here

Mosseau, J. “How to Discern Your Vocation [+ Tips for Discerning Religious Life]”. University of San Diego.  Access here