What is Spiritual Direction in the Catholic Tradition?

FAQ Series: For Those Seeking Spiritual Direction

Welcome to our FAQ series designed to assist those who are seeking or exploring and discerning the gift of spiritual direction. Whether you're new to the ministry or looking to learn more, we hope this series offers clarity, guidance, and encouragement.

In the FAQ section, we’ll continue to add posts that respond to common questions such as:

• What is spiritual direction?

• How do I find a spiritual director?

• What should I expect from a session?

• Is spiritual direction the same as counseling or therapy?

• Can laypeople become spiritual directors?

We’ll also include links to trusted resources and organizations that may help you learn more, find a director, or take the next step on your spiritual journey. Please check back regularly, as this page will continue to grow with new content and insights.

What is Spiritual Direction in the Catholic Tradition?

Spiritual direction, as a particular ministry, is a form of pastoral care that is individualized for the person offered in a one-on-one encounter. In this setting, a trained mentor, guided by the Holy Spirit, helps direct the individual within the context of their everyday life, supporting one's growth in holiness through teaching, co-discernment, and ongoing contemplative accompaniment for one’s deeper discovery through prayer and discerning who they are, whose they are, and how and where they are called.​

What makes it Catholic?

Catholic spiritual direction is a Trinitarian, Marian, and Sacramentally magisterial-based pastoral care that focuses on one's relationship with the Trinity, and on one's growth in holiness through prayer, service, and the sacramental life within the Mystical Body of Christ.

History of spiritual direction in the Catholic Church

 The history of spiritual direction in the Catholic Church involves guidance toward eternal happiness through both public teaching and private counsel, with roots in the early Church and development through various figures and traditions. Spiritual direction has been part of the Church's mission since Christ commissioned the apostles to teach and guide all nations, and since the early Church Fathers and Mothers have played significant roles in providing spiritual guidance.

Within its 2000-year history, consisting of multiple spiritual traditions such as the Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites, Redemptorists,  Passionists  , and others,  it has encompassed now specifically trained clergy, religious, and laity practitioners working in various settings. 

What does Spiritual Direction Involve?

Spiritual direction involves the soul and all its faculties (intellect, memory, and will), one's desires (affective life), and direction in life (both temporal and eternal) in relationship with God and with others, and the self.  As a form of pastoral care, it is where two people come together to listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit's direction for one to grow in holiness and to apply their God-given gifts in the service of others. 

Supporting One's Eternal Goal

Spiritual Direction is “help given by one Christian to another which enables the person [a directee] to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to His grace, to grow in intimacy, and to live out the consequences of that relationship” with Jesus Christ, God's Self-revealed. (Practice of Spiritual Direction by Barry and Connolly p8).

It is multi-dimensional, where the director uses all of the skills found in contemporary counseling - assessment, planning, and 'treatments' (such as prayer). The fruits of the Holy Spirit with accompanying results. The focus and frequency of the sessions change over time; an intermittent goal is temporal, while the end goal is always eternal. 

Spiritual direction services the whole person, holding the balance at the threshold between prayer and everyday life. Our prayer and self-examination bring forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit through the grace of God's gifting for us to discern the good we are to do and grow in virtue and holiness. Spiritual direction also helps one interpret the dynamic interplay of the head, heart, and hands.

What we think is what we do and feel

What we feel is what we think and do

What we do is what we think and feel

What areas in my life does Spiritual Direction address? 

Spiritual Direction "addresses what is in one’s daily life as one prays their way through life’s complex decisions

and interpretations of their spiritual experiences in those everyday life circumstances."

(Joseph Tetlow, SJ)