What does a spiritual director do?
A Catholic spiritual director helps the directee/retreatant to notice the presence and call of God in the circumstances of their everyday life and to help find the words for talking about those encounters, which helps to deepen the experience of being in a relationship with one’s Creator. The director also guides one in sorting out the various interior ‘voices’ within and around them to discern God’s will. This process called discernment is deciding with prayerful attention to the heart, head, and hands on what will lead to and bring an increase of faith, hope, and love.
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What is the Role of a Spiritual Director?
Instructive
Directive
Contemplative
It is to:
help one notice areas in their prayer life they may have overlooked
share different methods of engaging in prayer from the Church’s tradition
offer practical considerations such as helping one organize time
teach about the discerning of spirits
help on how to listen for those prompts, where they are coming from (Holy Spirit, self, or the ‘enemy or bad spirits’)
support one to notice and sort out distractions or attachments
affirm how one is proceeding Â
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At times, spiritual direction sessions may enter into the other forms of spiritual companionship to assist the directee in finding God’s call in their life. Depending upon the circumstance, the (human) spiritual director may accompany the directee as a spiritual counselor,  a companion, a facilitator, a coach, a teacher, a mentor, and always as a holy listener, for it is the Holy Spirit who is the Spiritual Director.
