Spiritual Direction is an opportunity to meet with a good listener and guide to notice the interior movements of God’s grace in your life, to grow in a more contemplative prayer life and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Integrating biblical principles, contemplative practices, and psychological insights, spiritual direction supports your whole-person formation and provides a trusted space to seek clarity, guidance, and deeper communion with God. Spiritual Direction is not confession but much broader in scope, looking at the whole of God’s movement in your life. Nor is spiritual director a psychologist or counselor, though there are parallels between the two, a director is attentive to the movement of God’s grace within you rather than problem solving a particular issue or exploring the impact of the past in your life today.

Many spiritual traditions have offered spiritual direction over the ages. In particular, the Ignatian Spiritual tradition is perhaps best known for having fine-tuned the art of spiritual direction, developing a pedagogical approach to lead people to a personal experience of God and help them to respond more deeply, including concrete tools for prayer and discernment in the midst of today’s busy life.

The Jesuit Spiritual Center maintains a list of trained Spiritual Directors in the Ignatian Tradition. Spiritual Direction is available both in-person and virtually. For more information contact Fr. David Watson, SJ, Associate Director of Adult Ministry, at 513.248.3504.