What can you expect in listening accompaniment?

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We see the necessity for certain natural and supernatural endowments in a spiritual director. At a natural level, one should be humble, prudent, and have a mature disinterestedness. One should be a patient and empathetic listener, learned in spiritual theology, and be receiving spiritual direction.  At the supernatural level, one should have a zeal for souls, a spiritual-mindedness, trust in divine providence, and personal experience of the spiritual life and prayer. 

Reference:

Acklin, T., & Hicks, B. (2017). Spiritual director: A guide for sharing the Father's love. Emmaus Road Publishing.  p.131 

St. Teresa of Ávila emphasized the importance of learning in regard to the spiritual life asking that the Superiors allow that the Carmelite nuns, “besides speaking with the ordinary confessors . . . might sometimes speak and discuss their souls with learned persons, especially if the confessors, however good, may not be learned. Learning is a great help in shedding light upon every matter. It will be possible to find both learning and goodness in some persons.”

Reference:

St. Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection, in  The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Ávila.  Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 2001), p.159.

While it is necessary for a spiritual director to be spiritually-minded, it also helps to be psychologically-minded. This means that without reducing everything to the spiritual, one is able to see the natural processes at works, including aspects of temperament, personality, and psychological makeup.  This does not require one to understand all of psychology or even to have a degree in psychology, but to be aware of some dynamics of natural, psychological processes in human experience, thought, and behavior. While a good spiritual director will be aware of the limitations of psychology, without any knowledge of psychology there is a danger of over-spiritualizing. Grace builds on nature; it does not replace it. A spiritual director should be able to appreciate the supernatural work of grace perfecting, purifying, and elevating the natural potential of the human being. It is important to know one’s limits in psychological knowledge, but a little psychological-mindedness goes a long way.

Reference:

Acklin, T., & Hicks, B. (2017). Spiritual director: A guide for sharing the Father's love. Emmaus Road Publishing.  p.131 

 The teaching of St. Paul of the Cross on spiritual direction provides a good summary of the qualities needed in a spiritual director: “Paul expected the Spiritual Director to have learning, prayer and experience, holiness and prudence.”  

Reference:

 Silvan Rouse, Reflections on Spiritual Direction in St. Paul of the Cross, Studies in Passionist History and Spirituality, vol. 12, ed. Norbert M. Dorsey, CP (Rome, Italy: Passionist General Curia, 1982), 17.  

 “Besides being very learned, the spiritual director should also be a person of deep contemplation, while without experience, the very deep and marvelous deeds which God works in the soul are not understood.” 

Reference:

St. Paul of the Cross, quoted in Silvan Rouse, stanza 3, no. 30.  Reflections on Spiritual Direction in St. Paul of the Cross. p.18  

“If you cannot find a person with all these qualities, then at least let one be learned.” Without making a final decision about which is more important, we can certainly say that it is important for spiritual directors to continue growing in their personal experience of the spiritual life. 

Reference:

St. Paul of the Cross, quoted in Silvan Rouse, stanza 3, no. 30.  Reflections on Spiritual Direction in St. Paul of the Cross. p.19