{"id":167738,"date":"2025-06-30T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carfundacion.roymo.info\/blog\/direccion-espiritual-quien-es-el-director-espiritual-y-por-que-lo-necesito\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T10:53:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T08:53:55","slug":"direccion-espiritual-quien-directo-por-que","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fundacioncarf.org\/en\/direccion-espiritual-quien-directo-por-que\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual direction: who is the director and why do I need one?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each person is a different world with his or her own stories and life experiences. And God has a specific plan for each person and spiritual direction or spiritual accompaniment, contributes to the growth process of each Christian<\/strong> in his or her condition of son or daughter of God the Father in Christ through the Holy Spirit; helping to discover with joy the figure and love of Christ and what his following calls for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Catholic spiritual direction?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\"On the path of the spiritual life do not rely on yourselves, but with simplicity and docility, ask advice and accept the help of those who, with wise moderation, can guide your soul, point out dangers, suggest suitable remedies, and in all internal and external difficulties can direct you aright and direct you...\", Pope Pius XII, Apostolic Exhortation Menti nostrae, 27.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Spiritual direction or spiritual accompaniment seeks the orientation of the interior life and the exercise of the devout virtues so that each Christian may know how to carry out his daily tasks as a service to God and to his neighbor.<\/strong>  Without conditioning the secular and free nature of these same tasks, for which only the person concerned is fully responsible, like any other citizen. Its purpose is exclusively spiritual.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The objective of the spiritual direction consists primarily in helping you to discern<\/strong> the signs of God's will with the help of the advice of someone more experienced in the spiritual life: the spiritual director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure of the spiritual director is very ancient in the life of the Church. In a broad and generic sense, it can be traced back to Jesus Christ himself and to the apostolic era, although throughout the history of the Church it has been enriched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be kept in mind that spiritual direction is complementary to other activities of Catholic formation and catechesis of a more collective nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do I need a spiritual director?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\"It would not occur to you to build a good house to live in on earth without consulting an architect. How do you want to build without a spiritual director the fortress of your sanctification so that you can live eternally in heaven?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It is very difficult for anyone to guide himself in the spiritual life.<\/strong> So many times the lack of objectivity with which we see ourselves, self-love, the tendency to let ourselves be carried away by what we like the most, or what is easier for us, blur the path that leads to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spiritual director, we see that person, who knows God's way well.<\/strong> To whom we open our souls and to whom we exercise as master of the things that refer to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Opus Dei, in particular, the importance of spiritual direction has been stressed from the beginning as a decisive means of personal formation and as a help offered to all those who approach its apostolates. The genuinely secular spirit of this personal prelature of the Catholic Church means that in the exercise of spiritual direction, the freedom and personal responsibility of each person in his or her professional, social and political spheres, as well as in his or her personal life, is particularly emphasized. family<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristics of the spiritual director<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\"The role of the master<\/em> spiritual consists in supporting the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul and giving peace, in view of the gift of self and apostolic fruitfulness,\" St. Josemar\u00eda Escriv\u00e1.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There are three fundamental qualities for the spiritual director as defined by St. Francis de Sales:<\/p>\n\n\n\n