Over at my other place, I'm settling in for this upcoming anniversary week.
I have a big week-end ahead first, as the program in which I've studied spiritual direction for the past two years has its annual retreat starting tomorrow, with Sunday marked by our class certification ceremony.
This having been our internship year (upon which, for obvious reasons, I took my time embarking), I haven't had much to say in public. A spiritual direction relationship is such a confidential one that it seems to me that it would violate someone's trust to say anything even vaguely specific (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) about it. But I can say that I have done a considerable amount of direction work this year ~ some regular monthly direction, some one-time meetings, and a variety of personal retreat work, meeting with people every day for a church or college sponsored week, every week for a Lenten retreat, and every week for the full-blown Ignatian Exercises, which take close to a year.
St. Ignatius referred to his work as "giving" the Exercises, rather than as "directing" someone. He had, 450 years ago, a nuanced sense of collaboration and an understanding that what he had to share was truly a gift ~ the gift of presence to the journey of another. It has been a wondrous gift to me this year, to discover that even among the rocky shoals of my own life, I still have something to offer others.
And so ~ I have one more post to write about today's wonderful meeting with another mother, assuming I get the photos uploaded tomorrow, and then I'm going to spend a couple of days away, and then it will be quiet around here for awhile.
I have a big week-end ahead first, as the program in which I've studied spiritual direction for the past two years has its annual retreat starting tomorrow, with Sunday marked by our class certification ceremony.
This having been our internship year (upon which, for obvious reasons, I took my time embarking), I haven't had much to say in public. A spiritual direction relationship is such a confidential one that it seems to me that it would violate someone's trust to say anything even vaguely specific (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) about it. But I can say that I have done a considerable amount of direction work this year ~ some regular monthly direction, some one-time meetings, and a variety of personal retreat work, meeting with people every day for a church or college sponsored week, every week for a Lenten retreat, and every week for the full-blown Ignatian Exercises, which take close to a year.
St. Ignatius referred to his work as "giving" the Exercises, rather than as "directing" someone. He had, 450 years ago, a nuanced sense of collaboration and an understanding that what he had to share was truly a gift ~ the gift of presence to the journey of another. It has been a wondrous gift to me this year, to discover that even among the rocky shoals of my own life, I still have something to offer others.
And so ~ I have one more post to write about today's wonderful meeting with another mother, assuming I get the photos uploaded tomorrow, and then I'm going to spend a couple of days away, and then it will be quiet around here for awhile.
4 comments:
(((GG)))
Mich
Congratulations on finishing your program!
You have been a spiritual director to me for years but I don't mean to trivialize the more intense work you do with people in your program. I am grateful for knowing you and learning from you.
Congratulations on the completion of this program, GG. And you will be in my thoughts deeply during these next few weeks as this anniversary approaches.
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