Finding God

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JoeFreedom

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I apologize, I read the descriptions of the forums, but I never really know where these questions sometimes fit.

I’m currently reading a book called “Journey to God” by Daniel Burke, which is published by Beacon Publishing and Emmaus Road Publishing, both Catholic publishers. It is promoted by dynamiccatholic.com.

I am currently looking for a spiritual director, and while not to digress, there is a book shelf at our church where they keep many Catholic books, cds/dvds for donation and I typically pick up 2-3 every few months, as they restock with new ones. I picked this on up and looked at the summary of the book on the back, and immediately my eyes went to the words “spiritual direction”. I knew it was God’s answer to my prayers about how I continue to grow with Him, but need more direction.

So, in essence, I am not a cradle Catholic, and want to learn more and more about my faith, about how to live my faith, about how to be closer with God, and be the person / saint He wants me to be. But we all know that the Catholic faith is extremely robust and can be challenging to navigate through and understand. I’ve realized that even though I’ve tried to do this on my own (read the CCC, bible, etc.), I need someone to guide me so I don’t go astray.

As I’ve been reading this book, I’ve realized that it truly the gift / answer I needed from God, but there is one thing that is very disturbing to me. It talks in great deal about how choose the right spiritual director and to make sure how not to choose the wrong one. It says that choosing the wrong one can easily put you on the path to hell. That clearly scares me, because I am truly seeking God, and I am in a catch 22 (the book even speaks to this predicament) because if I don’t know about what is true in the faith, how can I discern who is a good spiritual director who is true to the faith??? (Yes, it gives subjective ways to discern, but none are foolproof).

My question to all is this: if I am truly seeking God, and seeking to know Him, do His will, and mistakenly choose a spiritual director who may give mistruths, even when intentions are good, would that be a reason for God to condemn me to Hell?
 
First of all, pray for guidance. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate spiritual director; your flesh-and-blood director is there to help you discern where the Spirit is leading you.

In terms of finding a director, you might start by asking your pastor. He may or may not be available to direct you, but even if he isn’t, he can perhaps recommend someone. I would rather have a recommendation from someone I trust than to choose someone blindly.
 
@SMD, I did start with my local priest, who I trust implicitly and have had long conversations with on several other occasions in the past. Unfortunately he told me (tongue-in-cheek) he wished he had a dollar every time someone asked him that because he would be a rich man. He was not able to provide any further leads with that aspect.

My concern still remains, I do not have a flesh and blood director yet and the Catch 22 stands, those who do not understand the faith yet who need a spiritual director do not know how to discern who is a good spiritual director precisely because they don’t know. And the book talks about being led astray and down the wrong path resulting in Hell because the spiritual director may have been teaching the wrong thing. And it is precisely that I don’t know what is right yet that could lead me to do that. While I believe that with prayer I would be led to the right person, and I’m smart enough to know when I’m being misled, I’m human, and can very easily make an eternal mistake.

For example, I post here regularly asking questions, and people respond, and many seem perfectly reasonable within the Catholic faith. I often get misled to sites that talk about what mortal sins are that people here regularly quote, which I’ve finally discovered from someone now that these DO NOT align with Catholic teaching, but for months I believed to them be.

That’s the problem.
 
I’m not sure what to suggest.

In terms of finding a director you can ask at local convents, monasteries, retreat centers, and the like. Again, if you can get a recommendation from someone you trust that’s a good place to start.

As far as judging the fidelity of a potential director, that’s harder. In the case of my own director, I find him one of the holiest people I know and I trust him completely. I don’t have any reason to second-guess his advice. But if I didn’t have a basis for discerning whether I thought he was right or wrong I don’t really know where I would start.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
I’m not sure what to suggest.

In terms of finding a director you can ask at local convents, monasteries, retreat centers, and the like. Again, if you can get a recommendation from someone you trust that’s a good place to start.

As far as judging the fidelity of a potential director, that’s harder. In the case of my own director, I find him one of the holiest people I know and I trust him completely. I don’t have any reason to second-guess his advice. But if I didn’t have a basis for discerning whether I thought he was right or wrong I don’t really know where I would start.
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I guess we all got off topic a bit here. I wasn’t so much asking where to start to look for a director, as this book I mentioned in my OP has answers for that. I’m more concerned that this is a book written by a prominent Catholic and it very clearly states one of the results of seeking and finding God through a director, if chosen incorrectly, can lead to eternal hell. That is freaking scary. I’m doing what I can to find God, and I cannot believe He could truly throw me into the pits of Hell because my director misled me and somehow maybe I didn’t confess correctly (or something like that). I mean, if God knows I’m seeking him, why would this person write this? I can obviously say that I do agree that if your director told you to kill people, obviously he/she is steering you wrong, but how would one know on the most subtle and incongruously misunderstood and difficult and remote teachings of the CCC?
 
I can’t honestly say that my spiritual direction sessions have ever gotten into the Catechism at all, at least not in the sense of someone ever citing it specifically. We talk about things like my prayer life or where I feel the need to grow in virtue or areas that I struggle with. A conversation might go along the lines of “I feel like I need to do more to help the poor and marginalized.” He responds “Yes, Jesus did say that his followers should be feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. How could you incorporate more of that into your life?”

I suppose a director could lead you astray. “Oh, I’m finding it hard to pray. I just don’t see results from my prayer.” And the director says, “Yeah, you’re right. Why don’t you quit and put your time to better use.” But honestly, that’s not going to happen.

I don’t really know what else to say.
 
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