Spiritual direction

[ThomasMartin]

Hi, brothers and sisters in Christ!

I wanted to ask you, if it is possible to find a free online catholic spiritual director. If such a thing/person even exist and where could I find one or at least look for one. I feel that I would need some guidance from someone more experienced in faith, but I do not have money to pay anyone and I don’t think that there is anyone in the area I live in.

Also, I’m quite young (16) and I would love if the director would be opened to the charismatic renewal. (Now I just ask for too much, don’t I? )

Anyway, God bless you and “Be not afraid!”.

 

[ParvaDei]

Hi, brothers and sisters in Christ!

I wanted to ask you, if it is possible to find a free online catholic spiritual director. If such a thing/person even exist and where could I find one or at least look for one. I feel that I would need some guidance from someone more experienced in faith, but I do not have money to pay anyone and I don’t think that there is anyone in the area I live in.

Also, I’m quite young (16) and I would love if the director would be opened to the charismatic renewal. (Now I just ask for too much, don’t I? )

Anyway, God bless you and “Be not afraid!”.

Money???

I personally don’t think a spiritual director should even ask for payment for his services because this is a spiritual opportunity from God, and it would be very unfair to say, “I cannot help you get to Heaven unless you pay me $10 an hour.” (I mean, none of my spiritual directors have asked for money - they were all perfectly free of charge, and they were pretty decent ones too!)

Anyway D), have you asked your local parish priests if they’re willing to help you? They might be busy, but I’m sure they can find a person who meets your criteria for spiritual direction if they can’t do so themselves. (In fact, most of my spiritual directors have been priests at my home parish.)

And while I prefer face-to-face spiritual direction, I have also heard of long-distance spiritual direction via Skype/Facebook/what-else-is-out-there. But I would only recommend this if 1.) you already know the person in real life (for example, I am Facebook friends with a former priest/director of mine, so I can always message him if need be), and 2.) you have already initiated face-to-face spiritual direction (whether in his office or via Skype/webcam) with the director for quite some time so that s/he can establish that pattern of knowing what behaviors trip you up, which ones help you, etc.

Oh, and by the way, you don’t have to limit yourself to priests! Any highly knowledgeable, faithful Catholic will do, such as a nun or monk (or even one of my former religious-ed teachers who was a former seminarian).

Also, here’s a link to a great website that can help you answer any questions that you have on the spiritual-direction process. (I’ve actually found it helpful even at times when I didn’t have a director on hand!)

Anyway, good luck, and God bless!

P.S. If anyone knows of any spiritual directors in Slovakia (as per the OP’s profile), that would be great! I can only give recommendations for those in Charlottesville and Northern Virginia (USA), so I’m sorry about that!

 

[JRKH]

I get something from HERE every morning in my e-mail. You might find it useful.

Peace
James

 

[Matt_Collins]

Thomas,

Effective spiritual direction requires the establishment of a high degree of trust and openness between the director and the person receiving the direction, a certain spiritual intimacy, so to speak. Especially given your age, I would be very hesitant to establish that kind of relationship over the Internet, especially with someone neither you nor your parents have met in person.

I don’t know if you’re really in Slovakia or not, but if you are, I would recommend a priest or numerary of Opus Dei. They are in Slovakia. You can do a Goole search for “Opus Dei Slovakia” and you’ll get their contact info.

The priests and numeraries of Opus Dei are specially trained to give spiritual direction, especially to lay people who live in the middle of the world.

 

[ThomasMartin]

Thomas,

Effective spiritual direction requires the establishment of a high degree of trust and openness between the director and the person receiving the direction, a certain spiritual intimacy, so to speak. Especially given your age, I would be very hesitant to establish that kind of relationship over the Internet, especially with someone neither you nor your parents have met in person.

I don’t know if you’re really in Slovakia or not, but if you are, I would recommend a priest or numerary of Opus Dei. They are in Slovakia. You can do a Goole search for “Opus Dei Slovakia” and you’ll get their contact info.

The priests and numeraries of Opus Dei are specially trained to give spiritual direction, especially to lay people who live in the middle of the world.

Good point.

And also thanks to others for their comments so far!