Greetings SuscipeMeDomine,
The Holy Spirit works through many people, not only priests.
I never implied that The Holy Spirit did not work through others that were not priests, in fact I am quite aware that he does. However, you can only have In Persona Christi with a priest or Bishop. No amount of training or specialized training will ever grant one “In Persona Christi”. There is no substitute for this.
Probably the biggest advantage of having a priest as a spiritual director is being able to go to confession with him.
This may be true, but it is not the reason I have chosen to have a priest for my spiritual director.
Other than that, there are gifted directors in all walks of life.
I never said that there were any gifted directors in all walks of life, however, not all directors are or stand In Persona Christi.
I’ve been on retreat with a religious brother as my director and he was incredible. I know other people who have gone to sisters, deacons, and laypeople.
In some cases people prefer a man’s viewpoint, in other cases they prefer a woman. Some people prefer a director who is married or has children. One woman I know who is a deacon’s wife has a director who is also a deacon’s wife. In areas like being married to a deacon or having children, it isn’t so much something that affects the kind of direction they give, but it may make the directee feel more easily understood.
Please understand that I do not hold the rest of humanity subject to my opinions in the matter of spiritual direction. IF someone wants to seek a spiritual director that is not a priest, then they should go and do that, if you had seen my orginal response to the OP in this thread, you would have realized that I am not against having non priests for spiritual direction. I suppose you did not read that post, it is earlier in the thread. Just scroll a bit back further.
My director is a priest and I’m blessed to have him in my life. But if I were looking for a new director, I would pray to find a good one and then be open to where the Holy Spirit may lead.
And that is perfectly fine. I agree with that. However, in my life I feel that I am led to have a priest for my spiritual direction, and that is after months of praying as to where I should go. When I started spiritual direction with a priest I was terrified, in the beginning I far rather would have had spiritual direction with a lay person or a non priest. In time, that point of view has changed, to where I believe that for my spiritual director, they need to be a priest.
I have to disagree with you.
I do not see where the disagreement is coming in. If I had said that no one should have a spiritual director that is not a priest, then I would feel that you would be justified in your last post, however as I have not said this, I feel that your last post is wanting a bit to be justified for the disagreement. I see nothing that would have prompted this particular response that you have given to me. I feel that my post must have been either misread or misunderstood by you for you to respond in the manner that you did.
Had I said that the Holy Spirit only works through priests or that spiritual directors should be priests, then and only then would a response such as yours been warranted.
If in fact you wish to pursue the disagreement, then feel free to do so.
God bless.
Anathama Sit
