Among the smiling faces in church on Sunday mornings are those who long for deeper, more genuine relationships within their local congregations--active, intentional relationships that nurture the soul and encourage personal encounters with God. Drawing on decades of experience in spiritual direction, congregational ministry, and seminary teaching, this book offers a clear and rich introduction to the theology and practice of spiritual companioning in the Protestant tradition. The authors explore the topic in a biblically based and historically informed manner and give practical help for cultivating spiritual relationships in congregations and beyond, using stories throughout to illustrate key ideas. Discussion questions are included.

Spirituality.

Many already appreciate the importance of spiritual direction in the interior life. But having a good director is not enough. One must also know how to make the most of spiritual direction. This book will help you to prepare well for your time in spiritual direction. It describes the four keys to a successful conversation with your director and offers a list of topics that should be covered. It will help you discern what is important and what is not important to talk about in spiritual direction. Making the Most of Spiritual Direction is a helpful aid to beginners and to those with more experience, as well as priests and those entrusted with giving direction to others.

The need for spiritual direction—or the accompaniment of a spiritual guide—is becoming more prominent in a world where so many are suffering from so many wounds. With a harmonious integration of both timeless spiritual wisdom from the Catholic Church’s tradition of prayer and direction, and the insight of the psychological sciences, Fathers Thomas Acklin and Boniface Hicks offer a comprehensive guide for all who provide or seek spiritual direction. Spiritual Direction: A Guide for Sharing the Father’s Love fortifies priests, religious, and lay faithful who embrace the ministry of spiritual direction and accompany the wounded, assist men and women in hearing the voice of God, and model the love and mercy of the Father for the many who are seeking Him but do not know Him or have false images of Him. This book also shows how various aspects of the spiritual life can emerge from and be fostered by a one-on-one relationship with a spiritual director. Together with concrete guidelines and numerous examples from personal experience, this book refers extensively to Sacred Scripture as the foundation for spiritual direction. Furthermore, since the practice of spiritual direction goes back to the first centuries of the Church, the authors turn for guidance to the Doctors of the Church, the writings of the saints, and the papal magisterium in developing and supporting their insights. Spiritual Direction will call spiritual directors to deeper holiness even as they assist others in growing closer to the Father through His loving gaze of mercy.

Join Father Paul Pearson of the Oratory as he guides you on a spiritual journey through one of the great classics of Christian literature, Dante's Purgatorio. Purgatory is the least understood of the three possible "destinations" when we die (though unlike heaven or hell it is not an eternal one) and is mysterious to many Christians and even to many Catholics today. As he did in his first volume in the Spiritual Direction from Dante trilogy, Avoiding the Inferno, Father Pearson adroitly draws out the great spiritual insights hidden in The Divine Comedy. Learn how and why: Dante's presentation of Purgatory is something beautifully hopeful. Freedom is the dominant theme here and the rejoicing of captives delivered from their prisons the dominant tone. Purgatory is filled with good people, people well on their way to becoming saints. They are increasingly concerned for one another and generous, the more so the higher on the mountain they climb. They are interested in one another's well-being and rejoice in one another's victories as though they were their own. The sufferings on Mount Purgatory are not something that happens to the souls there; they happen for them. This has all been designed for their benefit, and they are grateful to God for making it possible. Purgatory is God's merciful plan for allowing us to rediscover the joy and freedom of being human, the joy for which we were created but which sin has smothered and distorted. This is what we can be. This is what we can begin to be, even now, if only we will separate ourselves from sin. What are we waiting for? Join Father Pearson in Ascending Mount Purgatory.

Spiritual Direction gives us the unique and unrivaled experience of having Henri Nouwen as our personal spiritual director, answering our questions about the spiritual life in his wise, comfortable, and engaging style. With Nouwen's guidance, we can reorient our lives and open the door to true spiritual transformation. Henri Nouwen, the world-renowned spiritual guide and counselor, understood the spiritual life as a journey of faith and transformation that is deepened by accountability, community, and relationships. Though he counseled many people during his lifetime, his principles of spiritual direction were never written down. Now two of his longtime students, Michael Christensen and Rebecca Laird, have taken his famous course in spiritual direction and supplemented it with his unpublished writings to create the definitive work on Nouwen's thoughts on the Christian life. Stories, readings, and thematically organized questions for reflection and guided journal writing provide an unparalleled resource for spiritual direction, both for individuals and for small groups.