The Art of Spiritual Direction: A Guide to Ignatian Practice

This is a concrete, practical book about the elusive topic of spiritual accompaniment. While there may be no shortage of books on this topic, most of these books remain somewhat abstract in the way that they highlight the beauty of this ministry and point out pitfalls. Alternatively, this book resembles a toolbox with a user’s manual. In this book, I present six tools: “taking it easy”, “listening by following”, ”focusing on spiritual experience”, “deepening spiritual experience”, “evaluating spiritual experience”, “forming for spiritual maturity”. With examples and case studies, I demonstrate how these tools may be used to good effect. Two introductory chapters discuss (my view of) an Ignatian approach to spiritual accompaniment and the underlying convictions of the model used in this book. A final chapter specifically focuses on vocational discernment. New spiritual directors learn in this book the tricks of the trade and experienced directors can reflect upon their own practice anew. Written from a Roman Catholic, Jesuit background, this book can be used in a variety of Christian contexts.