Spiritual Direction

Spiritual Direction is a space to clear away the clutter in your life with a compassionate listener. This is an ancient form of pastoral and soul care. Through compassionate listening and prayerful conversation it  is a place to listen to yourself and to God, in quiet, in grief, sometimes laughter seeing where God’s grace is at work in your life. 

Margaret Guenther words it beautifully in her book Holy Listening:

For more information or to schedule an appointment contact Sherri or, Mike.

Ignatian Exercises

Have you ever felt like your ‘everyday’ life is separate from a meaningful spiritual life?  Perhaps you’ve struggled to find integration in your desire to experience God’s presence personally with you and your everyday, walk around, work and play world.  The Ignatian Exercises are a form of prayer that integrate your everyday world with experiencing God’s presence. Love, and purpose in the whole of your holy life. 

History of the Ignatian Exercises
Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, developed the Spiritual Exercises, one of the enduring treasures of Christian faith and devotion. This journey of prayer was written in the 1500’s, but it has continued to bear spiritual fruit across the centuries.  The Exercises primarily consist of praying with Scripture, where we are invited to let God inspire our imagination so that we encounter Jesus though the gospel stories.

The Exercises begin with prayers that help us know that we are deeply loved by God. With the love of God as our foundation, we are able to face the chaos and sin in our lives and the world around us, and experience deep grace and forgiveness. Then we pray through the life of Jesus using gospel stories: His birth and childhood, His public ministry, His passion, His resurrection and the new life we are offered.

Through the Exercises, many people encounter Jesus in a profound way, finding their love for Jesus increased, with a deep desire to serve Him with joy. The Exercises are also a school of discernment, where we let desire for God lead us as we offer our lives more completely to Him.

How would I begin?

We offer two ways to journey through the Exercises,  18th annotation, An Ignatian Experience  or 19th annotation, Life with the Trinity or Life with Christ [NEEDS TITLE CONFORMATION]

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Here are some points about the 18th and 19th that will let you see the difference in experience and commitment. 

Both annotations require a daily time of prayer/contemplation from at the very least 30 minutes for up to an hour.

Both require meeting weekly with a spiritual director.  A director helps you to understand how to do the Exercises and to discern how the Spirit moves in your heart, so you can be aware and open to all the gifts and graces God has for you.  A director also helps explain the different ways of praying, contemplations and meditations.   They also serve as a guide as you navigate the different themes and movements in the Preparation Days, Weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

Both require a fee which is listed in the details below.

18th Annotation, An Ignatian Experience

• The 18th annotation is an adaptation of the 19th annotation.
• It typically lasts from 10-12 weeks.
• It requires a weekly meeting with a trained Ignatian spiritual director, you can request for one on one direction, or to be placed in a group of 2-3 if available.
• The 18th will touch on each of the themes of the 19th but not as much depth and time spent in each one.
• Cost for the 18th is a sliding scale of 200-240 for the whole course or can be paid monthly 65-80 a month for three months.

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19th Annotation, Life with the Trinity or Life with Christ  

• This is the complete Spiritual Exercises in daily life.
• This requires 9 to 10 months to complete. Typically 35 weeks
• It requires a one on one weekly meeting with a trained Ignitian spiritual director.
• It can be done in a group setting if a group is open and available. You receive individual SD once a week 3 times a month and group SD once a month.
• Groups also include 5 half day retreats spread throughout the 35 weeks and are offered by a donation on the day of the retreat.
• It is a compelling journey of knowing, being known and loving and being loved by the Trinity.
• It provides an experience of varying kinds of Ignatian prayer and contemplation for slow deep work of transformation.
• Cost for the 19th annotation is a sliding scale of $125-175 a month.
• Cost for the 19th annotation group is also a sliding scale of $125-$175 a month plus a donation for the half day retreats.

For more information or to schedule an appointment contact Sherri or, Mike.

Supervision

Supervision is a collegial relationship between a spiritual director and someone trained to help them look at the feelings, shifts of awareness or resonance within the director that might be getting in the way of them being fully present to their directee. Supervision is both affirmation and challenge, it is a gift that keeps clean and clear space in the heart of a director so they may more fully sit with their directees.  Spiritual Directors International’s Guidelines for Ethical Conduct states “spiritual directors engage in supervision by receiving regular supervision from peers or from a mentor.”

Supervision is director focused and we work with a write up about a session and a snipped of verbatim dialogue from the session. It’s a confidential process in that the supervisor will not know identifying details about the person the director had the session with nor do we spend time talking about the directee. It’s a chance for the spiritual director to look within themselves and become more free to be the spiritual guide your directees need them to be.

For more information or to schedule an appointment contact Sherri or, Mike.