ARE YOU CALLED TO ACCOMPANY OTHERS?

By: Mike Van Vranken, Spiritual Director

About twelve years ago, I was explaining to a priest friend that every time I gave a presentation to a group, someone would come up following the talk and ask if I was a counselor. I would always respond with: “No. What are you looking for?” Their answers almost always centered around a desire to develop their prayer life or to find ways to enhance their relationship with God. After some thought, the priest asked if I had ever considered spiritual direction. I told him I had been searching for a local spiritual director but had not been able to find one. He said: “No, no, no! I’m asking if you have ever thought about becoming a spiritual director.” “Oh!” I then sat quiet for a few moments. That simple conversation led to my finding a director, my initial discerning if I had a calling to spiritual direction, entering the Archdiocesan Internship for Spiritual Direction, and eventually becoming a trained and certified director.

Do people ever come up to you and ask about your prayer life? Or, do they ask about your relationship with God? Or, ask what having a relationship with God actually means? Do people want to share their inmost desires with you? If the answer to any of these is yes, then maybe a calling to become a spiritual director is already forming within you. Even if the answer to these questions is no, is something moving in you right now that interests you in this calling?

Over the last thirty years, Catholics in the U. S. began a slow decline in attending church. Within the last 10 years, that number of Catholics not being involved in church life has grown. Yet, most of these still have faith in God and are looking for ways to live that faith. I am convinced that spiritual direction can keep many of these believers close to God and even allow God to lead them back to church. At the same time, more and more of those who are still actively living the sacramental church life are looking for a lived spirituality as well. My conclusion is that the need for trained spiritual directors is growing and will continue to expand. Our current conversations must include the identification and training of those called to this ministry. And this includes all of our diocese, not just Shreveport/Bossier.

From the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center’s brochure: “A directee engages a director in order to deepen their awareness of God’s presence in their life. It is this desire for intimacy with the Lord that creates the situation of spiritual direction. Together the directee and director discern the presence and movement of God in the life of the directee.”

Last year, a religious sister who is a long-time spiritual director as well as trainer and teacher of new spiritual directors, told me that the only training and certifying programs she recommends to anyone interested in becoming a director is the training program at Creighton University in Omaha, NE, and the Internship for Spiritual Directors sponsored by the Archdiocesan Spirituality Center in New Orleans. Wow! Quite an endorsement from a highly respected Catholic religious.

On Tuesday, January 19 at 10:00 am, and again at 6:30 pm, I will be giving a virtual Informational Meeting about our Archdiocesan Internship in Spiritual Direction over Zoom. I will explain what spiritual direction is, who might be called to become a director, the prerequisites of the Internship training, and the formation and training program itself. Please see the flier on pg. 35 for more details and ways to register.

Before our conversation ended that day, my priest friend assured me that, even if I never become a spiritual director, just finding a director and discerning the vocation would change my life. His words could not have been truer. I have been transformed into a new, more authentic child of God because of this ministry. Are you being called as well?