If I were Spiritual Director for T&T…

Q: Archbishop J, how would you proceed if someone asked you to be the Spiritual Director to T&T?

Spiritual direction is an extremely specific discipline and ministry within the Church. The role encompasses many facets, all aimed at assisting  the directee in aligning their life with God’s will. This  brings them true peace and harmony.

A spiritual director usually guides, supports, discerns, teaches, and keeps confidences. The role is  sacred, pertaining to the state of the soul of the directee.

A director’s role is to guide the directee to God. No matter their life’s troubles, I want them to say: “It is well, it is well, with my soul” (Ps 46:1-3). That is a place of docility to the will of God, a place of union, trust, and surrender where faith, hope, and love prevail in the life and soul of the directee.

Discernment

Usually, I would begin spiritual direction by having the person speak to the state of their soul as they see it. I have found that the directee has things to discuss. They want to speak, regardless of the process. It’s best to let them talk until they feel heard. Much healing happens when someone listens to you, and you know that they hear, receive, and love you. They must come to see and believe that God loves them, despite any challenges they face in life.

The discernment phase could take some time. But, if done well, it moves the directee closer to God and shows them the steps to align their life with God’s will. Deep listening is vital for the start of the healing process.

Discernment is vital for the soul’s movement toward God. Over the years, I have developed a toolkit to assist me in the discernment phase. Each tool, used skilfully, is vital in this phase.

Direction of the journey

The first  tool of the toolkit is asking the fundamental question: Is the directee heading to Jerusalem, the city of destiny and mission, or is the directee heading to Emmaus, the place of escape (Lk 24:13-33)? This is a most fundamental question that, if understood well, can assist the directee.

In the Emmaus story, the two disciples were escaping from Jerusalem. They were distraught and lost all hope, speaking of the disaster that occurred on Friday: the crucifixion of Jesus. After their eyes were opened by Christ in the breaking of the bread, they turned around (repented) and headed back to Jerusalem and the mission.

Is T&T heading to mission, or escaping from mission to its own Emmaus? This is an important question. In Ethics, you call this a “fundamental option”—the fundamental life direction. To assist with this discernment, we have all the other tools in the kit.

Spiritual impulses

For this directee, I would look at spiritual impulses as a guide. Those moving on to mission exhibit a growth in their life that becomes a habit of the heart, visible to all. The beginning of the spiritual life is contrition – the overwhelming sense of God’s goodness and holiness and the poor state of our soul before God. This often manifests as a deep sense of unworthiness.

St Peter witnessed the miracle of the huge catch of fish. The scripture says: “When Simon Peter saw it, he got down at the feet of Jesus.” He said, “Go away from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:8). St Peter is moved from the deepest part of his inner life and experiences contrition, a sense of not being worthy to be in God’s presence.

The second phase is gratitude. When a person has experienced God in all His beauty and grandeur, what emerges is gratitude. “I cannot believe that God could be so good to me when I have been so silly with my life.” This deep sense of gratitude is unmistakable. You hear it in everything the person says and does.

The opposite is ingratitude, despair, and negativity. Read the Emmaus story and see the difference in the two disciples before and after the encounter.

The third spiritual impulse is compassion. Consider Zacchaeus (Lk 19:1-10). He met Christ and was changed. He gave half his possessions to the poor and repaid anyone he had cheated four times the amount. Or the father of the Prodigal Son, who forgives his wasteful son and throws a banquet for him (Lk 15:11-31).

Anyone on a spiritual journey is growing from contrition to gratitude to compassion. This is the acid test of true spirituality. So, ask yourself: is T&T growing in gratitude and compassion? Or is it moving in ingratitude, negativity, and despair? Ponder this question both for yourself, your family or group, and for the nation.

States

A soul is either in a state of consolation, where it is growing in virtue, gratitude, and compassion or in a state of desolation. In a state of desolation, we must first assess whether the directee is living by their conscience in a state of grace.

How are they managing their appetites? Are they living sobriety of heart? Are they chaste and living a life of virtue? Or, like the Prodigal Son, are they living a life of wine, women, and song? Do they make money their highest good and ignore God?

This is an important point of discernment. If the directee is good, moral, and feels desolate, then God is inviting the soul to come closer and be transformed. This is a good thing.

If, on the other hand, the person is in a state of sin, with pleasure, wealth and notoriety as the driving forces, consumed by lower base instincts, then this is an invitation to conversion.

Which path do you believe you, your family and T&T are on right now? Is T&T in a state of consolation? Objectively, I have to say no. So the next question is whether the desolation is an invitation to a deeper place or if the desolation is the good spirit pricking the soul to bring it to contrition.

The first rule of discernment of St Ignatius says: “In the persons who go from mortal sin to mortal sin, the enemy is commonly used to propose to them apparent pleasures, making them imagine sensual delights and pleasures in order to hold them more and make them grow in their vices and sins. In these people, the good spirit uses the opposite method, pricking them and biting their consciences through the process of reason.”

Good and bad spirits

This brings us to the question of which spirit is influencing the directee. The good spirit leads us to become the best version of ourselves—a saint. The bad spirit is the enemy of human nature and leads us to become a lesser version of ourselves. Now ask the question: Which spirit is leading us as a nation?

Look at the levels of negativity in our discourse with each other. Some people get terribly upset when we challenge negativity in public discourse. Look at the rise of violence, corruption, and despair in our national media and discourse.

Dynamic

Is the directee moving from humility to having God’s will central to their life? If they are, then there is docility, humility, harmony, and right living emerging. Or are we seeing pride, wilfulness, and weakness of character?

If I were T&T’s Spiritual Director, I would recommend that the directee increase their devotion and ask the Holy Spirit to infuse hope in them every day.

Key Message:

If I were Spiritual Director for T&T, my discernment would be a spiritual condition of desolation and hopelessness.

Action Step:

Ask the Holy Spirit for the theological virtue of hope every day for T&T.

Scripture Reading:

Luke 24:13-33