Hajja Salesjana September October 2017

1 1 lives. We are so immersed with the busyness of living that we fail to recognize the presence of God. The greatest impact a spiritual director can make to another person’s life is to help one to become aware of what God is doing in one’s life and then make a faith-filled response. Benner calls this soul attunement and says that facilitating such awareness is the goal of spiritual direction: God constantly reaches out, seeking our attention, seeking to be known. We walk through this world oblivious, failing to notice him. We are so wrapped up in ourselves - our plans, our worries, our activities - that we fail to see him. Anything that helps us develop a receptive posture of openness to the Divine prepares us to encounter the God who constantly reveals himself.[David Benner, Sacred Companions, The Gift of Spiritual Friendship (London: IVP, 2002), 96] Jim and Rachel Britts’ modern tale testifies to the importance of spiritual direction in today’s world. Spiritual direction is still relevant today as it was in the past. More than two centuries ago, Don Bosco offered a very unique way of spiritual accompaniment and dedicated his life to a mission very similar to that of Chris Vaughn. St Dominic Savio, Michele Magone and Francesco Besucco are the fruits of Don Bosco’s experience and method of spiritual accompaniment. In the following months we shall be looking into Don Bosco’s unique method of accompaniment through a series of themes. Before doing so it would be appropriate to answer the question- What is Spiritual Direction all about? The Roots and Evolution of Spiritual Direction The roots of Spiritual Direction can be found in the Gospels. Practically every exchange Jesus had and every teaching he gave offered spiritual guidance and direction. Jesus promotes a model of spiritual direction based on serving and sharing with, rather than ruling over another. Later on spiritual direction developed in the East and West in two separate ways. Kenneth Leech states that the first indication of spiritual direction within the Christian tradition on any noteworthy scale can be observed in the East with the Desert Fathers in Egypt and Syria in the fourth century. These solitaries went out into the desert to live a fuller Christian life. In the sparseness of Near Eastern and North African desert areas, these radical God seekers usually lived a life of solitude, prayer, scriptural recitation, simple manual work, and humble simplicity. Behind these practices was a sense of first-hand spiritual combat and radical freedom for God. [Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Director Spiritual Companion (Mahwah NJ: Paulist Press, 2001), 14.] Being apart from the ecclesial community they needed guidance and consequently needed a spiritual “father” or companion. Spiritual Direction in the East was characterised by the presence of the “elder” and the desert was the place to go to when in need of spiritual