Meeting Souls Where They Are: The Art of Spiritual Direction

Most people who need spiritual direction do not know how to ask for it, and many who give it fall back on a formula. This short course takes a different route. It sits with one man’s honest account of a twenty-year journey, from a numb, “Catholic light” faith to a life of daily prayer and mission, and draws out the single skill that made the difference: a director who found out where he actually stood before trying to move him.

In one focused lesson, built around a candid interview between Fr. Charles Sikorski and Stephen Auth, you will trace the stages of the spiritual journey, see why the right guide depends on where a person stands, and learn why listening outperforms any script. The lesson pairs that lived story with the scholarship of Divine Mercy University’s faculty on the helping relationship and the whole person, and with the classic spiritual masters, John of the Cross, Teresa of Ávila, Ignatius, Aumann, Tanquerey, Augustine, on the art of accompanying a soul at its own pace.

Whether you direct others formally, accompany them pastorally, or counsel them professionally, you will leave with one practical conviction you can use the same day: meet the person where they are, and let the relationship do the work.