SPIRITUAL DIRECTION. - Assistance habitually given to a single soul, for the most part in connection with sacramental Confession, in order to "lead it in the ways of God, teach it to listen to divine inspiration and to respond to it, suggest to it the practice of the virtues in accordance with the situation in which it finds itself; so as not only to preserve it in purity and innocence, but to make it progress in perfection and holiness" (N. Grou, Manuel des âmes intérieures, Paris 1895, p. 109). St. Gregory the Great considered spiritual direction "the art of arts."
I. NATURE AND OBJECT
Although under the name of spiritual direction there is sometimes understood any form of interior spiritual assistance, there exists a clear difference between spiritual direction and the pastoral direction aimed at forming the souls entrusted to the care of a spiritual pastor, and sacramental direction.
The object of spiritual direction, in fact, is everything that concerns spiritual formation. It therefore goes beyond the accusation of faults, since it seeks out the cause of sins in character, in temperament, in contracted habits, in temptations, in imprudences, attending to the possibility of remedying them, in such a way as to strike at the root of the evil. It deals with the virtues to be practiced, with the spiritual exercises capable of enriching the soul with grace, as well as with vocation and the graces of one's state, and finally with the graces "gratis datae" and the call and ascent to perfection: "proprie intelligitur in ordine ad perfectionem, non ad simplicem vitam christianam tantum" (De Guibert, op. cit. in bibl., p. 167).
A spiritual director, or master of spirits, is one to whom a soul habitually entrusts itself, manifesting to him its whole conscience, so that he may direct it, instructing and stirring it up, in the way of perfection, which can happen either within confession or outside it (cf. de Guibert: op. cit. in bibl., p. 167, n. 184; E. de la Reguera, Praxis Theol. Myst., II, 8, q. 1, n. 17).
Spiritual direction must limit itself: 1) to presenting the plan of perfection according to the design prepared by Jesus Christ and interpreted by the Saints in their lives; 2) to determining the ways of perfection that are most practical and most conformed to the strengths and the character of individual subjects; 3) to ensuring constant progress in perfection;
4) to pointing out the difficulties encountered on the way of perfection and to fixing the most suitable means for avoiding them. R. Plus (op. cit. in bibl., pp. 15-28) defines even better the limits and purposes of spiritual direction: "spiritual direction has a threefold object: to enlighten the spirit, to help the will, to console in sorrows." It must enlighten the spirit, disclosing to the soul God's designs upon it, "above all when it is a matter of discovering and determining one's state of life, or of taking important decisions, or of subjecting a mode of prayer to supervision, or of practicing this or that penance, a guide is supremely precious" (cf. F. Strowski, St François de Sales, p. 48). It must fortify the will, supporting rather than leading. Many, especially women, believe that consoling in sorrows is the sole or prevailing purpose of spiritual direction. From this error come many abuses, "the need to make oneself appear and to hear words that calm, interminable letters, or visits exaggerated both in length and in frequency" (Plus, p. 28).
II. NECESSITY
The necessity of spiritual direction is based on a real need of the soul (Plus, p. 30 ff.; de Guibert, p. 186). The Church has in fact several times condemned doctrines unfavorable, or opposed, to spiritual direction; thus in the condemnation of the Americanist doctrines (apostolic letter Testem benevolentiae, 22 Jan. 1899): « externum magisterium omne ab iis, qui christianae perfectioni adipiscendae studere velint, tamquam superfluum, immo etiam minus utile reicitur ».
The reason for this would be that « ampliora atque uberiora nunc, quam elapas temporibus, in animos fidelium Spiritus Sanctus influit chariamata cesque medio, nemine docet arcano quodam instinctu atque agit » (Denz-U, n. 1970). Against this doctrine, very akin to the doctrines of Protestantism, Leo XIII teaches that God « homines plerunque fere per homines salvandos decrevit, ita illos quos ad praestantiorem sanctimoniae gradum advocat per homines eo perducendos constituit ».
The necessity of spiritual direction in order to attain perfection, avoiding the exaggerations of certain theologians, such as L. Boccardo (op. cit. in bibl., I, p. 181), who maintain that the use of spiritual direction is necessary for all souls, whenever there is no true impossibility of having it, and of others who on the contrary deny a general necessity of direction, admitting only its usefulness (Ami du clergé, 1921, p. 427), can be summarized as follows: 1) Spiritual direction is the ordinary and normal means by which God is wont to lead souls to perfection. "We find," observes Leo XIII in the apostolic letter cited, "at the very origins of the Church a celebrated manifestation of this law; although Saul... had heard the voice of Christ himself... he was sent to Ananias... Thus it was always practiced in the Church: this is the doctrine unanimously professed by all those who in the course of the centuries were distinguished for learning and holiness" (cf. G. B. Scaramelli, Direttorio ascetico, I, treatise I, a. III, c. 1; besides Acts 9, 6, 17, he cites II Kings 3, 9).
Furthermore, both beginners and those advanced in the spiritual ways are subject to the danger of subjective illusions, and always need stimulus and light, whether in a state of spiritual aridity, or in order to cultivate better the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and to respond with generous and constant docility to divine inspirations. Therefore when spiritual direction can be had, without extraordinary efforts and sacrifices, it is not lawful to despise such an aid furnished us by Grace, without grave temerity and harm to the soul. The degree of such usefulness and necessity can vary and does vary simply with the variation of different factors, such as the degree of spiritual life attained, the state of life, extraordinary circumstances, the richness of mystical gifts.
"Persons who are in an extraordinary state have more need than others of being guided, and must never trust their own lights" (Écrits spirituels du vénérable Libermann, Paris 1891, pp. 355-56).
III. HISTORY OF SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
It has not yet been exhaustively studied. In the letter collections of St. Cyprian, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Basil, and of very many other Fathers, there is a rich mine for such a study.
As far as Christian archaeology is concerned, in 1880 at Bath, in England, a sheet of lead was discovered with cursive writing (E. W. B. Nicholson, Vinicius to Nigra, a IVth cent. christian letter, written in South Britain, and discovered at Bath, now deciphered, translated, and annotated, London 1904): the letter written by a certain Vinicius, probably a priest, to Nigra, a married lady, gives brief but wise counsels of spiritual direction (A. Baudrillart, Vinicius à Nigra. L'original d'une lettre de direction écrite il y a seize cents ans, in La quinzaine, 12 [1905], pp. 243-46).
Spiritual direction has its first manifestations in Eastern monasticism, in the practice prescribed for young monks of manifesting their defects to the elders, in order to receive counsel from them (Cassian, De coenob. instit., V, 2: PL 7, 12). Important references to spiritual direction and its necessity, with regard to monks, are found in St. John Climacus (Scala paradisi, grad. IV, 5-12: PG 88, 680-81); Cassian (Collationes, coll. 11, chaps. 1-13: PL 49, 526-42); St. Basil (Reg. brevius tractatae, 227: PG 31, 1233); St. Gregory the Great (Dialog., 1, 1: PL 77, 153); St. Bernard (Serm., 8 De Diversis, 7: ibid. 183, 546) insist on the necessity for religious novices of having a master "qui doceat, deducat, foveat vos," since without such direction they are exposed to a lack of discretion.
St. Catherine of Siena, with her letters, serves as a spiritual director for the "bella brigata," that is, the circle of friendly souls and disciples gathered around her. Gerson alludes to the usefulness of spiritual direction, especially for mystical souls (Epist., contra praed. defens., in Opera omnia, I, pp. 80-82). Particular mention should be made of the treatise De vita spirituali (part 2, chap. 1) of St. Vincent Ferrer.
St. Teresa inculcates the necessity of a good spiritual director for souls that follow extraordinary paths (Castello spirituale, V stanza, chap. 1; Vita, chap. 13); she also recommends it for devout souls who are not religious (Castello interiore, III stanza, chap. 11). In the Cammino della perfezione she gives golden teachings on the choice of a spiritual director and on the manner of opening oneself to him. St. John of the Cross left 15 spiritual maxims on the spiritual master and on the direction of the spirit (H. Hoonaert, Oeuvres spirituelles de St Jean de la Croix, II, p. 153).
The author of the Combattimento spirituale recommends in chap. 19 that one open oneself to a spiritual director. Battista da Crema directed St. Cajetan Thiene and St. Anthony Zaccaria; Philip Neri directed St. Camillus de Lellis, Leonardi, Federico Borromeo; a Conventual Franciscan friar, Trebatio Marlotti della Verna, composed at Turin in 1590 some Discorsi spirituali for the Direzione delle anime. But only from the 16th century onward is the practice of spiritual direction found recommended in a general way, both to people in the world and to religious souls. Two causes contribute to this result: on the one hand the practice of spiritual retreats accredited by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, and the formal insistence of the first ascetical authors of the Society of Jesus; on the other, the counsels of St. Francis de Sales (R. Plus, p. 32 ff.).
In the 1600s good writers deal with spiritual direction, such as Alfonso Rodriguez (Pratica della perfezione e delle virtù cristiane, part 3, treat. 7), Alvarez de Paz (De vita spirituali, 1620, I, 1, 5, chaps. 12-13); Ludovico da Ponte (Guida spirituale, I, IV, chap. 2, no. 2), G. Negrone, De necessitate magistri, chap. 3, nos. 33-34.
St. Francis de Sales is the first who promulgates the inevitable necessity of spiritual direction for souls, spiritual direction being for him "the counsel of counsels" (Introduzione alla vita devota, part 1, chap. 4):
The doctrine of spiritual direction in Salesian thought is found scattered throughout all his writings. Afterward, Fr. Francesco Guilloré is to be noted as one of the most remarkable masters of spiritual direction; a good part of his works treats of it, with particular regard to souls called to higher mystical states (La manière de conduire les âmes dans la vie spirituelle, Paris 1675). Fénelon too left good guidelines for the spiritual direction of souls, which he wants based on love, and directed to the heart more than to the spirit (M. Cagnac, Fénelon, Etudes critiques, ivi 1910, p. 337). Fénelon's Lettres de direction (ed. 1902) are famous. Bossuet left in his "Letters of direction" an excellent example of direction inspired by love, and adapted to the needs of every soul (Correspondance de Bossuet, edited by Ch. Urbain and E. Levesque, 5 vols., Paris 1909-12; Jean Olier was an excellent master of spiritual direction; his maxims on this matter were collected by his disciple Louis Tronson (Il direttore spirituale secondo lo spirito di Giovanni Olier, Italian trans., Milan 1943). St. Alphonsus M. de' Liguori has good references to spiritual direction in his moral theology and in his letters. W. Faber composed two celebrated works on spiritual direction: Grouth in Holiness (1854), and Spiritual Conferences (1859). In the most recent era, to be remembered as excellent masters of spiritual direction are Gay (cf. B. Du Boisrouvray, Mgr Gay, évêque d'Anthéodon, sa vie, ses oeuvres, Tours 1922, chap. 4. Le directeur de conscience), M. d'Hulst, L.-G. de Ségur, L. Beaudénon, W. Sandreau, C. Marmion.
IV. LIMITS
To be useful and sound, spiritual direction must be kept within the proper limits of a "wise middle way which, while preserving for the Holy Spirit the primacy in the direction of consciences, avoids letting all souls fall into a harmful passivity and introspection, yet without wishing to deprive them of the immense benefit of a well-understood direction" (Plus, p. 47).
The primacy in spiritual direction always belongs to the action of the Holy Spirit, since according to Olier the director must resemble the star of the Magi, or St. John the Baptist. "Spiritual direction is the discreet means of helping the soul to walk, and it will prove the better the more the soul, thanks to it, becomes capable of walking on its own. Assiduous and jealous direction is a contradiction in terms, as it would be for a mother always to carry her child in her arms instead of teaching him to walk" (F. Lippert; cf. Libermann, Écrits spirituels, Paris 1891, p. 260 ff.). The director must never impose upon a soul his own tastes and his own way of viewing spiritual matters.
In what pertains to his office, the spiritual director does not possess a properly so-called authority. Consequently the directee is not subject to the exercise of the virtue of obedience. Those authors who, like St. Francis de Sales, seem to insist on the obedience owed to the director, understand such obedience in a broad sense (Vincent, op. cit. in bibl., p. 408). The authority of the spiritual director is rather a moral authority to which there must correspond, on the part of the directee, a submission that is the fruit more of prudence and humility than of obedience. Hence the spiritual director is not merely a friend; he must be regarded as having, by virtue of his office, a certain superiority, as an educator or teacher, to which there corresponds in the subject a true submission.
The claim on the part of the spiritual director to exercise too strict an authority over souls leads to their spiritual enervation and encourages their passivity, since "it is a dangerous thing to make a superstition of direction," notes Faber (op. cit. in bibl., ch. 18), who adds: "I have never heard of a person who, having a director, had to complain of being too little directed. The number, on the other hand, of those who have suffered from forced direction would fill the hospital of a considerable city."
The excess of authority in direction was strongly criticized even in eminent directors, such as Fénelon (cf. R. Navatel, Fénelon et la confrérie secrète du pur amour, Paris 1914, p. 7 ff.); and also, wrongly, in St. Francis.
Therefore, although the counsels and norms of the spiritual director must be regarded as expressions of a prudent judgment, to which one must normally assent, it is false to assert that everything said or commanded by the spiritual director is a most certain manifestation of the divine good pleasure regarding the particular circumstances of our existence (so maintains Boccardo, I, p. 321); but the absence of a true authority in the spiritual director suffices to refute this thesis. Interesting are Olier's letters on obedience to the director (letter 218, and letter 38). The spiritual director cannot therefore impose precepts properly so called, except in a conditional form (for example: "if you do not do this, I cannot undertake, or continue, your direction"). He can declare, in a particular case, given the circumstances, what he considers to be the will of God, to whose judgment the directee may prudently submit. For the direction of the scrupulous, the neuropathic and the psychopathic, however, particular norms apply.
To reconcile the submission owed to the spiritual director with obedience toward ecclesiastical or religious superiors is a rather delicate matter, which demands much prudence and composure on the part of the director.
Well known in this matter are the errors of Molinos, condemned in propositions 65-68 (Denz-U, 285), in which the right was denied to ecclesiastical authority to inquire into and judge the manner in which one guides souls. In practice, in a possible case of conflict between the judgment of the spiritual director and the obedience owed to the superior, the director may, with prudence, declare that, according to the general norms of moral theology, a particular precept does not oblige; or, in a case of freedom left by the authorities to the directee, the director may declare that in the particular case an obligation exists, but he cannot at all exempt his directee from the bond of obedience and authority.
When it is not a question of a true precept, but of carrying out rules or orders that are indirectly obligatory, or "de bono meliori animae," the judgment of the spiritual director may diverge from that of the superior, but the spiritual director must bear in mind that often, if he has a deeper knowledge of the soul being directed, the superior may know many circumstances of the directee's life unknown to the spiritual director regarding his character, defects, and observance of the religious life. Hence much prudence is required in the spiritual director to avoid possible abuses of his counsel on the part of the directee.
Is obedience owed to the spiritual director in regard to vocation or the choice of a state of life? Several spiritual directors take advantage of their authority to impose upon their directees their own particular points of view on the religious life, on remaining in the world, etc. Boccardo (III, pp. 639-42) lays down that, in the matter of vocation, the directee must depend completely on the director, and may only set before him the reasons he deems for and against the choice of a particular state. The spiritual director may indeed prudently declare that the directee is or is not called to the religious, priestly, or married life, and that he deems him more or less suited to such forms of life, and judge whether the motives put forward by the directee are supernatural, good, or weak and illusory; "but, this granted, it is not the director, but the spiritual child himself who must be led to make the final practical judgment: therefore it is God's will that this kind of life be followed" (de Guibert, p. 175).
Is a vow of obedience to the spiritual director advisable? It was practiced by several saints, to secure greater merit and security in the spiritual life. The Church does not reprove it, but does not pronounce on the matter. The problem can be considered by distinguishing various cases. In the case of incurable scrupulous persons it is completely inadvisable. They should be recommended passive obedience, and the vow should not be permitted. In the case of scrupulous persons by occasion, from whom a prompt return to soundness can be hoped for, the greatest prudence is necessary: it may be that the use of a vow is for them the means of recovery, but it is much more prudent to see whether submission can be obtained without the vow.
In the case of fervent souls, the spiritual director must never presume to propose it on his own part to the directee. If the spiritual child spontaneously asks to pronounce it, it should not be granted easily, and only within well-defined limits, to avoid distress of spirit, not only for the directee but also for the director himself who, setting himself up as a superior, would come to assume responsibility before God for all the actions of the directee. Theoretically one may ask by virtue of what virtue such a vow obliges. The answer is: by virtue of the virtue of religion, and not of obedience, because the vow does not suffice to constitute a true superior.
Particularly to be discouraged is the practice of binding oneself by vow not to change director, or to keep secret all his teaching, or not to take counsel with others. All this is harmful to true piety. Famous in this regard is the case of St. Jane Frances de Chantal (cf. St. Francis de Sales: Epist. 221 and 223, in Oeuvres 1-12, pp. 277-283). For those in the married state, the vow of obedience to the director is not to be advised, except in special cases.
V. THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
The office of spiritual director should ordinarily be reserved to priests alone, both with regard to the general economy of the supernatural order, and because of the easy connection that spiritual direction has with Confession, and because of the greater preparation and aptitude that a priest possesses for such an office. There are theologians, such as F. Guilloré (Secret de la vie spirituelle, I, 1, 8, 2-3) and L. Boccardo (I, p. 145), who wish the office of spiritual director to be reserved exclusively to priests alone. One cannot, however, ignore the fact that in the past there were shining examples of such an office exercised by non-priests, such as St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius of Loyola before 1537, etc. Famous was the direction exercised by Jean de Bernières-Louvigny (v.), who, besides the brethren of the hermitage, also directed townspeople, monks, religious, nuns, and priests as well. Therefore, with De Guibert, one may assert: «lex absoluta et universalis solis sacerdotibus omnino reservans directionem animarum statui posse non videtur» (p. 173, n. 190).
The history of the ascetic life also records the case of women as spiritual directors, although M. Viller observes (L'abrégé de la perfection de la Dame milanaise, in Revue d'ascétique et mystique, 12 [1931], p. 83) «it is difficult to admit that a woman can without illusion exercise the office of a true director». St. Catherine of Siena stands foremost among these, and her «Lettere» are truly masterpieces of spiritual direction. Teresa of Jesus is the directress of her Carmelites, Isabella Cristina Bellinzaga is the directress of Fr. Achille Gagliardi and of other confreres of his in the Society of Jesus (cf. H. Bremond, Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France depuis la fin des guerres de religion jusqu'à nos jours, XI, Le procès des mystiques, Paris 1933, ch. 1, pp. 5-18). Relations of spiritual direction also existed between Madame Guyon and her director Fénelon (E. Masson, Fénelon et madame Guyon, ibid. 1907). H. Lacordaire could write to Madame Swetchine in a sad hour of his life: «you are the first who have guided me» (M. J. Rouet de Journel, Madame Swetchine, Paris 1929, p. 257).
Spiritual direction, by reason of a complex of theoretical and practical requirements that govern the series of practical judgments which must regulate the conscience being directed, presupposes in the director special qualities.
The principal qualities required in the spiritual director may be fixed at six:
1) holiness, since spiritual direction is, in a particular way, a work of cooperation with the action of Grace and of the Holy Spirit, the director must consider in souls God alone. «We must ourselves be the first to be full of God, if we wish to fill others with Him» (Olier, op. cit. in bibl., p. 141), «the art of direction is a science not of study, but of prayer, not of speculation, but of love» (Bérulle, Memorial pour la direction des supérieurs).
2) Knowledge, first of all theological, from dogmatics to ascetics and mystics, with a sufficient acquaintance with the history and literature of spirituality, so that he may rightly direct and regulate spiritual readings, and may know the various opinions and solutions of problems. An extensive acquaintance with the psychological and psychopathological disciplines will also be useful.
3) Supernatural prudence and right judgment fortified by the gift of counsel, which the director must particularly ask of the Holy Spirit. Since he must lead the soul in its correspondence to Grace, he must never inspire in it his own tastes and his own inclinations, nor guide it according to his own way of seeing things. The director who regulated himself thus would often turn souls aside from God's guidance and would often thwart the Grace of God in them.
4) Experience, which he must draw both from the personal practice of holiness and from the multiplicity of spiritual direction (G. B. Scaramelli, vol. I, treatise 1, year 3, ch. 3, pp. 70-71, n. 107-108).
5) A spirit of adaptation, with the ability to give a spiritual direction that is appropriate and progressive. Since there are no two souls identical in the matter of spiritual direction, «the only truly absolute law is that there be no absolute law» (H. Bremond, Hist. litt. etc., IX, Paris 1932, p. 368). «The ways of God upon souls are different, but each one can perfect himself only by following that by which God wills that he walk». Therefore directors must apply themselves in a wholly particular way to discerning, so as never to lead souls except along the way that is proper to them.
6) Charity, «which is a supernatural and fraternal affection that makes him see in those he directs spiritual children entrusted to him by God himself» (A. Tanquerey, Compendio di teologia ascetica e mistica, C. V, a II, n. 544 A).
VI. METHOD
The spiritual director must know the soul he directs, its disposition, its natural gifts and defects, the good and bad habits it has acquired, its temperament and character, the sins it has committed, its temptations and inclinations, the present impulses of Grace, its present progress, heavenly favors, etc. He must wisely guide the soul to open itself, avoiding all exaggeration or excessive talkativeness, by means of appropriate questions, requiring detailed accounts of its spiritual state, suggesting good formative reading, and exhorting it to introspection. The soul must be instructed in the spiritual way gradually, seizing every opportunity.
It is not necessary that in spiritual direction the director rely solely on the knowledge he has obtained from the soul; he may also make use of reliable information, even if obtained from external sources. In instructing the person directed, he should not neglect to give a general grounding in spiritual principles, showing how the advice given is founded on dogma and on experience, prudently deducing principles into concrete practice.
He must further foster the good will of the person directed by securing the practical carrying out of resolutions. Sometimes it may be useful or necessary for the formation and progress of the soul to impose trials, humiliations, or to use harsh methods, but these means must be used with the greatest caution. Although spiritual directors often help and advise the souls they direct even in business and temporal matters, in order to procure their spiritual good, and, when the case concerns women deprived of any other counsel (A.-M. Meynard, Trattato della vita interiore, I, Turin 1938, 11), nevertheless, since the dangers and inconveniences in this matter are many, directors are advised against doing so, except in truly extraordinary cases.
The director must avoid despotism that imposes his own ideas or keeps the soul in a state of continual inferiority, vainglory and complacency in spiritual direction, loss of time and idle curiosity, weakness and human respect that prevents him from severely correcting excessive affectionateness and familiarity, and the attachment of the heart to the souls he directs. A danger to be guarded against is illuminism, that is, the claim to direct souls by special lights.
The person directed must avoid pusillanimity, false security in attributing every responsibility to the director, laziness in willing and acting, vainglory and self-love that develop through speaking too much of oneself, and excessive affectionateness toward the director.
Whom to choose as director? For many, the director is indicated by the ordinary and natural circumstances of their environment, as, for many souls, the parish priest, the spiritual father of the community, etc. In certain particular cases the choice or appointment may come about through ways of special divine inspiration; thus Bl. Claude de la Colombière for St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Apart from these cases, the choice should ordinarily be made with freedom, humility and discernment, carefully weighing the circumstances and the possibilities of realization. It is well known how the CIC leaves ample freedom in the matter of spiritual direction.
It is advisable that the spiritual director be a single one, which does not exclude the possibility for the spiritual child of also taking advice from other prudent men in determined and detailed cases. A multitude of counselors generates confusion in souls; and this holds in a quite special way for one who is prone to anxiety and scrupulosity.
A soul, once it has chosen its director, may change him. Sometimes this change is imposed by providential ways themselves; if, for example, the director or the person directed are transferred to another place, or if the director, because of his lack of time, can give the soul he directs only a very limited or almost no time, or must limit his direction to spiritual letters alone.
This change may also be advised for intrinsic reasons; thus the difficulty of opening oneself to a particular director, which is not merely temptation, timidity or a spirit of pride; the ineffectiveness of particular direction, arising from theoretical or practical deficiencies of the director. The change must be made with prudence, without haste, after having heard the enlightened opinion of third persons.
But inconstancy and self-love must be carefully avoided.
VII. SPECIAL FORMS
1. The spiritual direction of women
This requires particular prudence and delicacy. "A creature of intuition as she is, and of sentiment more than of cold reason, woman finds herself exposed, perhaps more than man, to errors and exaggerations, to failures of deliberation," particularly in spiritual matters (Plus, p. 120 ff.).
Particular prudence is necessary because, as La Bruyère notes, women love much talking, and under the appearance of obeying and of being directed, they often love their own tastes, to command and to direct the director: "They want — says La Bruyère — a director after their own fashion, that is, a director of whom they themselves are the directresses, suggesting the manner in which he must direct them."
2. The spiritual direction of children. "To direct a child consists in initiating him directly and personally into the practice of the virtues and the reform of his bad habits. It is teaching him how he must go about becoming a perfect Christian, how he must correct himself of a particular defect that disfigures his soul, how he must acquire a particular way of thinking, a particular rule of conduct, required by his present situation. By means of spiritual direction the child learns to make use, in his personal conduct and in his relations with his neighbor, of the graces received in Communion and Confession" (E. Poppe, La d. s. dei fanciulli, Italian trans., Milan, p. 33).
The best setting for spiritual direction for the child is Confession. It is advisable to take as matter for direction in particular prayer, mortification (with special regard to modesty and purity); and the duties of one's state. E. Poppe particularly recommends also "dogmatic" spiritual direction, that is, direction founded on doctrinal formation, since a solely moral direction is not desirable.
Spiritual direction, if it is an ordinary means of perfection for every adult Christian, is an absolutely indispensable means for the child and for the young person, as even J. J. Rousseau acknowledges in the Émile (bk. V). "A child and, all the more an adolescent, and a young man, will never arrive on his own, without a miracle, at the fullness of the Christian life" (C. Gnocchi, op. cit. in bibl., p. 15). The wide and deep use of spiritual direction for the young encounters many obstacles on the part of confessors, through lack of confidence in a good outcome, and through an alleged lack of time, and on the part of the young, many of whom are ignorant of it, or are prejudiced against it, or do not well understand its limits, often harmfully overstepping them and being left discouraged by it. In the child and in the young person the fundamental quality of a good method of spiritual direction is gradualness. In children and in young people one must in particular cultivate formation in truth, in the moral conscience, in the will, educating in them the Christian personality, and finally education to the fullness of Christianity. Advisable for all spiritual directors is the reading of the chapter I giovani, in A. Grazioli, La pratica dei confessori nello spirito del b. Cafasso (Asti 1945, pp. 139-44).
3. Spiritual direction by letter
The ordinary way of giving spiritual direction, which must always be used when grave reasons do not stand in the way, is oral direction: "ergo - notes De Guibert (ch. IV, sect. 2, II, p. 193) - ubi haberi potest aque bona directio ore accipienda, avertendi sunt homines ab eadem per epistulas quaerenda": the simple difficulty of changing director or of opening oneself to another does not seem a sufficient reason for the change, save in particular exceptions in the difficulty of opening oneself.
Direction by letter, given to persons who have not first known each other personally, barring special lights, is not to be reckoned useful and effective, at least unless it is a matter of answers to particular questionnaires.
An occasional spiritual direction given by letter, if it is preceded by an occasional oral direction, for example, during the time of spiritual exercises, can only rarely be useful, unless it serves to complete norms of direction already begun orally.
Epistolary spiritual direction can be useful in the particular case that the director has already directed the soul for a long time, and this soul finds itself facing particular difficulties, and on the other hand the present spiritual director does not stand out for a particular directive capacity.
In epistolary spiritual direction, in fact, numerous dangers and difficulties are to be avoided, among which are to be noted the great waste of time, not compensated by proportionate fruit, because it is often attainable by other less burdensome forms, and the difficulty of well adapting the epistolary reply to the state of the soul at the moment when it will receive the letter (Plus, VII, pp. 149-52).
Nevertheless, as Plus notes, of letters of spiritual direction there is an immense quantity. Some doctrinal (Msgr. D'Hulst), others more psychological (St. Francis de Sales), others more descriptive (Fr. Didon); some contain general counsels, and serve for a certain number of souls (St. Vincent de Paul), others have in view particular cases (like the letters of Fr. De la Colombière to St. Margaret Mary. Plus, VII, p. 148). Celebrated are the Lettres de direction of Msgr. D'Hulst, edited by A. Baudrillart.
Norms: 1) write with a view to the sole glory of God; 2) be sparing, since, as Marmion observes: "long, frequent letters of direction do more harm than good" (Letter of Nov. 1919, in Les Voies, p. 264); 3) with women do not indulge in sentiment; 4) with women one must never make personal confidences.
4. The spiritual direction of priests
Concerning the spiritual direction of priests, most beautiful are the teachings of Bl. Cafasso, contained in Msgr. A. Grazioli, La pratica dei confessori nello spirito del b. Cafasso (Asti 1945), pp. 311-20.
5. The spiritual direction of the mentally abnormal. Psychotherapy, ancient as humanity in its empirical procedures, as a modern science furnishes precious notions and methodical principles to the spiritual direction of psychopaths. In this direction one must keep in mind the systematic classification of the diseases of the spirit into general psychoses, which in their most acute forms can reach the total loss of reason, into circumscribed or systematized psychoses, in which there exist only delusional ideas, and into psychoneuroses.
Those afflicted by mental illnesses who are susceptible of spiritual direction are, as is evident, only those who are not totally altered in their psychic life, even while presenting notable anomalies. The spiritual director must proceed, with each of them, conforming his direction to the psychic state of his directee. He must persuade rather than suggest. De Sinéty (p. 130) holds that the spiritual director may sometimes have recourse even to suggestion in the direction of a soul psychically afflicted, but never to the form of hypnotic suggestion. Persuasion nevertheless remains the royal road because it respects the freedom of spirit and alone presents all the desirable guarantees of efficacy and duration. One must win the trust of the mentally ill person with tireless patience, never showing that one is in a hurry, that one is annoyed by the reticences or the long-windedness of the sick person, never ironizing about his infirmity.
For general psychoses due to exogenous intoxications (alcohol, morphine, etc.) or endogenous ones, or to unknown organic causes, particularly in manic-depressive states, that is, in agitated mania, in depressed melancholia, and in madness, the spiritual director will be able to do very little, because neither suggestion nor persuasion is of any use; in general one wastes time fighting directly against a delusional idea, trying to revive a typical melancholic, or to calm a manic, since resistance to persuasion is characteristic of such states. When the patient is a persecuted person or a persecutor, an inventor or a pseudo-mystic, nothing is gained by discussing his fixed ideas; he does not even listen, and is unable to believe what is said to him (De Sinéty, p. 130). In such a case the director should take care not to contradict, not to argue, but with skillful efforts to let the mind slip to other subjects.
The spiritual direction of psychasthenics, when they are not afflicted by psychosis, can achieve good results if well conducted. The pathological character of their state must be clearly explained to the sick, without frightening them, but holding out to them the certainty of recovering from it, or at least of notably improving.
Scrupulous persons and neurasthenics are directed spiritually through persuasion and obedience. For hysterics, v. ISTERISMO.