An Update About IRA Gift Transfers
Did you know?
Provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 will allow tax-free contributions from IRAs up to $100,000 for those age 70-1/2 and older. Learn more...
Art and liturgical music have been a big part of my life before and during my years as a Sister of Notre Dame. Pursuing a Masters degree in Christian Spirituality seemed to be in keeping with the gifts I was already using in the life of the Spirit. As I researched schools, I came upon a program at Creighton University that coupled the degree with Certification in Spiritual Direction, an application I had never entertained for myself, though I have been in spiritual direction for nearly 25 years. The more classes I attended, the more I realized that my gifts lay in this area more than I imagined and I felt called to this work despite my fears.
My experience with the Spirit has normally been that if I resist some direction strongly, I at least need to step toward it in faith before I dismiss the idea. My vocation story is a perfect example of this dynamic, but that is for another day!
The four years of summer study at Creighton and my own struggle with this discernment to become a spiritual director were a prototype of the kind of discernment in which I have been privileged to accompany others during these two years of practice as a spiritual director. Even the direction I have been able to offer my students at La Reina High School as they write their reflection papers and talk about their interior journeys has been colored by this personal odyssey.
Directing others in the spiritual life has had a profound and renewing effect on me. I am amazed and gratified at the Spirit working so powerfully for the healing and wholeness of each individual. As I remind my directees month after month to pay attention to God’s presence and movements in their deepest desires and feelings, I am amused by how easily I forget to follow my own advice when my own spiritual director encourages me to do the same.
Spiritual “direction” is a misnomer in that it is more an experience of accompaniment rather than direction since we are all on the journey. I recognize the human and spiritual journey because I am in the same boat. Though I have been trained to distinguish the signs of the Spirit and of the human heart, “direction” is also a function of standing at a distance, asking questions from the outside to allow the other person to see what he or she already knows.
One of the greatest gifts of Creighton was the opportunity to study with people from all over the world, many of whom are priests, seminarians, religious formation personnel and church leaders. My classmates were from China, Vietnam, Cameroon, Uganda, Nigeria, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, among others. It was fascinating and humbling to practice listening in the Spirit to men and women, Catholic and non-Catholic. It was not surprising, then, when I felt a tug upon my return to California and there was an opportunity to serve the diverse Church of Los Angeles at St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo, specifically in the area of pastoral formation of seminarians.
I have been very happy teaching at La Reina High School for many years, but the Spirit offers us opportunities of which we often never imagined. Next year, on the heels of the well-loved and capable Sister Mary Regina, I will be the new Director of Field Education and Pastoral Formation at St. John’s. I had no idea where this new degree would take me nor where the God of surprises would lead.