Helps for accompanying others on their spiritual journey

Spiritual Direction In And Outside The Spiritual Exercises Setting

• Orientations I, by John Veltri, S.J. -- a collection of helps for prayer both within and outside the Spiritual Exercises
• Download the whole book to your computer
• Consult the book chapter by chapter
• Silent Friend: How Your Breath Enlarges All Of Space, by Ignatius Feaver O.F.M. Cap.-- This article encourages spiritual companions to reflect on the quality of their presence with a dying friend or directee, who may also be experiencing marginalization within his/her own faith community. Through prayerful recalling and remembering of such an earlier encounter, spiritual companions can receive a more articulated horizon concerning the awesome journey that they initially may have grasped only intuitively.
• Spiritual Direction: Orientation, Relationship, Process, by Joann Crowley -- If you want a good article to explain what spiritual direction is all about, you might use this one.
• What Are The Spiritual Exercises Of St. Ignatius? -- these versions of an imaginary letter written by Ignatius to a prospective retreatant are based on a text of Karl Rahner which John Veltri reworked and expanded. They give an account of the goal, process and structure of the Exercises.
• the original composition of John Veltri for a retreat in daily life (Annotration 19)
• the same, but arranged by J. Veltri in a format helpful for study, with references to the Spiritual Exercises
• the same, but reformulated by John Reilly, S.J.
• an adaptation by J. Reilly for one about to make a full thirty-days retreat
• The Call To Deeper Relationship With God-- This webpage contains meditative materials for a time when a person of prayer is led through a path of darkness or unfamiliarity.
• The Early Stages In Ongoing Spiritual Accompaniment-- How do you help another during the beginning phases of spiritual awakening and growth?
• Developing A Discerning Heart -- a series of exercises to help one gradually get in touch with one's interior reactions so that discernment by noticing one's own consolations and desolations is possible (an update to Orientations Vol #1).
• Guiding Directees in the Healing Mode-- during the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises
• On Helping To Develop One's Personal Myth -- in the context of spiritual accompaniment
• Gospel Contemplation
• The Conversion Cycle

Retreats and the Spiritual Exercises for various settings

• The key prayer exercises from the Spiritual Exercises -- A contemporary and inclusive paraphrase and adaptation.
• Personal decision-making in a faith mode
• Scripture themes for prayer -- Thirteen themes with scripure texts that can be used as a resource while directing retreats of various designs, lengths, and purposes.
• The Principle and Foundation -- A contemporary version of the Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises by John Reilly, S.J.
• A week of directed prayer in a church setting(manual prepared in 1997)
• An eight-day guided retreat for a group of Jesuits, colleagues and associates

Resources For Spiritual Direction

• Beyond Individuation to Discipleship-- A Directory For Those Who Give The Spiritual Exercises -- Written by George J. Schemel, S.J. in collaboration with Judith A. Roemer, this book is a contemporary directory for those who give the Spiritual Exercises. It combines good psychology with good understanding of the Spiritual-Exercises tradition within the context of the catholic tradition of spirituality. This is an excellent resource both for those interested in the giving of the Spiritual Exercises, and for those interested in Christian spirituality as a whole.
• Silent Friend: How Your Breath Enlarges All Of Space, by Ignatius Feaver O.F.M. Cap. -- This article encourages spiritual companions to reflect on the quality of their presence with a dying friend or directee, who may also be experiencing marginalization within his/her own faith community. Through prayerful recalling and remembering of such an earlier encounter, spiritual companions can receive a more articulated horizon concerning the awesome journey that they initially may have grasped only intuitively.
• 300+ articles on spirituality published in THE WAY 1961-2002 (on a CD-ROM)
• Twenty-Four Spiritual Exercises for the New Story of Universal Communion -- A new handbook to guide the spiritual direction of the Exercises in an ecological and communal context by John English, Kuruvula and Lois Zachariah.
• Books by John F. Wickham, S.J. -- his is a major contribution to the research into and application of the Spiritual Exercises to our present situation in history.
• Orientations, Volume 1: A Collection of Helps for Prayer
• Download the whole book to your computer
• Consult the book chapter by chapter
• Orientations Vol 2: Part A and Part B -- For those who accompany others on the inward journey -- This book deals with the use and application of the Spiritual Exercises in various forms. Here you will find the complete book. Please read the introduction before you read any of the chapters in Part A Section 1.
  • Download the whole book to your computer
  • Consult the book chapter by chapter
• A list of writings of Tad Dunne on direction -- A variety of practical articles on spirituality and spiritual direction. One of them, Spiritual Mentoring, is a full-length work.
• Books of Spiritual Guidance
• A Christian Transposition of the Enneagram: with Paul of Tarsus and Ignatius Loyola This 2010 article arises out of a recent work-shop. The enneagram is a system of personal self-discovery which came out of an esoteric tradition. It has been found useful by many counsellors and spiritual directors, but it needs to be transposed out of its original context into one based on Christian spiritual teaching. We do so with the help of Paul's anthropology and theology of grace, and Ignatius' own keen insights into spiritual dynamics.
• A Spiritual Assessment of Anglican and Protestant Orders: Utterly Null and Absolutely Void? Most Roman Catholic spiritual directors accompany Anglican priests and Protestant ministers, and for them this is a highly positive and fruitful experience. How does this experience square with the official Roman Catholic perspective on their orders, exemplified in the 1896 judgement that Anglican orders are utterly null and absolutely void? A question worth reflecting on.

Communal Spirituality in Different Settings

• A Report on an ecological retreat, by James Profit, S.J.-- about an 8-day directed/guided retreat based on a spirituality which respects our environmental and ecological context.
• Group Processes and Blending Directed Retreat Methods -- an explanation of how practitioners of the individually directed retreat have developed their approach for groups and communities.
• Group decision-making in a faith mode
• Singing and Dancing with the Musicale of Creation, by John English, S.J. -- By probing the phenomena and meaning of the experience of creaturehood, this article brings together science and religious experience. An excellent vehicle for critical reflection, spiritual direction and personal prayer.

Mixing, Matching and Combining in Applying the Art of Spiritual Direction

• Bridging Spiritual Direction and Relational Psychotherapy through Spontaneous Artwork, by Jacqueline Fehlner -- shows how Art Therapy can be used in combination with Spiritual Direction for depth healing of the whole person.
• East Blends With West in Meditation with/before the Holy One-- This section begins with Joanne Alves' Meditation For The whole Person.
• Insiders and Outsiders -- about Marginalization and Disbelonging

Technicalities of Spiritual Direction and the Exercises

• A Dictionary of Terms about Prayer -- In spirituality, as in all other areas of human knowledge, the use of the same words carry diverse meanings for different people. This is certainly true with respect to terms employed concerning prayer. Consequently it is important to settle upon some "working definitions" so that communication can proceed with less risk of misunderstanding. This little dictionary describes the working definitions or various methods of prayer.
• Glossary of Working Definitions of Terms Associated with this Website and the Spiritual Journey
• Spiritual and Psychological Horizons in Spiritual Guidance
• Week / Day / Exercise in the Spiritual Exercises, by John Veltri S.J., in collaboration with Rev. Jean Mitchell. Written for beginning directors and students of the Spiritual Exercises, this illustrated article attempts to convey simply and clearly what the text of the Spiritual Exercises intends by the use of such words as Week, Day and Exercise.
• Guidelines for Discerning Spirits