EWTN Live - 09-07-2011 - Spiritual Direction - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ with Fr David J Simonetti

if your life feels like it's going the wrong way perhaps it's time for some good spiritual direction tonight we'll talk about what spiritual Direction is and how we can benefit from it so please stay with us thank you and welcome my father Mitch Pacwa and welcome to EWTN live our chance to bring you guests from all over the world our guest tonight is a friend of mine from one of my favorite places in the whole country Sweet Home Chicago and he's here tonight to share with us how we can get the most out of our spiritual lives through quality spiritual direction from the Archdiocese of Chicago and st. James Parish in Sauk village please welcome father David Simon Eddie welcome back to the show it's good to have you with us thank you good to have you here how are things back in Chicago they're still there Lord hasn't returned yet so so the politics as usual and all the fun things that we're accustomed to yes yes we're doing good marriage diocese good good good good well that's that's given ya know one of the things that you want to talk about is spiritual direction yes what gave you this interest in spiritual direction to begin with well from my own experience as a seminarian that's where I first formally started a regular pattern of spiritual direction with you know the you have a spiritual director with the seminary and you would meet regularly every two weeks you know throughout the five years of your seminary training and just the growth that they help you to see developing your relationship with God and and the skill that the spiritual director had in walking with me in the spiritual life one who was ahead of me walking with me reaching back his hand and guiding me into God's plan for my life someone who sort of knows where you're supposed to go and helps you to get there yeah the Holy Spirit is the spiritual director and my spiritual doctor is a servant of the Holy Spirit and that's what we do and to help the person discover where God is leading them in their life right now you've also been doing some studying about spiritual direction tell us a little bit about that the past three years I was with a Jesuit program d from the Institute for priestly formation out of Creighton University now that's the training and the discernment of spirits using the discernment of spirits of yours Saint Ignatius of Loyola you know those those rules and so we had a three year program which they actually held for priests at Mundelein seminary and three times a year for three years I went and you learn in the inn it's an art the art of listening to the Holy Spirit in thoughts feelings and desires and the people who ran the programs father rich kuboos de father John Horhn who was a Jesuit right Deacon James Keating who is just out of this world he was my spiritual director for the course of that time it was just invaluable to be invaluable to me as a priest and you know it really truly taught me how to pray to receive and accept that I am God's son his beloved son and to accept that and receive it and pray in that love and in that spirit and it's really it's helping me continually helping me grow in that relationship alright it was a tremendous program and very necessary alright that's good so so you had this program that well first of all you had the background of your own training where spiritual direction was done with you and then you've gone to this program to learn how to be a spiritual director what would you say to our audience about describing the spiritual direction what do you do like for instance is it the same thing as psychological counseling oh no no it's not counseling it's not see counseling is based on the healing would take place with the skill of the counselor or the psychiatrist or whatever it might happen to be his skill and it's not the case with this and it's certainly not pastoral counseling which is important and necessary Nia has its place but that's not the place of spiritual direction spiritual direction is the goal of spiritual Direction is growing in my transforming union with God growing in my relationship with God i I think that definition it needs to be unpacked a little bit growing in your transforming union with God yeah what do you mean by transform well let me use this language let me come in it this way very simple language growing in my relationship with God and growing into the image and likeness of God you know and deepening my relationship and I guess that's very simple language deepening my relationship with the Lord by a spiritual director helps you to see in your deepest thoughts feelings and desires God's movements in your soul you know and when you are not trying to solve a problem like in counseling or pastoral counseling right they're trying to solve a problem and that's necessary with spiritual direction you're not solving a problem you're walking on this journey in this relationship and someone is helping you to see and reflect back where they hear the Holy Spirit moving in your soul and leading you to do his will know in this regard it spiritual direction does not take the place of counseling no no counseling has its own role right yeah it's its own discipline right right and pastoral counseling or whatever it might happen to be everything has its own place but spiritual direction is its own discipline so again to help me deepen my relationship with God now not that may not take in some elements at times of these things but on its own by definition it's walking with someone on this journey to help them in their growing relationship okay no when we we deal with this you know one of the questions that the number of questions that come up one of them is how does somebody know they need spiritual direction for instance if this virtual life is going well and they're happy with their spiritual life do they still need spiritual director can they just go off on their own yeah well here's what's sad I don't remember which Saint said it but it said he who directs himself has a fool for a director you know and so you you know and and you like that so I told them on the bus listen we're on international TV if I tell even if you think it's a joke laugh don't if you want to see bitter the next three days you'll see better don't leave me hanging the key here is that as we're walking this journey Jesus said where two or three are gathered I'd be there in their midst right and so it's very important not to direct yourself because when we say we can be very subjective obviously things are going great oh really you know and so as someone's listening to you and hearing what you're saying we don't hear what we're saying really when when they hear it and then reflect it back and we can hear what we're saying coming back to us you know says well what I hear you saying and did you relate that to God a lot of things aren't in check so you really need but what are you I guess I would ask to who would say I think I need a spiritual director someone who's really serious about the spiritual life someone who's starting to be a priest or a religious absolutely has to have one but someone by principle who is looking like today in the gospel at what is above or you know what we are talking about in the readings that someone who has really wants to grow in holiness and again in that union with God and that requires someone to walk that journey because there are no lone Ranger's in the Christian life you know and that's a really basic principle and you look at any of the saints st. Padre Pio like my favorite saint st. Padre Pio at all the gifts and great super Saint saying Padre Pio had a spiritual director because again you need someone to help you along this path so so this is not only for a situation where you have a problem in your spiritual life no no not at all this is also for a situation where things are going well and you want to improve and get closer to God sure because as you know the spiritual life right has hills and it has valleys and hills and valleys and someone who is a spiritual director who understands the tradition of the saints who understands the spiritual life and aspects of the soul in our great Catholic you know mysticism and things can help as a physician in a sense spiritual physician help someone see what's going on in their soul and and help them understand what's going on and for example if they are experiencing great dryness and say well God isn't there when I am praying what's a sense of praying yeah describe spiritual dryness because sure every so often on the radio I get questions about people who are experiencing dryness they come to Mass and communion they're faithful Catholics they used all the sacraments that go to confession but when they receive Communion they don't feel any particular sense of peace yeah what is spiritual dryness well spiritual dryness again you use the word in spiritual direction thoughts free feelings and desires are really important to pay attention to so you use the word feel that's really important what did I feel so in spiritual dryness we'd say I don't feel God's presence or or let's say I don't feel great happiness or consolations in my prayer feels like a mouthful of dust when I am praying and I'm not feeling that now again according to the rules of discernment that could be happening because somebody has an attachment to a sin that is disrupting their prayer I mean your conscience the Holy Spirit could be disrupting your your giving you disrupted in a sense soul because you are living two contradictory things and he could be tweaking your soul disturbing it for the sake of bringing you to repentance you know it's I sometimes use the analogy of when I was teaching my baby brother to walk you know something you know that there was a stage in which he could stand up but he would hold on to my fingers and walk you know what you're not shown how to walk but then after you do that for a little while every so often I would pull my fingers back and he would gasp and take a couple steps on his own and I'd grab him again you know sometimes God is not necessarily punishing a person with spiritual dryness now it can also be an example of somebody needing to grow yeah knuck is anything wrong but it's just time to grow yeah and we all need to grow in the Lord knows with each soul how best to do that so he could be also again according to the rules of discernment leaving somebody in their state to show them what they are on their own powers you know that spiritual transformation growth is God's work right in his own time right so it's not on me I can't again get to it on my own it's something I receive and something I cooperate with and also for example Mother Teresa Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta we have her relic here well it is said she experienced tremendous spiritual dryness now but the law is always laboring to console us the Lord is always laboring to console us so although she may have felt on one level there definitely love your heart you know on one level she may have felt dry she still had the consolation in her heart that Jesus loves me though you know I am loving him even though I don't feel it so she's loving him for the sake of loving him not because it feels good but it's just and it's right to spend that time with him in prayer because He is God and I am his creature I am his son I am his daughter you know and so if the Lord leaves us in that state st. Ignatius would also say if you feel in that state you can also feel in some sense that it will pass just like I said hills and valleys just as if you were in a state of innocence desolation at times you know it will pass and so you have to the Lord is looking for consistency in your spiritual life a dedication to him in a sense like married people if they stopped after the honeymoon phase right this is all great and lovey dovey and all that if they stop right there look what happens but there are good times and there are bad times hills and valleys right and so spiritual director from the knowledge of the saints and our tradition and again in our theology and all these understandings of the spiritual life and the spiritual masters we try to help those person through those times in their life see that's that's one of the things that's very important for spiritual directors to do is read about the lives of great Saints who were good at discernment of God's will yeah Ignatius Loyola is one Teresa of ávila John of the Cross are others and many and they're many others besides them yeah Jonathan cross if you look in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the the 3rd section on prayer the life of prayer which everybody every Christian should read that section and truly read it and keep going back to it but there's a quote from John of the Cross about the importance of spiritual direction and the spiritual directors competence and in if I can paraphrase it in a sense he said a person should be very very careful whose hands the heat they put their soul into because an incompetent spiritual director or you know one who's not faithful he says so the master so the disciple and an incompetent spiritual director or one who is not humble or not prayerful or disobedient to the church and doesn't believe what the church believes and who's just maybe you know thinking on some other lines that are not the Orthodox Catholic lines can if drive somebody off the cliff you know run off the cliff take someone with him blind guides known as I said blind guides right so somebody has to be truly humble very prayerful I remember when we talked about Mother Angelica you said mother could move with the inspirations of the Holy Spirit because she prayed four hours a day she her soul was so sensitive to the Holy Spirit you know and she could under she could understand what was going on so a spiritual director has to be a true true person of deep prayer and the person coming for direction has got to have a deep deep prayer life that the spiritual director helps deepen with the gifts and riches and treasures of the church and one of the things about the prayer life of the directiy is that sometimes it's possible for the direct D to be saying so many prayers following so many devotions which I'm not against I mean our devotions and formula formula prayers are very important they teach us how to pray and those are great gifts but some people spend so much of their time going from one devotion to another that they never listen to a God trying to tell them and then it becomes difficult to do spiritual direction yeah yeah as a matter of fact that's why when a spiritual director is asking the person what is your prayer life look like your faith has to look like something and when you if you detect that you can tell when you're asking them to reflect on what you're since the last time you've met you can tell where they're sort of soul is if you're really listening because a person who is not disposed to silent listening to the Lord you know and it was just rattling some the Lord can't do much with a talkative soul you know you know I'm saying and so a person hey it's a dialogue with the Lord and if you're just rattling off one thing after another and you're not okay now let me talk the last thing okay be quiet be quiet I'm trying to talk to you well think about how many times do we like it when somebody that we're talking to does all the talking yeah yeah and we don't get to do a back and forth I mean that can be an uncomfortable situation yeah for the Lord it's the same thing you know that he wants us to listen to him - yeah I had one fellow come to me and it didn't work out well I mean a spiritual director first you test it for a trial period but if somebody is coming to you and and you're trying to help them grow in this relationship but it appears that just not at this point at least opening to listening to the Lord I remember a guy would sit with me and I'd say okay well you know how's your prayer life going yeah fine good yep and I said well did you hear and the Lord is saying say anything to you know it's all great only no no no it didn't hear anything know what it was so what was going so well you know what I yeah and I remember thinking in my head oh great only 58 more minutes you know and and he just wasn't coming to spiritual direction with prayer behind him or listening and so I was trying to you try to guide it directly in for example example Lexi Oh Davina what's that Lexi Oh Davina are sacred reading and Pope Benedict the sixteenth has been outstanding in wrecking recommending this this is a contemplative prayer contemplative here you take the Holy Scriptures the Living Word of God his Mother Angelica on this very stage talked about every week the Living Word of God its living it's not the sports page it's not just news that once it's red it's over and it has no transforming effect it's the Living Word of God the Lord has something to say to you in his Living Word right now today in your circumstances and so you take the Word of God and there are different steps it was really developed by the monks and it's you know she's been addicting once in particular and so it's a way of reading the script praying I don't want to use the word reading praying just a small paragraph you don't pray through a chapter a small paragraph particularly for example the Gospels and to pray it a few times and notice if a word an image a thought particularly jumps out at you and then to take that and ruminate on it and pray and reflect on that image thought why is that coming up what is the Lord trying to say that to me in this and then relating it to the Lord Lord what are you trying to say to me asking him and then after that remember dialogue prayers dialogue silent and sitting in the contemplation part of it you first you meditate on it on the Word of God then you take it in you related to the Lord and then you contemplate it say Lord now let him speak to me and see just see where the Holy Spirit is lead you to wear what he is saying to you in this scripture or you put yourself ignatius was good for this put yourself in that scene in the gospel you know st. Ignatius described how you use your imagination to imagine that you hear the words of Jesus what would his voice sound like you see the scene you smell the smells if you had to see Galilee and there's multiplication of loaves and fish and so on and you enter into the scene that's a very important way to pray you might put yourself in the place of Peter when it looks at you or he when it says and he turned and looked at Peter you know I mean that just that phrase and if you put yourself in Peter's spot and say you know my feeling afraid when he looked at me why am I afraid you know what is my relationship with him those thing the Holy Spirit speaks to us through that Living Word right and so it's really important and that develops that's Pope Benedict is very clear that's where we get to know Jesus in the scriptures in a very very special way see and there are a lot of people who so much want to hear from God that they will go to a lot of locution Ares and visionaries and other folks like that instead of simply listening to Jesus speak in the Gospels yeah yeah and as a spiritual director too when you start to again form this bond with this directiy and start to understand them because it is a relationship that grows and actually it's the relationship that is really more of a long-term relationship but as you start to hear them and hear what they seem to be hearing and you help them develop their prayer life you can recommend to them see it's it's real important that the spiritual director our job is not to put my thing on you right it's not to put my I know what you need no no no my the way the lawyers dealing with me and at this point in my life is not necessarily for you so I don't put that in you however however I can with tried-and-true devotions in our Catholic faith I can say in contemplative prayer to really hear the Lord in contemplation it is safe to say go to Eucharistic Adoration pick up the holy eternal Living Word of God before the Blessed Sacrament and talk to Jesus from your heart and then listen to him and if endless it's so important you know I was telling you earlier I bought your book how does lucemon go to speak yeah how listen when God is speaking and I mean I read it in two days and it's something that I want to keep going back to because it's something people are especially with all the noise and the sound wait bites and this phone and iPad and Twitter bitter bad or beater and all these toys my point is people's minds people's minds are are so wound up that they don't know how to settle down I know unless there's a lot of noises as a matter of fact there's a book called noise out there about the noisiness of our culture and and it's a good book to help us to learn to become quiet and listen to God you know I want to we have to take a break in just a minute or so but I want to let people know for if you want more information on spiritual direction our EWTN religious catalogue has three great books on the subject one is by our good friend the late father Thomas Dube entitled seeking spiritual direction another one of his books is the fire within so those are two great books my father debate and then as father just mentioned I have a new book how to listen when God is speaking you can get these books by going to tn religious catalogue' calm or if you don't want to go on the internet you can call one eight hundred eight five four six three one six that's one eight hundred eight or six to the one six six and before we go to a break I want to remind you if you want to stay up to date on the latest news from faithful Catholic perspective subscribe to the National Catholic Register by going to eat WWE wtn calm and click on the National Register link over there alright we're going to take a little break we'll come back in just a couple of minutes and we'll take questions from our studio audience as well as your questions so please stay with us we haven't really nice group father Simon Eddie not only has come here to be on our program but he brought his own audience see this is how we do things in Chicago snowonder we know who's going to win the elections that's the way that it go I don't throw darts at a board no sort of thing so if you can join us for pilgrimage you can bring a group from your parish like father did or you can come on your own or come with your family anyway those you're very welcome and you can contact our pilgrimage Department at two zero five two seven one two nine six six that's two zero five two seven one two nine six six or go to our website WWE wtn comm and they'll give you all sorts of information about places you can stay scheduling our programs masses the tours of the studios did you go on the tour today with your group yes that was the tour come and join us so please be part of our studio audience right here in Birmingham Alabama well now you ready for some questions with this sir were you from from Dallas follow Dallas Texas love the a swings by the way as a matter of fact you gave them to all right I love this is the gentleman who is in charge of the pro-life committee for the Knights of Columbus in Texas correctly at Texas right right my fourth degree so when I was down in Texas they got me these wings a lot of people ask what are those wings you wear and it's a pro-life of would called the ACE award for being pro-life without accommodation compromise or exception so they came up with that in Texas well father my question is um I'm fortunate to have a spiritual director but when I was contemplating having one or going to seek one I was worried about priests being way too busy for myself or for anybody is that something we should be concerned with he asks it's true the priests especially these days at least you know in Chicago a lot of at least where I live for the most part it's one priests per parish and you are busy you know it and so what first I would advise a person to ask the Holy Spirit to direct me to someone and and you know what you don't have to wait for the sky to flash with a sign go with what's right in front of your nose you can go to your pastor and ask him and if he and generally the priests know what they can do what they can't do and will be honest with you and I mean sometimes people ask me and I say at this point in time with the number of directives I have already my parish responsibilities you know I will let them know honestly if I can or if I can't and I may also know who I would trust is a faithful priest who I would trust to recommend to them sure I have a caller Pat hello hi Pat were you from Portland Oregon great that's a beautiful city and what is your question my question kind of leads into that this question is can I expect my parish to provide it spiritual director or do I ask the luck elsewhere well it's sort of piggybacks on the last question I would start first with your own pastor right or maybe the deacon I mean again work it I'll go to the pastor first and just see maybe they can direct you to someone if they themselves cannot do it or it may know some retired priests in the area what yeah and one of the other things for instance in the Portland area there is a Benedictine monastery at Mount angel and you may find out or ask if one of the monks or one of the sisters at the convent because also been anything if one of them would be able to give you spiritual director direction a lot of places have monasteries where some of the monks might be willing to do spiritual direction and that's another place to look besides your parish sure if you have one of those in the area sure sure ma'am were you from Waukegan Illinois home of Jack Benny yes it is what's your question well it's pretty much the same how or where does one find a spiritual director you know in the Chicago area how about that yeah well there's a parish on every corner but it's a matter of do you want an Italian do you want a German do you want an Irish you know that's not the world but again first of all the Holy Spirit is the director and ask him Holy Spirit I really feel being called I'm being called to enter into spiritual direction could you guide me give me the light Oh everything must always be asked and pure everything can you give me the light direct me direct my steps and go with what's right in front of your nose as you say maybe the person you know again one you have a relationship with and you trust and who knows you will probably give you the best who cares about you probably give you take the time to give you the best advice if himself cannot do it maybe say hey I know of a monastery here going over a tired priest over there things like that we have a caller Joan are you there hello Joan hello hi Joan where are you from I'm all right turn off your television am I on yes you are I'm from Marion Iowa okay my question is could I possibly get a spiritual director from a good Catholic layperson I don't mean Catholic Charities or anything like that I mean just a good Catholic friend because I am 84 years old today's my birthday I'm able unable to attend Mass or go to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament I do receive Communion once in a while but the best place I get my spiritual direction are the homilies on EWTN morning Mass especially this morning I know what are you gonna do so so your question is can you ask a layperson to be a spiritual director a friend of yours to help you with that would you think you know here's here's my caution a spiritual director remember the quote from Saint John of the Cross you don't want someone who is just going to give you nice human advice you know and say just like you know sitting over coffee kick around a few ideas a spirit track this is you wouldn't go to a friend who read a book on biology and said you know hey you know I've got a pain in here you read a book on biology and you're a nice person you know can you can you treat me a spiritual director really does you want to go to a doctor you want to go to a doctor that's so new readily to biology right that's right and so a spiritual director should be trained trained in theology know what the Church teaches in her doctrines believe it adhered to it willingly not be grudgingly and have a deep deep prayer life but know something about mystical theology know something about the discernment of spirits and so you're not giving my own app in am not giving my own opinion I'm giving you the treasure of the Saints in the church and the rich apostolic tradition and our understanding from again Teresa of ávila John of the Cross to see what appears on the outside but for example that's why Mother Teresa was so misunderstood in the secular papers this is all she didn't believe in God see there no they don't know a thing about the spiritual life you don't ask them they're out there outside of their competence their field and so it's is really important to have someone competent to be directing your soul so I'd be really cautious unless they met those criteria right right right and you know of what about this situation if you have a friend like because it's late he is homebound and she can't go to the local parish or monastery to get spiritual direction um could a friend at least be a sounding board absolutely and we need remember again I've said earlier there are no lone Ranger's in the Christian life we are a body we need each other I am a Christian in relay I am a person in relation to another and so we need those rich spiritual French good and holy friendships but now talking about pure spiritual direction to see what's going on in the soul again that you have to really discern out and be careful with right we have another question from our studio audience ma'am were you from I am from Sussex Wisconsin and what's your question knowing the difference between a spiritual director and a spiritual counselor is there ever a time a director would refer you for counseling and since I had education in that field would I offer my services in connection with a director yeah that's a really excellent question yes it is before I was ordained there's a priest I really respect father Chuck FASST so he's a Franciscan and he vested me when I was ordained and he's from my home parish and the st. Agnes in Chicago Heights and father Chuck FASST was said to me I'll never forget it he said I want to give you some advice a priest has to know when he's out of his field he has to know when it's out of his competence I am NOT a psychiatrist unless I mean father Benedict Groeschel is a psychologist but but I am NOT a psychologist a psychiatrist I am NOT a doctor I am NOT a for example a particular kind of therapist and I know that so I can't treat a case of depression with spiritual direction right now I may be able in my particular area in the area of Hope in Christ Jesus and certain things to aid that but I have to know and this takes that's the key about remember I sing about being humble that you know it's not I know what you need and I've got an intact you know the shell Answer Man or whatever it's very simple I have to know when I'm out of my league out of my depths out of my area of competence and refer them and priests usually have a what would you call it a list of a certain kind of aids helps to say okay I have to refer you to this person who I believe can help you because to be integrated to integrate all those gifts and Sciences and things together right right but this is my aspect this is my part that I'm helping you with right and I can deal with this the the spiritual direction but if your marriage is having a problem then I need to refer you to a marriage counselor yeah and they'll take care of that and they're not doing spiritual direction no they're dealing with marriage you know relational counseling and all that's a very important thing to do and you know like this lady could you know give her a name to a local pastor to say look if you need you know somebody who needs this kind the kind of counseling I know how to do this is where my degree is in and so on and I've got the background that would be very legit sure and I can work in conjunction with right there called I mean I you know can work come in it that way but again specifically speaking that someone comes a spiritual direction it's for a specific area of their life again growing in their relationship with God what is God saying to them in the deepest thoughts feelings desires and movements affective movements in their soul okay we have another caller on the line hello rose good evening father all right where you from I'm from New York great and what's your question I would like to know how you feel about doing the Divine Office every day in addition to going to Mass and receiving and doing other spiritual readings what is your opinion on these divine office on a daily basis sure well the church recommends it for everyone now father and I bishops priests deacons we are obliged to say it because it is a liturgy the liturgy and it's not my own personal prayer it's I am praying the liturgy for the church the sanctification of the time but everyone is invited to the Divine Office and so that's a good and rich thing to again hear the word of God to pray the Word of God and praise and thanksgiving and the lament lament Psalms and things like that so that's a wonderful thing you know the Liturgy of the hours is the official prayer book of the church yeah no other prayer book is the official one except the Divine Office yeah and you know no matter what right you belong to there's a Liturgy of the hours for each of the rites and this is something that any person at all can pray and it's a great way for husbands and wives to pray together you know that they can pray to the officers depending on how many kids are still at home at all how much time they have but they can everybody can pray that yeah definitely I would definitely recommend it in a prayer life yeah matter of fact it's not even a bad idea to ask the pastor if maybe you and some other people could pray the Liturgy of the hours say before the morning Mass you know take 15 minutes or whatever you need to go through that that's a great way to prepare for going to Mass definitely to hear the word of God yep we have another question for us two daughters ma'am were you from Crown Point Deanna great good to have you here what's your question if I would go to a spiritual director what kind of questions would I expect him or her to ask me that's a great question a spiritual director again the primary relationship the primary relationship is between the direct T and God I am a servant of that so I would ask the person first of all and there's a relationship so it's kind of like there's that relationship grows the questions and direction changes as I get more information in a sense so I would start off asking the person tell me about your prayer life right because it prayer is the key here to find out where are they praying but how are they praying and in there again I keep going back to this it's so important in the deepest thoughts feelings desires are they they may say things to me what they're feeling and I will say to them but are you you told me that but are you telling the Lord that did you tell the Lord what you just told me and many times they have not well let's relate that to the Lord so I would ask them those things then what's going on in their life where are they at this point and then I would ask them what are you looking for remember Jesus when he turned to the two who would be as disciples what are you looking for I would ask them what are you looking for what is within you what is the Lord doing within you that you are reaching out for you know to know where we're going here and one of the other things that's very key to ask is what is the Lord saying to you in your prayer time what's what's happening in that prayer time so that you know paying close attention to what's happening in the prayer life that's the key to this yeah no absolutely because again in this union with the Lord the Lord does speak to people and they just sometimes don't know how to listen and we're trying to train them Cardinal George once said to us said to me people have to be trained how to be holy that's your job you have to help them you know and so it's very important to help them to give them the tools to start listening and so again things I invented know the Living Word of God the rosary a beautiful meditative contemplative prayer you know and to enter into the mystery of God that's what we're doing we're growing entering into we're kneeling before the great mystery so to help people with that all right we have another caller on the line hello Mike how you doing thanks for the show I had a question and I was wondering is it advisable to go to the sacrament of reconciliation after your spiritual director I'm at it always so to be a priest I'm not sure about that anyway or not at all to this person and if they do go to confession and I've always been taught that when you go to confession to a priest they're kind of thought I thought too you know not remember the sins and that they're forgiven and they're not to bring up anything that they've heard in the confessional so as just one of your comments on that you know the difference between maybe go on the sacrament of reconciliation and go into a spiritual director that's a very good question that Michael that's a great question well spiritual direction is not confession in on its own in this sense you and I have a seal put on the confessional we cannot repeat anything no matter what we cannot repeat it it stays there that there is no seal on spiritual direction now there is a professionalism there there is a confidentiality there unless the Persians clearly going to hurt themselves or others but there isn't the strict seal like there is that now I do recommend that people go to confession to their spiritual director sometimes people have spiritual direction within the context of confession and that's something you and the directiy you know have to work out but I would highly recommend they go to confession to him the one difficulty that it brings up is the seal because after having heard something in confession we are not even allowed to bring it up to the person who did the confession yeah and so there is a certain block that we may know something from the the confessional that we then cannot talk about unless the directiy brings it up whereas when we hear things in spiritual direction we can go back to it yeah and and ask them about it and that so that's one thing about that's a negative to go into confession to your spiritual director yeah well and if you keep those things separate and it's very clear that they're separate right right right that's very important you know one of the things that we were talking about it during the break is how important you know it is for the vocation crisis to have people who are listening to God speak to them in prayer talk to us a little bit about that you know when when people are going to make decisions you have to bring it to the Lord in prayer and say well lord I would like to do this what do you think do you want me to do this see the Lord wants you to be have an abundant life here and an eternity and what his will is for you will make you the most content and fulfilled here and in eternal life so and sometimes you're choosing between two goods then it may be Lord I think you're calling me the priesthood but I'd rather for example be married or whatever and two goods but one of those will make you the most happy and content so you have to bring that to the Lord in honesty and in spiritual direction a director a skill director will help you to discern where your deepest desires are where you can see the Lord pulling you the most in that attraction now with again going back to all of the noise when people are so it's a deafening deafening roar of noise and people are not hearing the Lord they're not settling down long they're moving so quick they're not settling down long enough to pick up the Word of God and settle down to even you know go to even get into prayer you can't just rush that's a problem with people sometime going to mass they just rush into mass and then you know even get there late see I didn't get anything out of it or they rush into the adoration Chapel and you know say a few things quick and then run out or say well I took time to pray at night and they rushed into it you have to in a sense even prepare to pray by because we're moving so fast to settle down relax breathe this more pray to the Holy Spirit to dispossess to prayer and that's the beautiful thing of the Rosary and then you enter into that prayer so then I can settle down and start to hear the Lord speaking to me and when they don't do that how many vocations are not coming to fruition because people will not slow down long enough to hear the Lord and so and there are a lot of voices out there and they're not all from heaven they're not all from heaven that a lot of competing voices and the Lord kind of whispers I'm not going to compete he whispers and he wants us to hear him but we have to be faithful to our prayer to give the Lord the opportunity to speak to us so that's nothing perseverance in prayer despite how it feels to give the Lord the opportunity to speak to us you know one of the things that a priest friend of mine has pointed out is that there's a correspondence between the number of Eucharistic Adoration chapels and vocations so that people go to the eucharistic adoration Chapel where there are not other disturbances and they can listen to God and hear their vocation to be married because there's a crisis and the vocation to marriage yeah or to the vocation to the priesthood or to the religious life you know and all of this is a very important thing to listen to that book I was talking about noise is by Teresa Tomeo I think you can get it from religious catalogue here it's a good way to remind us of how important it is to learn to listen yeah and to rest in the Lord I built a adoration Chapel at my parish the Pope John Paul the great Chapel of Eucharistic Adoration and in it it came to me in prayer it was really so peaceful and consoling every time I thought of it that I put it on the outside of the chapel from the great psalm besides restful waters he leads me and people need to I'm not talking about physical rest but to rest in the Lord it's a spiritual rest who lay at his breast and to truly rest in him and if people will make time for the Lord then they could start to hear him and a director a good director will help you guide you to that right I'm afraid we've run out of time thank you for helping us with this very important topic sure and on this holy card of a busted mother Teresa we have a relic of her hair and her sari may Almighty God bless you and by the intercession of blessed Teresa aid you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen and know we can bring you father simonetti and all the other guests who come here to EWTN to do this program and all the other programs because this network is brought to you by you and right now we are still down a bit quite a bit actually in in our donations and we need your support so please keep us in between your gas bill your electric bill on your cable bill and we'll be able to pay our bills god bless you and thank you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 14,703

Rating: 4.9000001 out of 5

Keywords: EWTN Live Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Catholic

Id: 5_rPARKeGiI

Length: 56min 33sec (3393 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 08 2011