Would like your prayers for my son in law, who has Glioblastoma, which is one type of brain cancer. He has a wife and 3 children, who are all having a difficult time as they watch the changes in him. They know God is with them, but the journey is still very hard. My daughter and son-in-law's children are age ten and under. Thank you very much for this opportunity for prayer. A friend of mine just returned today from your conference in Ireland. Can't wait to hear about it. God bless.

Take a five minute inspirational break with Joanna Macy in video, "Gratitude as a Revolutionary Act" From "The Work That Reconnects."

Macy says,

"Things don't have to be hunkydory for you to feel gratitude."

"It's a primal movement of all spiritual traditions."

"Gratitude is liberating, and it is subversive."

Throughout the next year SDI will post articles, videos, stories and poetry about "Gratefulness" as we celebrate the twenty year anniversary of SDI in 2010!

Click here to watch, "Gratitude as a Revolutionary Act"

Please pray with everyone gathered in Dublin, Ireland for Spiritual Directors International in Europe "Being Present!" 16-18 October 2009.

 

Spiritual Directors International is celebrating twenty years with a multifaith learning community of people concerned about spiritual care and world harmony. Members of the All Ireland Spiritual Guidance Association is collaborating with Spiritual Directors International on this first ever event.

Members of SDI, the Retreats Association in the United Kingdom, theology faculty and students, religious educators, pastors, lay people, chaplains, social workers, hospice caregivers, spiritual directors, and all people engaged in spiritual care are gathering now!

What a treat! The educational events combine thought-provoking plenary sessions, stimulating workshops, Irish m

usic, and masterful story-telling into a holistic learning experience.

• Keynote Presenter: Daniel O’Leary, United Kingdom
• Conference Spiritual Director: Una Agnew, Ireland

Special Presentations

• A Celebration of Irish Art hosted by Claire Roche, Ireland
• An Evening of Story with Megan McKenna, United States
• Integrated Spiritual Practices from East and West with Korkos Moses, SJ, India
• Workshops, prayer and play!

Please send your blessings. Know that many blessings are flowing into all the world as everyone gathered offers blessings and spiritual care.

Watch for reflections on this blog, and in Connections, the official newletter of Spiritual Directors International!

 

 

A German member of Spiritual Directors International sent the following link to an interview with Brother David Steindl-Rast, "Life Moves From Crisis to Crisis."

Brother David Steindl-Rast will be presenting at the SDI "Gratefulness: The Heart of Spiritual Care" in San Francisco, California, April 8-12, 2010.

Click here to read the German interview with Brother David Steindl-Rast.

Suicide is never an easy topic. The September issue of Presence journal included a story by Anne Cronin Tyson and C. Karen Covey Moore about offering spiritual direction with survivors of suicide. Readers appreciated the Presence article and requested more resources.

When I asked Spiritual Directors International member and editor, Pegge Bernecker, if she would be comfortable sharing with spiritual directors her article in Every Day Catholic of losing her son to suicide, here’s what Pegge wrote:

Please share this anywhere and everywhere. I believe it is God’s voice bringing God’s healing Spirit alive, and I am simply the instrument. It is an honor and testament to my son, to everyone who suffers, and in all humility, to my love of God and God’s power working through me. I am humbled and also know in a very strong way that my “yes” is what can bring this alive. From this place it just flows, and I am grateful. It gives meaning to my life.

 

Towards the end of the article, Pegge shares:

My journey as a survivor has taught me…

• Suicide is first and foremost a medical issue—not a moral issue.
• No one who is mentally healthy ever jokes about suicide. Anyone who talks about suicide needs to be taken seriously. Seek professional help.
• Suicide can carry a burden of shame and an invisible social stigma.
• A crisis of faith in God can erupt when we question how God allows a suicide death to occur. God doesn’t interrupt our free will, cause deliberate suffering or punish us.
• God forgives; therefore, our spiritual question becomes, Can we forgive?
• Choose a joyful and expansive memory of the person who has died by suicide. Allow this image to override what you may have seen, heard described or imagined.
• Go online to research suicide facts and prevention tips and resources. Share what you learn with others.

Follow this link to read "Beyond Suicide--Trusting God With Our Broken Hearts" by Pegge Bernecker.

To offer your resources and reflections, please reply in the comments section. To see others' comments, click on Reply.

Several members of Spiritual Directors International including executive director Liz Budd Ellmann, MDiv; Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD; Carolyn Jacobs, MSW, PhD; Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN; and Sharon Stanton, MS, BSN, RN served on a national consensus conference committee improving the quality of spiritual care at the end-of-life. The Special Report was published today in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. Included in the report, you will see that we recommended spiritual direction as a community resource for spiritual care of patients and families. In addition, we recommended that health care providers seek spiritual direction and other forms of spiritual care as self-care for their profession. Spiritual directors and spiritual director formation program directors may be asked to offer in-service training to health care providers who are integrating spiritual care into a holistic model of end-of-life care.

The article, “Improving the Quality of Spiritual Care as a Dimension of Palliative Care: The Report of the Consensus Conference,” represents the final Consensus Report of a conference sponsored by the Archstone Foundation of Long Beach, CA. According to Joseph F. Prevratil, JD, President and CEO, “The report’s recommendations seek to ensure that spiritual care is a fundamental component of quality palliative care, which strives to prevent and relieve suffering for seriously ill patients and their families.”

“For the first time we have a practical model for the implementation of inter-professional spiritual care which will result in improved healthcare outcomes for patients,” says Christina Puchalski, MD, MS, FACP, Co-Principal Investigator and lead author of the Consensus Report, from The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish) at the George Washington University Medical Center.

The Consensus Report outlines seven key areas for improving spiritual care: Spiritual Care Models; Spiritual Assessment; Spiritual Treatment/Care Plans; Interprofessional Team; Training/Certification; Personal and Professional Development; and Quality Improvement. Co-authors Christina Puchalski, MD, MS, FACP, and Betty Ferrell, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN, Principal Investigator from the City of Hope and colleagues from City of Hope National Medical Center present practical recommendations for implementing spiritual care in palliative care, hospice, long-term care, and other clinical settings. The guidelines provide spiritual care models, recommendations for professional training, advice on how to develop accountability measures to ensure integration of spiritual care, and guidance on engaging community clergy and spiritual leaders in the care of patients and families.

“Of the physical, emotional, practical, and spiritual dimensions of hospice and palliative medicine, spirituality has been least well addressed. This report aims to improve that situation,” says Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Palliative Medicine, and Provost, Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice.

To read the Special Report, follow this link.

A PowerPoint presentation is available for free download from the SDI Web Library to help you communicate the value of spiritual care in palliative health care. Follow this link for the presentation and more resources about spiritual direction and health care. 

 

Participants in the national consensus conference. 

Please add your comments in the Reply section below.

Spiritual Directors International Learns From ... Joseph Tetlow, SJ.

Father Joseph Tetlow, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, and has written numerous articles and books. Among them are Ignatius Loyola: Spiritual Exercises, Choosing Christ in the World, Making Choices in Christ, and a commentary on the full cycle of Sunday readings in America. He is the director of Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Dallas, Texas, USA. He spent several years in Rome as head of the Jesuit Generals Secretariat for Ignatian Spirituality, guiding the efforts of 250 Jesuit retreat houses.

In this video he talks about Jesus and prayer, and shares with is what nourishes him as a spiritual director.

To be the first to view new educational videos, add your name to the YouTube subscription service for sdiworld videos.

View additional YouTube videos in the SDI Learns From ... series. 

Spiritual Directors International learns from The Rev. Mary Earle, an Episcopal priest and spiritual director living in Texas, USA.

The Rev. Mary Earle talks about learning to pray and listening with more than the ears.

She is the author of Days of Grace: Meditations and Practices for Living with Illness, The Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices from Women of the Wilderness, and Beginning Again: Benedictine Wisdom for Living with Illness.

To be the first to view new educational videos, add your name to the YouTube subscription service for sdiworld videos.

View additional YouTube videos in the SDI Learns From ... series.

I have just been told that my second part-time job will be reduced significantly. I am making an attempt to stay current on all of my bills. I pray that God will provide for me like He does with the birds. I know in my heart He will. Please, Lord, help me release the fear...the fear of not having enough, the fear of the unknown, and the fear of change.

Christine Wicker reports about surprising results in a new poll: "PARADE’s survey reveals a nation looking heavenward—but with its feet firmly planted on the ground of modern life. Spiritually speaking, Americans are a very practical people, moderate and tolerant in ways that would have astonished our grandparents." 

The poll is designed around three primary questions:

• Do you believe in God?
• Do you pray?
• Do you believe in the afterlife?

Wicker goes on to write: "Spirituality also plays a role in our entertainment choices. There, too, Americans veered away from the mystical and weird. When asked to pick their favorite of these films involving spirituality—The Da Vinci Code, The Exorcist, The Omen, The Sixth Sense, The Ten Commandments, Ghost, and It’s a Wonderful Life—one out of every four people selected The Ten Commandments. It was the hands-down winner, showing us that old-time religion still rules supreme and unchallenged—at least at the movies."

Some results:

Religion's Purpose
40% say it holds the truth
22% say that religion has no place in their lives
19% say it helps teach morals and ethics to children

Reasons We Pray
72% pray for the well-being of others
60% pray for forgiveness
21% pray for material things

Our New Beliefs
82% would marry someone of a different faith
59% say that all religions are valid
24% say they are spiritual but not religious 

Click to read  How Spiritual Are We? by Christine Wicker

Take the PARADE Spirituality Poll. Add your opinion! 

Tasting wine involves much more than your taste buds. In fact, the world of wine is a culture that speaks a specialized language familiar to connoisseurs yet foreign to most people who enjoy drinking a basic “red” or “white.” While riding my bicycle from winery to winery with several wine enthusiasts last weekend, I pondered how the language of prayer and spiritual direction is complex, like vineyard vocabulary. “Not having tasted a single cup of your wine, I'm already drunk,” writes the poet Rumi.  

The listening involved in spiritual direction requires much more than our ears. Even the language of spiritual direction has many names: spiritual companionship, spiritual accompaniment, spiritual guidance, mashpia in Hebrew, and anam cara in Gaelic to name a few. Depending on the spiritual tradition, different words describe contemplation, prayer, and meditation. Much of the language has historical roots in the tradition that nurtured the spiritual practice of deep compassionate listening for God’s presence. No wonder ordinary folks get confused when they sense the longing to move closer to God, when even “God” is a word used to describe the indescribable!

While great things are being said about spiritual direction in esteemed places, like the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, not every journalist or editor has the vocabulary or theological understanding of the depth of spiritual care that is offered in prayer and spiritual direction. Nonetheless, I applaud Zev Chafets and Anndee Hochman for communicating the value of prayer and spiritual direction for today’s readers. In addition to print media attention, Pope Benedict in a recent video from Rome celebrates the importance of meeting with a spiritual guide, especially for young people.

The latest publicity encourages curiosity and the courage to “taste and see” what spiritual direction has to offer. Already, seekers have been dialing the Spiritual Directors International telephone number and visiting the Web site, searching for more information. One spiritual director told me she has received nine new inquiries, another more than twenty.

As novices discover spiritual direction, I invite you to patiently learn the language of how each person swirls, sniffs, savors, and sips his or her way into a relationship with the sacred.  
 
Your comments on the publicity about spiritual direction are appreciated. To read others’ comments and add your own, simply create a reply...

 

The science of spirituality continues to evolve! It's possible that we have a "God Spot" in the temporal lobe of our brain, and "God Chemical" in our brain stem. What does this mean to you?

A new article, "Is This Your Brain on God?" maps through research and images these areas in the brain:

Brain Stem: The God Chemical
Temporal Lobe: The God Spot
Parietal Lobe: Spiritual Virtuosos
Overall Brain: The Biology Of Belief
Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe and Hippocampus: Near-Death Experiences

More than half of adult Americans report they have had a spiritual experience that changed their lives. Now, scientists from universities like Harvard, Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins are using new technologies to analyze the brains of people who claim they have touched the spiritual — from Christians who speak in tongues to Buddhist monks to people who claim to have had near-death experiences. Hear what they have discovered in this controversial field, as the science of spirituality continues to evolve.

Click "Is This Your Brain on God?" to read the full article.

"Quietly, compassionately, spirit directors take the soul by the hand, helping a seeker tap deeper dimensions," writes Anndee Hochman for the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. Here are some quotes from the article. To read the entire article, follow this link.

Spiritual directors typically meet monthly with their directees, who may or may not share the same religious background; the relationship can continue for years. Unlike psychotherapy, which is problem-based and designed to alleviate distress, spiritual direction doesn't aim to "fix" anything. Instead, it offers people a place to talk about their spiritual lives without fear of judgment. For some, that means discussing God or prayer in the context of their faith; others use language such as "the yearning of the soul."

"In this culture, it's easier for us to talk about sex than about spirituality," says Cole, whose experience with spiritual direction was so positive that she enrolled in the training program at Chestnut Hill College and, five years ago, left her parish ministry for a full-time independent practice. "I've had people come who've had a religious experience that made them feel 'odd,' and they'd never told anybody."

Liz Ellmann, executive director of Spiritual Directors International, which publishes a journal and creates ethical guidelines for practitioners, says trauma often unleashes spiritual questions: "How do I be present to pain and joy? Why do I have to be so busy that I can't enjoy my life? And who do you talk about that stuff with?"

On a Thursday evening at Mishkan Shalom, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Roxborough, a small group of women and men gather near the wooden ark that holds the Torah ...

The growth in spiritual direction - here, in the seminary-rich Philadelphia area, and around the world - doesn't surprise Ervin. "We are at a crisis in our culture - not only for how to live, but how to live with the whole world. . . . People come down with breast cancer, they lose their job, the company downsizes, everything's falling down around them. Spiritual direction is a way of grounding themselves in the midst of that and seeking meaning."

To read the entire article, follow this link. 

Add your comments about the article in the reply section below.

 

September 16, 2009, "Rome Reports Video News"

Pope Benedict XVI recommends that people seek council from a spiritual guide, especially young people.

During the general audience dedicated to Saint Symeon, the pope said that in order to follow God, people need another person to help in getting to know oneself and who can help foster a deeper relationship with God.

Benedict XVI explains, "Symeon teaches us that Christian life is an intimate and personal communion with God."

The pope affirmed that even though its okay to worry about physical, intellectual and human growth, its just as important to address internal growth. This internal development, that cannot be obtained through books alone, is what allows people to know God.

This understanding also allows people to open up to God. Only by living this love can people be sensitive to the needs of others.

Follow this link to read more about what spiritual direction is, and is not!

SDI Coordinating Council member, Jinks Hoffmann created this prayer for peace. We invite you to join us in praying for peace today, United Nations International Day of Peace. 

Peace.

There is a peace
that passes understanding,    Philippians 4:7
a peace
that needs not
control.
Though life is
uncertain and random
and chaos is ever present,
there is a peace.

There is a peace
an intuitive knowing
that fits
like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle
into a coherent whole,
a peace that seeks and finds
Peace.

There is Peace
longing to be present
in all the world,
 Peace that desires
nothing more
than quiet
forgiveness, acceptance
and recognition
of the samenesses and differences
that makes us human.

When peace and Peace
connect, as if God’s hand
on the Sistine Chapel finally
reaches Adam’s,
the world will breathe
a sigh of relief,
and the thank you will reverberate
through
eternity.

 

©Jennifer (Jinks) Hoffmann.    September   18th  2009