“No words I write will be as eloquent as the silence within your soul. At best, my language is only a key to unlock what is already written in your heart: the strength you seek, the answers to your questions, the healing for which you hope. It all is there, in the still space where you encounter the Spirit, the common ground between the holy and the everyday…No one can give you what you already have: the love of the Spirit within you.”
-Steven Charleston
One of the many graces of Spiritual Direction—for all parties involved—occurs when the Directee is hit with an epiphany, an “Aha! Moment,” during a session. The feeling of quiet astonishment, the joy of discovery, that figurative slapping of the forehead. These moments are sacred and always unbidden.
We—the directee and I—did not see this coming. There was no strategy, no clever questioning, no “leading the witness,” no invocation, no spiritual exercise. Simply, a safe space was created and love was expressed. Tender words were spoken, heard and reflected upon. And then…the Spirit was revealed, recognized and listened to. A holy moment, which can occur either during a session or more often, long after the session has ended.
This is one of the chief lessons I’ve learned in years of sitting with people in Direction: The answer is already within us. How can it be any other way? As Choctaw Elder and Episcopal Bishop, Steven Charleston, reminds us, the Spirit within us is waiting to be unlocked. All we have to do is take the time to listen to our lives. Often, the “answer” isn’t really an answer at all. Sometimes it can be an acknowledgment that the questions we are asking may be more important than receiving an answer. Our questions can point us to our desires, which can then lead us to a recognition of God’s work within us. This type of epiphany can feel vague or sideways, but they are just what is needed in the moment.
It is the Spiritual Director’s role to help the directee pay attention to these movements of the Spirit, so that in God’s perfect timing, the answer (or question) may be revealed. Regardless, the answer is already within.
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Quote: Steven Charleston, Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Mediations on Hope and Courage (Minneapolis, MN: Broadleaf Books, 2021), 39.