Back to School

Soon I will begin this program: Spiritual Formation at the Dominican Center at Marywood. My goal is to become a spiritual companion or a spiritual director. I'm beginning to like the sound of "companion" better, but I guess I'm not sure yet exactly what the diff is. (I'll soon find out) Spiritual Direction is something rather new to me, but is familiar to most catholics I think. Many protestants are beginning to catch on to this really helpful part of the spiritual journey too. I first heard about it when I attended a 2 day Day Away retreat at Marywood. (I highly recommend it if you live in the area) They asked me if I'd like any spiritual direction while there, so I chose to speak with one, whom I later began to refer to as "The Oracle." She shared a lot of intuition, widsom and helpful insights with me about my life in that transitional phase. Having just gotten married and quit a job I'd had for 10 years, it was a weird time for me and it was helpful to talk with her during that time. I continued seeing her monthly for Spiritual Direction, and I'm sure it will continue to be helpful as time goes on.

Anyway, I started looking into the classes at Marywood, and felt pretty excited about the Spiritual Formation program. It evoked something in me similar to when I explored the possiblity of earning a Master of Spiritual Nurture at Mars Hill Graduate School - studying with Dan Allender. However, that program would have taken 2 years and cost tens of thousands. So I said ixnay on the Astersmay and continued down the path I was on. The idea of helping people grow spiritually is very exciting to me. It seems to fit my personality and makeup. So when I began to learn about the formation program at Marywood, which is practically just down the street, and much more affordable, I got pretty excited about it. That's not to say I think I'm more spiritually evolved than everyone else and have buckets of wisdom just waiting to dump out on everyone, just that at least learning more about it seems like a very exciting first step.

So, if you're like me, this quasi syllabus will make you drool:

with Phase I -
16 units:
1. Comtemplative Prayer
2. Biblical Spirituality
3. St. Anthony & Desert Spirituality
4. Rule of St. Benedict & St. Scholastica
5. Ignation Spirituality
6. Theology of Discernment
7. St. Francis of Assisi & St. Clare
8. Meister Eckhart, OP & Catherine of Siena, OP
9. The Beguines: Women's Movement of the Middle Ages.
10. continuation
11. Integrating the Journey
12. The Cloud of Unknowing
13. St. Teresa of Avila & St John of the Cross
14. John Calvin & Reformed Spirituality
15. John Wesley
16 Thomas Merton and Closing Session

Are you jealous yet?