I just had a holy moment. It was one of those nods from God times. "Carol, this is a good thing you are doing right now. I am right there with you."
I am writing the "Sacred Listening" to our "Sacred Histories" part of the spiritual direction training I am leading starting September 19, 2025. I love it. This is part of everyone telling their stories, and what it is and is not about.
It is about truly listening and not thinking about what you are going to say at the end. What advice you are going to give. It is about listening and at the end saying, "I noticed" this thread of meaning, that particular phrase, about saying, "Tell me more about that part of your story." It is about empathy and compassion and not about denying emotions or saying, "I had the exact thing happen to me." No, you did not - each person's story is so unique and wonderful. I love hearing people's stories and asking questions that help a person find meaning in their experiences. So it is a fun thing to write, although time-consuming. I spent from 5 am to 5:45 pm yesterday writing the syllabus and the supporting documents that go along with the training for the first module that is 10 months away!
The good news is that I loved every single minute of the writing. Also, the good news is I completed the application, the letter to a potential directee, the questionnaire for the person they want to be their director, instructions for their "Sacred Collage," overview of the two years, final book list, Excel sheet for keeping a record of all their submissions, and the Contemplative Reflection Form and Dialogue. Whew! It was a big day, but when I love what I am doing, it is not work.
The only part of the syllabus I have left is about giving our Sacred Histories, listening to each other's histories, "finding" directees, their first meetings with their two directees and their director, and how to fill out the Contemplative Reflection Form.
I am not even nervous about this. I am just praying for the right three to six people to come along. I say three to six because we need one to two sets of triad listening groups. We will do this for all five modules of the first year. I was so nervous about doing this when I was in my "Protestant" training (I had already been mentored by a Catholic nun before joining this one.) But I loved the triads by the end. I just had a memory of one of the guys who asked such good questions, but he did not continue with the training for the second year. He had a lot of stuff going on in his life and many health problems. Poor guy. He had such potential.
All that said, I also had such a good time in my meditation in the Exercises yesterday too. I did the "Call of the King" Contemplation and so good. God continues to confirm my calling, and I even put the picture I drew from the second time I went through the Call of the King Contemplation in 2018.
I wonder how God spoke during the first time. I typed all of that online, and I downloaded the notes from that time, but I don't know where it is on my computer. I will have to search. I also learned that the Review of Prayer I put in my manual is NOT from Jeremiah in the OMS but I found my notes from that second time, and it said, "The Ignatian Adventure, p. 159." The exact same questions are in there, and at one time, I knew that. So I corrected the credit I gave in my manual to Jeremiah and gave it to Kevin O'Brien, SJ instead! LOL!
Well, I think my time is almost up. I am going to walk around (maybe even walk in the dark outside because it is supposed to rain once the sun comes up) and finish up this syllabus!
Ta Ta for Now. I think the timer is almost going to go off in 50 seconds.
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