Spiritual Direction
I have come because I want to seek out those who have strayed from God. I want to bring them home again.
Jesus longs to bring us home. Through his Spirit, he is actively drawing people to himself — into a deeper relationship with God, with their own true self, and with others. We are always invited to open ourselves to this searching movement of Jesus, to his desire to heal, and to allow ourselves to be taken up into it.
Spiritual direction is a form of pastoral care which, as I believe, God is growing for this time, in order to accompany people on their way home.
Two Definitions:
Spiritual Direction is a shared listening to the subtle, inner movements of the Holy Spirit. The Paraclete (John 14) is advocate, comforter, and true companion, who desires to lead every person, in every given moment, into a deeper relationship with God and into a life of greater freedom and love. Spiritual direction is phenomenological and mystagogical. Spiritual experiences in everyday life and within the conversation itself come into focus.
„Spiritual Direction is the help that one Christian gives to another, enabling the person who seeks it to attend to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personal, communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of this relationship.” (William A. Barry SJ & William J. Connolly SJ, The Practice of Spiritual Direction, HarperCollins, New York)
I will allure you and lead you into the wilderness, and there I will speak tenderly to your heart.
Typical Themes That Bring People to Spiritual Direction
- I want to shape a sabbatical or time away consciously and reflect with someone from outside on the experiences I make during that time.
- I would like to become familiar with spiritual practices.
- I am seeking meditation rooted in the Christian tradition.
- I want to speak about experiences I have in meditation or contemplative prayer.
- I sense a vague longing for more — more aliveness, more freedom, more of God.
- My spiritual life has become dry; I am looking for new ways into prayer.
- I have achieved everything I set out to achieve … and now what?
- I am facing a major decision that does not come easily.
- I want to see more clearly what is holding me back or what God may be inviting me into.
- Theologically, I no longer feel at home in my local church.
- I am struggling with images of God shaped by my childhood.
- My faith has changed; I hardly dare to say so out loud in my church community…
- I have been through a very painful experience and want to understand why God allowed it.
- I am burdened by feelings of guilt.
- I am standing at the threshold of a major transition: retirement, life after the loss of a partner, and similar changes.
- I long for my faith to move from my head into my heart.
Methods Used in Spiritual Direction
Depending on the spiritual companion, they draw on their own wealth of experience. I find the following methods and approaches helpful:
- Client-centered counseling
- A contemplative - evocative stance
- Focusing / Body Awareness
- Silence
- Mindfulness practices
- Healing prayer
- Faith Imagination
- Healing of memories
- Trauma-informed spiritual direction
- Gestalt experiments
- Anointing
- Confession
- Creative methods, such as "The River of Life"
Spiritual Direction and Acute Psychological Crises
Spiritual direction can have a therapeutic quality, but it does not replace psychotherapy.
Spiritual direction is not intended as pastoral care for people in acute psychological crises.
At the same time, spiritual direction is often deeply valued when offered alongside psychotherapy,
as faith and a person’s relationship with God can be an important resource on the path of healing.
A Warm Invitation to a Free Initial Conversation
My consultation room is located at the Familienzentrum Bammental (Hauptstraße 65).
Conversations via video chat are also possible.
Appointments and inquiries may be sent to: