On the Director

We ought not to draw a distinction between the director and the confessor, any more than we draw a distinction between the physician who cures an illness and him who prescribes a rule for preserving health. The confessor hears the acknowledgment of our sins, and absolves us from the guilt of them; he tells us what we are to do, that we may avoid sin for the future, and he gives us wholesome advice, that we may advance in virtue. The tribunal of penance, then, includes confession and direction, and it is as essential for it to preserve us from faults as to absolve us for them. Nevertheless, quite as much by the fault of the penitents as of the confessors, there have always been very few confessors who are directors at the same time.

To direct a soul is to lead it in the ways of God, it is to teach the soul to listen for the Divine inspiration, and to respond to it; it is to suggest to the soul the practice of all the virtues proper for its particular state; it is not only to preserve that soul in purity and innocence, but to make it advance in perfection: in a word, it is to contribute as much as possibly may be in raising that soul to the degree of sanctity which God has destined for it. It is thus that Pope Saint Gregory thought of direction when he said that the guidance of souls is, of all arts, the most excellent.

In order that direction may be successful, it is clear that certain dispositions are necessary on the part of the confessor, and of the person whom he directs. It is necessary that the confessor should be, as it were, the voice of God, the instrument of Divine grace, the co-operator with the work of the Holy Spirit, and, consequently, that he should be an interior man, a man of prayer, a man well versed in spiritual things, as much by his own experience as by study and reading; that he should have no purely natural designs, either of vanity or self-interest, but that he should only consider the glory of God and the good of souls; that he should never act according to the leadings of his own spirit, but that he should judge of the things of God by the spirit of God. From all this it is easy to conclude that true directors are very rare.

As to the persons who desire to receive direction, it is evident that they are only fit for it in the same measure as they are docile, obedient, simple, straight-forward, upright; resolved not only to avoid sin, but to practise all the good which God requires of them, to correspond faithfully to grace, and to refuse nothing to God, whatever may be the cost to human nature; finally, to die to themselves, that they may live entirely to God: and this can only be attained by the spirit of prayer and interior mortification.

We can judge from this, that if true directors are rare, true spiritual children are none the less so, because there are very few persons who aspire to sanctity through the way of the cross and continually dying to themselves. There are many devout persons, but devout in their own way, guiding themselves according to their own ideas, following a certain routine of exterior practices, but suiting their devotion to their self-love, and not having the least idea of real prayer, of the real mortification of the heart. However this may be, nothing is more important for souls who sincerely wish to give themselves entirely to God, than, 1st, to be thoroughly convinced of the necessity of a director; 2nd, to make a good choice of one; and, 3rd, to make use of him according to the designs of God, when they have once chosen him.

It is necessary to have a director, because the greatest mistake of all is to wish to guide ourselves, and the greatest delusion we can fall into is to think we are in a fit state to guide ourselves. Even the most clever man, and he who is in the best dispositions, is blind as to his interior conduct; and even if he were a saint, and capable of directing others, he is not capable of directing himself; and if he thinks he can, it is through presumption. The first thing God requires of any one who aspires to sanctity is that he should renounce his own spirit, that he should humble himself, and submit to the guidance of those to whom God has intrusted the care of souls. As there are very special graces attached to this spirit of submission and obedience, so there are many manifest dangers to be incurred when we have the pride to think we can judge and govern ourselves. The way of perfection is full of darkness and obscurities, of temptations and precipices; and to wish to walk alone in it is to expose ourselves to our own ruin. Thus there is no medium course: either we must absolutely give up the idea of entering upon the way of perfection, or, if God has called us to it, we must take a director, that is, a guide, to whom we can open our souls entirely, to whom we can give an account of everything, and whom we can obey as if he were God Himself. The important point is to make a good choice of such a guide. And in a choice of such importance, it is God above all Whom we must consult: it is to Him we must pray that we may choose aright. His good providence is engaged to furnish us with all the necessary means for our salvation and sanctification; and as this is one of the most necessary means, we must believe that He will grant it to us, if we ask it of Him with simplicity and confidence. If we are guided by merely human motives in the choice of a director, if we lean only on our own judgment, and think we are capable of making such a choice of ourselves, we expose ourselves to the danger of being deceived, and we deserve to be deceived. But if we leave the matter entirely in God's hands, He will guide us to the director He wishes us to have, either by a secret instinct, or by the advice of pious persons whom we can trust. Did He not send Saint Francis de Sales to Dijon on purpose for Madame de Chantal? and did she not recognise at once, by certain signs, that he was the director whom God had destined for her?

These signs are an inexpressible attraction, which leads us to give all our confidence to such and such a priest of God, and which forms a union of grace between him and us; a peace which takes possession of our souls when he speaks to us, which reassures our doubts, dissipates our scruples, and gives us the calm and joy of the Holy Ghost; a certain ardour, a strong desire of belonging entirely to God, with which his words inspire us; in fact, an impression of respect, of love, of docility and of obedience, which makes us, as it were, see God in him. These signs can never deceive upright and pure souls, who seek only their own spiritual advancement. And I am quite certain that all those who are deceived when they seek direction have brought it upon themselves, through having been influenced by their imagination, or their self-love, or some other human motives, whatever they may be.

The certainty which God gives us at first of having made a good choice increases from day to day, and we soon have undoubted proofs of this. Nevertheless, if it should happen that we have been deceived, God will never permit a soul that is upright and pure to be long in error: she will soon discover, by one thing or another, that she has made a mistake, and God will guide her elsewhere.

As to the use we are to make of our director, there are many precautions to take and faults to avoid; but we may say, in a general way, that when the director and the person directed are both interior souls, it is very rare that any great imperfections can intrude upon the direction, because both are on their guard that no abuse may spoil such a holy communion of souls.

The first rule is for them not to meet except from necessity, and then to speak only of the things of God.

The second rule is to have a great mutual respect for each other, and always to preserve a certain courtesy and gravity, remembering always that their meetings are in God's interest, and that He is always a third in these kind of conversations.

The third rule is never to conceal anything from the director, under any pretext whatsoever, even if it should be thoughts and suspicions we have had against him. The more the director is forwarding the work of God, the more the soul is tempted with regard to him, through the instigation of the devil, who will try in every way to withdraw the confidence of the soul in the director. But we must resist his suggestions, and make a rule for ourselves to tell everything, and always to begin with that upon which we would rather be silent.

The fourth rule is a measureless obedience in all those things which cost us the most, which are most repugnant to our own inclinations and ideas, and never to allow ourselves any formal resistance of the will, nor even any interior judgment, which is contrary to the judgment of our director. I have spoken elsewhere of obedience; so I will only say here that it cannot be carried too far; neither can entire trust and perfect openness.

The fifth rule is in the use of our director, to look beyond the man, and only to see God in him; only to be attached to him for God's sake, and to be always ready even to give him up if God required it, and to say with holy Job: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord." We may be quite sure that, as God gave him to us for our good, He has taken him away for our greater good; and even if He should withdraw from us all human aid, His goodness alone is able to supply us abundantly.

"The just shall live by faith," Saint Paul says, following the teaching of the prophet Habacuc. This faith, which is the very life of the just, is not the faith that is common to all Christians, by which they believe the doctrines which God has revealed to His Church; but it is an especial and personal faith, which has for its object the supernatural providence of God for those souls who have abandoned themselves to Him without reserve, and whom He Himself will guide.

- taken from Manual for Interior Souls, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou