Catholic · Emmaus course
Listening Where God Is Already at Work: Spiritual Direction and the Human Sciences
The best thing you can say in spiritual direction is often nothing at all.
You do not need the perfect thing to say. You need to learn to listen. In this single-session course, Fr. Robert Presutti of Divine Mercy University shows how the best spiritual directors get out of the way so a person can hear God for themselves. Draw on the classic masters and on what the human sciences have learned about deep listening, and earn 1.5 NBCC clock hours in an evening.
NBCC CE · 1.5 clock hours · Helping Relationships (HR)
With Fr. Robert Presutti, LC
- Length
- 1 hr 30 min
- Lessons
- 1
- Level
- Intermediate
- Version
- Catholic
- Price
- Free
They are hiring the course to become someone others can safely open up to.
About this course
Most people who feel drawn to accompany others carry the same quiet worry: What if I don't know what to say? This course answers that worry by turning it on its head. The heart of spiritual direction is not advice. It is listening so closely that a person begins to notice what God is already doing in them.
Fr. Robert Presutti, an advisor to DMU's Spiritual Direction Certificate Program, walks through the "contemplative-evocative" way of direction: how to sit alongside someone rather than across from them, how to listen into a person and not just to their words, and why the empathy skills studied by the human sciences genuinely serve this sacred work. You will meet the classic map of the spiritual life, the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways, and see how a director's approach changes depending on where a person actually is with God.
One session. About ninety minutes. 1.5 NBCC clock hours in Helping Relationships. A different way of accompanying the people entrusted to you.
Who this course is for
Aspiring spiritual directors (laypeople, catechists, and formators)
Lead with the aspiring-spiritual-director audience: parish formation leaders, catechists, lay ecclesial ministers, and people already inquiring about DMU's certificate program.
Also for Licensed counselors who value faith integration and need CE hours.
From the course syllabus
Most people who feel drawn to accompany others carry the same quiet worry: What if I don’t know what to say? This course answers that worry by turning it on its head. The heart of spiritual direction is not advice. It is listening so closely that a person begins to notice what God is already doing in them.
Fr. Robert Presutti, an advisor to DMU’s Spiritual Direction Certificate Program, walks through the “contemplative-evocative” way of direction: how to sit alongside someone rather than across from them, how to listen into a person and not just to their words, and why the empathy skills studied by the human sciences genuinely serve this sacred work. You will meet the classic map of the spiritual life, the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways, and see how a director’s approach changes depending on where a person actually is with God.
Curriculum
-
Module 1
Listening Where God Is Already at Work: Spiritual Direction and the Human Sciences
- 1.Lesson: Styles of Spiritual Direction: The Contemplative-Evocative Way
More courses
When God Feels Silent: Discerning Consolation in Prayer
Ever prayed and felt nothing? You aren't doing it wrong. In this Divine Mercy University course, discover how God speaks, why feelings aren't the goal, and how St. Teresa’s garden analogy shows if your prayer life is truly growing.
1 hr · 1 lesson · Intermediate
With Fr. John Bartunek, LC
You Shall Not Be Overcome: Spiritual Vanity, Sacred Darkness, and the Peace That Persists
Why does prayer go dry? Fr. Groeschel reveals the hidden danger in spiritual progress — and the ancient promise that will carry you through.
1 hr 25 min · 3 lessons · Intermediate
With Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R.
Failure Is Not an Option: Leadership, Decision-Making & Virtue Under Pressure
An asynchronous, six-lesson formation course that uses six scenes from the film Apollo 13 (1995) — set beside the real April 1970 mission — as a case study in how good decisions get made and good character is revealed when everything is on the line.
3 hrs · 8 lessons · Beginner