Catholic · Emmaus course
Meeting the Soul Where It Is: The Stages of Spiritual Direction
You cannot walk someone forward if you do not know where they are standing.
A Wall Street executive spent twenty years in spiritual direction under three very different priests. His story reveals a pattern every helper needs: the person in front of you is somewhere specific, the guide has to meet them there, and the real work belongs to the Holy Spirit.
NBCC CE · 1 clock hour · Helping Relationships (HR)
With Fr. Charles Sikorsky, LC, J.D., J.C.L. and Stephen Auth
- Length
- 1 hr
- Lessons
- 1
- Level
- Intermediate
- Version
- Catholic
- Price
- Free
About this course
Stephen Auth had not been to confession in thirty years when a heart scare put him at death's door. What happened next became a twenty-year journey — and a surprisingly practical lesson for anyone who accompanies others.
In this one-hour, CE-bearing lesson, you will watch his story and draw out the pattern behind it: how a soul moves through stages, why the right guide changes over time, and what it really means to meet a person where they are.
Who this course is for
Graduate counselors / pastoral care professionals needing CE
"CE is a box to check; most of it is dry."
1.0 NBCC clock hour that you will actually remember — a real case in accompaniment, not a compliance slog.
Spiritual directors and directors-in-formation
"I want to get better at this, not just read about it."
A field-tested model for meeting a directee where they are, with the trap to avoid named out loud.
Devout Catholic adults / lay formators
"Spiritual direction is for other people, or for later."
You are already somewhere on this journey. This shows you where — and what the next step is.
From the course syllabus
You cannot walk someone forward if you do not know where they are standing. In this short, continuing-education course, a Wall Street executive named Stephen Auth tells Fr. Charles Sikorsky the story of his twenty years in spiritual direction — a journey that began with a heart scare and a confession thirty years overdue, and unfolded under three very different priests. Reading his testimony alongside Catholic spiritual theology and the psychology of the helping relationship, the course draws out a working model of accompaniment: souls move through stages, the right guide changes over time, and the real direction belongs to the Holy Spirit. Learners finish able to recognize where a person is on the journey and to meet them there, rather than handing everyone the same formula.
Curriculum
-
Module 1
Meeting the Soul Where It Is: The Stages of Spiritual Direction
- 1.The Right Guide for the Right Season
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