Affirmation and Healing Within Spiritual Direction

ABSTRACT

Key to the process of spiritual growth is the knowledge that human beings long for love. They desire to know their worth and value. This seeking leads to a desire for a relationship with God. In order to grow in faith to a deeper relationship with God, it is important to first have a strong sense of one's own worth as a basis for growth. This involves an accurate self-perception and a loving self-acceptance.

Affirmation can help to develop a loving self-acceptance, where one can experience, feel, and see one's worth. Affirmation is a gift of love from one person to another, where one receives oneself as one experiences one's own goodness and dignity from the other and one learns one is lovable.

Another key to spiritual growth is self-knowledge. Self-acceptance and self-knowledge are the beginning of the spiritual life. Developing emotional awareness leads to greater self-knowledge. Emotions need to be listened to and interpreted as part of the development of self-knowledge and self-acceptance. This emotional awareness is the beginning of understanding the negative patterns of behavior that comes out of one's woundedness. With the healing presence of Christ through prayer, one can experience God's love for them in one's woundedness and know that God dwells within and desires to transform and heal wounds with his love. This affirms one in one's worthiness, enabling one to be able to open to receive love and then return love.

In spiritual direction, one seeks a relationship with God. It is a sacred time of growth, conversion, and transformation. It is a time when one looks at a relationship with self, others, and God. One is empowered by the grace of God to enter this process and continue the development of these relationships. The ministry of spiritual direction is called to be the sacred place where humanity in their fullness meets their God and accepts his mercy. When one surrenders to this grace, one is surrendering to love, mercy, and affirmation. One's self-image and relationship with others and God are touched and experienced in a new light.