137 Live Q&A with Fr. Boniface Hicks on Spiritual Direction and Personal Formation
May 6, 2024
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Fr. Boniface Hicks answers live Q&A on spiritual and pastoral formation, addressing struggles with formators, integrating parts in spiritual direction, and navigating suffering and spiritual growth. Insights on the prophetic timing of human formation and the risks of spiritual bypassing. Emphasizes holistic personal formation, inner integration through prayer, and authentic self-expression.
Creating a safe space for vulnerable parts in spiritual direction aids healing and growth.
Encouraging openness and transparency in spiritual sessions fosters profound insights and healing.
Building trust with hiding parts or protectors in spiritual direction requires a delicate and gradual approach.
Deep dives
Reverencing the Vulnerable Parts
In spiritual direction, creating a safe space for vulnerable parts to share their stories is crucial for healing and growth. By reverencing these hiding parts that have been hurt in the past, trust can gradually develop. The dynamic of trust-building and honoring the pace at which each part is willing to reveal itself is essential for deepening the therapeutic relationship.
Inclusive Spiritual Direction Model
The monastic model of spiritual direction advocates for sharing all aspects of one's interior, including the most vulnerable and hiding parts. Encouraging openness and transparency in these sessions can lead to profound insights and healing. Providing a structural invitation for all parts to make their voices heard fosters a holistic approach to spiritual growth.
Navigating Director's Secrecy and Trust-Building
When a spiritual director has strong hiding parts or protectors that hinder transparency, it requires a delicate approach to build trust. Reverencing these parts, acknowledging their protective role, and gradually developing a sense of safety can help facilitate productive spiritual direction sessions. Trust evolves over time, and respecting each part's readiness to reveal fosters a supportive and healing environment.
Understanding the Impact of Spiritual Direction on Internal Growth
Engaging in direct spiritual manifestation may not always be natural or advisable for the directee. Rushing this process may hinder acknowledging the deeper needs parts might reflect. Acknowledging difficulties in spiritual direction helps avoid the assumption that all challenges stem from the directee. The importance lies in recognizing and working through personal biases and being open to acknowledging errors for genuine growth.
Exploring Human Formation in Response to Societal Changes
The prophetic dimension of human formation during times of cultural upheaval and family challenges underscores the significance of recognizing human suffering across different levels. Spiritual and emotional deprivation can be addressed through prayer and communal support, emphasizing the need for inner healing. The suffering engendered by love, rather than being avoided, can serve as a catalyst for deeper connections and spiritual growth, reinforcing the integration of human and spiritual dimensions.
Fr. Boniface Hicks joins us once again as we continue our series on integrated personal formation, this time with a Q&A from our live audience. Fr. Boniface answers a wide range of questions about spiritual and pastoral formation, including: 1) What counsel can you give to those who have experienced poor spiritual formation, especially from formators who only acknowledge the spiritual realm? 2) How do you deal with St. Ignatius of Loyola’s “evil spirits” from the IFS perspective? Would this involve a more compassionate approach to temptation? 3) How do you leverage parts in spiritual direction when your director has no experience with IFS? 4) In the context of Colossians 1:15-20, can you share how your inmost self holds space for an encounter with Jesus and some of your exiled parts? 5) Can spiritual direction be positive and productive if the directee has a strong hiding part or protectors that don’t want to be transparent with the director? 6) Can you talk about the prophetic timing of human formation in the context of Pastores Dabo Vobis, given the cultural issues of the meltdown of the family, marriage, etc.? 7) How do different kinds of suffering relate to our parts? 8) In resisting spiritual bypassing, is there not also the risk of bypassing the spiritual, bypassing the walk with Jesus? Is there a way to navigate this?
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