Journey to God

Most of us have questions about spiritual direction. What is it? Is it for me? What if I can’t find a spiritual director? These questions and more are well answered in Dan Burke’s book. The Lord is clearly calling all Catholics into a deeper union with him. This book, in a style which is both inspiring and practical, provides some of the Church’s most important wisdom about how to respond to this call.

—Ralph Martin, Ph.D, president, Renewal Ministries

and author of The Fulfillment of All Desire

No one seeks God alone. Everyone needs help. The journey, however, need not be a complicated one. Thanks be to God, you have in your hands a simple handbook for seeking God. It is informative, succinct, logical and balanced … a breath of fresh air for lungs who long to breathe the fragrance of God.

—Sister Regina Marie Gorman, OCD, Vicar General

Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles

Just as serious athletes would be foolish for not seeking coaches and trainers to help them learn from the experience of others how best to develop their natural skills, so for the Christian pursuing holiness it is foolhardy not to seek the counsel and direction of wise mentors in the spiritual life. Dan Burke’s Journey to God is an immensely practical book to help a serious Catholic take advantage of the wealth of experience and knowledge of those who have trod the path to sanctity for the past 2,000 years.

Just as well-intentioned athletes can waste time, injure themselves, and hurt their team by embarking on an ill-conceived training program, so Christian history is strewn with examples of well-meaning individuals who went astray harming themselves and others by following a misguided, imbalanced and imprudent spiritual path.

Unfortunately, complicating the matter even more not everyone, who claims the mantle of a spiritual director, is actually competent to lead others to holiness. Dan Burke gives very practical advice not only on how to find a good spiritual director, but also how best to access the wealth of resources in our Catholic tradition that can assist in developing our friendship with Jesus and growing in virtue.

—Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann,

Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas

As a spiritual director, I’m thrilled that Dan Burke has written this book! I’ve been waiting for a book like this. It offers an honest, straight forward, and realistic presentation of how to grow in the interior life, and is sure to be of benefit to both spiritual directors and those seeking spiritual direction.

—Very Rev. Donald Calloway, MIC, STL

author, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy

Journey to God is the book that the modern Church has been waiting for. Dan Burke combines fascinating spiritual insights with concrete, practical tips that will bring real transformation to your life, starting now.

—Jennifer Fulwiler, author, writer for National

Catholic Register, and blogger, Conversion Diary

If you spot Journey to God and think either, I’m too busy for spiritual direction or My journey with God is just fine, thank you, do yourself a favor and immediately buy this fantastic book. Moving well beyond its excellent opening chapters on helping you understand and engage in a course of spiritual direction, Dan Burke’s phenomenal work lays the foundation for any person’s true and substantive turning toward a life of faith and real relationship with Jesus Christ. Along with the helpful and concise information on creating, nurturing, and sustaining effective spiritual direction relationships, the books dives even more deeply into how to live a true life of virtue. Dan Burke is a trusted guide to help you look at the roots sins that cause your separation from Christ and how to move beyond those with a rule of life guided by virtue that will help any spiritual seeker achieve lasting progress in his or her interior life.

—Lisa M. Hendey, founder of CatholicMom.com and

author of A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms

There is no better time than now for such a solid resource concerning spiritual direction. We are entering into the Year of Faith, and if we are going to grow in our faith we need good solid guidance to help us along the way. Dan’s book provides a step-by-step plan for those who may be seeking spiritual direction for the first time as well as those hoping to dive much deeper into their relationship with the Lord and his Church.

—Teresa Tomeo, syndicated Catholic talk show host,

best-selling author and motivational speaker

A must read for all sincere God-seekers—one of the most unique and comprehensive guides to the spiritual life I’ve seen. In Journey to God, author Dan Burke provides an unambiguous compass to the life-giving water we are all thirsting for.

—Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, EWTN host, speaker,

and author of numerous Catholic books including

Rooted in Love: Our Calling as Catholic Women

I count myself among the many who have long needed spiritual direction, but have been unsure regarding who to receive it from or how to get started. Dan Burke’s wonderful new book is filled with practical wisdom and sound Church teaching on how to navigate and grow our interior lives. I will be referring to and recommending this gem for the rest of my life. Well done!

—Randy Hain, senior editor of the Integrated Catholic Life

e-zine and author of The Catholic Briefcase: Tools for

Integrating Faith and Work and Along the Way:

Lessons for an Authentic Journey of Faith

It is a special grace to be able to entrust the direction of your soul to someone else, for it is far too easy to get lost on our journey toward God. A good spiritual director can help you retain your interior composure, particularly during times of stagnation, lukewarmness and discouragement. It is a joy to be able to lay bare your most intimate thoughts and feelings with someone who can help you; someone who understands you, supports you and prays for you. With this handbook, Dan has provided a clear map on how to find that person and choose that path. Follow it! It will change your life forever.

—Terry Polakovic, founder of ENDOW

In this book, Dan Burke places a compass in our hands—the compass of Christ-centered spiritual direction. I highly recommend this book. He has done a great service for anyone seeking spiritual direction and who desires to deepen their relationship with Christ.

—Sister Timothy Marie, OCD, Carmelite Sisters

of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles

This book is a persuasive statement of the well-nigh universal need of us Catholics for spiritual direction. It offers a wealth of wisdom regarding preparation for, and proper use of, spiritual direction. It draws heavily and convincingly on the Catholic tradition of mystical theology. Fully a third of the text offers a detailed, helpful guide to spiritual selfexamination. Dan Burke offers a very apt analogy for the use of spiritual direction: In traveling the road of spiritual growth, spiritual direction is like a clean windshield, a good rear-view mirror, with side mirrors to help detect blind spots.

—Rev. Ray Ryland, Ph.D, JD, Columnist for The Catholic Answer

and Chaplain of the Coming Home Network

A plan is necessary for the success of any endeavor. The spiritual life is no exception. Dan Burke’s accessible book provides a framework for anyone seeking to grow in relationship with our Lord. I am amazed at the amount of helpful material that is packed in this modest-sized book. It certainly will help those in the early stages of their spiritual walk and it also will provide perspective for those further along in their spiritual life. As a retreat director, I intend to make this helpful text available to retreatants. In fact, I’ve already told the publisher that I want to be the first to place an order.

—Regis J. Flaherty, director of the Gilmary Retreat Center

and author of God’s on the Phone: Stories of Grace in Action

This book is positively rich in helps for the person seeking sound spiritual direction, and wanting to learn how to rightly order and cultivate a good interior life. Dan Burke has written the go-to guide for any question you have about spiritual direction and making progress in the spiritual life. All the information you need, from a most trustworthy source—I highly recommend it!

—Sharon Lee Giganti, Catholic Answers speaker and New Age expert

To the great love of my life, Stephanie

As she has never failed to do, again today the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction, not only to all those who wish to follow the Lord up close, but to every Christian who wishes to live responsibly his baptism, that is, the new life in Christ. Everyone, in fact, and in a particular way all those who have received the divine call to a closer following, needs to be supported personally by a sure guide in doctrine and expert in the things of God. A guide can help defend oneself from facile subjectivist interpretations, making available his own supply of knowledge and experiences in following Jesus. [Spiritual direction] is a matter of establishing that same personal relationship that the Lord had with his disciples, that special bond with which he led them, following him, to embrace the will of the Father (cf. Lk. 22:42), that is, to embrace the cross.

—POPE BENEDICT XVI

table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

What Is Spiritual Direction?

Do I Really Need Spiritual Direction?

How Do I Know if I Am Ready for Spiritual Direction?

How Do I Know if I Am Not Ready for Spiritual Direction?

How Do I Find and Select A Spiritual Director?

Preparing for the Search

Faithful Guidance in the Spiritual Life

Finding a Needle in a Haystack

Finding the Real Thing

Questions for Your Would-Be Spiritual Director

A Potential Shortcut

How Do I Set Up and Prepare for My First Meeting?

Common Challenges

Your First Meeting, Step by Step

Facing the Challenge

Spiritual Director Responsibilities

Admonitions to Directors

My Responsibilities in Spiritual Direction

Docility and Obedience

Openness

Preparation for Meetings

Maintaining Continuity

Financial Matters

I Can’t Find One, Now What?

Spiritual Progress Inside and Outside of Spiritual Direction

Marian Devotion and the Spiritual Life

Spiritual Self-Evaluation

My Spiritual Heritage

My Spiritual Status

My Root Sin

The No and Yes of Real Spiritual Growth

Beyond Sin to Virtue and Holiness

Identifying the Corresponding Virtue

Living Virtue on a Day-to-Day Basis

Navigation on the Narrow Path

The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life

Common Challenges Along the Ways

The Doorway to the Interior Life

Self-Diagnosis of Your Current Spiritual Progress

Pre-Spiritual Childhood

Spiritual Childhood (The Purgative Way)

Spiritual Adolescence (The Illuminative Way)

Spiritual Adulthood (The Unitive Way)

Developing a Rule of Life

Conclusion

Glossary of Terms

Appendix One: Schools of Spiritual Direction

Appendix Two: Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation

Endnotes

foreword

How many times have you opened a book that promised to change your life, only to become disillusioned by the end of it (or long before!) upon finding that you did not understand it or agree with it, or that you simply were not willing to exert the willpower necessary to follow the author’s advice on how to lose weight, improve your memory, speed read, or run for office and become the governor of your state?

The book you now hold in your hands is substantially different, but before I tell you why, it might be helpful to share the vantage point from which I offer this observation. By God’s mercy and grace, I am a priest of thirty years and have had the great privilege of providing spiritual direction to souls ranging from a supreme court justice nominee, a United States senator, a prominent radio talk show host, priests and women religious of various orders, and good, hardworking lay men and women. From where I stand there is nothing more important than the aggressive pursuit of progress in our relationship with God.

Why? Because death is inevitable. Billions of dollars are spent yearly and endlessly to cure diseases, push back the onset of mortal illness, and—in the case of diehard atheists—attempt to prolong life for thousands of years, anticipating a time when humankind will achieve immortality. Even a former U.S. president said, I want unlimited scientific discovery and I want unlimited applications. We want to live forever and we are getting there (William Jefferson Clinton).

But those of us who are sincere practicing Catholics know that our most important work in this life is to prepare ourselves for the next one, where we really will be immortal. That means at a minimum remaining in God’s friendship (a state of grace, free of mortal sin). More ambitiously, it means so preparing for our face-to-face meeting with Jesus and our own particular judgment that we can hope to be judged fit for heaven immediately, escaping the pains of purgatory. Perhaps, if our efforts to cooperate with God’s grace achieve heroic status, we will even gain a front-row seat before the Holy Trinity for eternity. Our second most important work on this planet (or any other humankind may land on in the future) is to help bring as many men and women as possible to heaven with us, through our family life, our friendships, and the sterling example we give.

See how simple it is?

Of course we know it is not that easy. But we also know that the Church provides all the instruments we need to make sure our journey through life ends in heaven: the destination that God our Father, Savior, and Sanctifier desires for us. What are these ordinary means? Principally the seven sacraments, with particular emphasis on Baptism, the Eucharist and Reconciliation, which are of necessity for salvation if available to the person; then personal prayer, with particular emphasis on meditation on Sacred Scripture (particularly the New Testament), where we learn to better know, love, and imitate Our Savior and find models of apostolic zeal in the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles of the early Church.

Of course the Church offers us much more than the basics. For example, she offers us the example of the saints throughout the ages and she safeguards our faith with the Church’s teaching authority, exercised through the Pope and the bishops in communion with him. Through this authority handed down by Our Lord, faithful Christians from the earliest days of the Church have been able to stay on track, secure in Our Lord’s promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church. If they are faithful, they know they can await in hope Christ’s second coming in glory at the Last Judgment, after which He will lead the saved to a new heaven and new earth.

And then there are the many inspirational gifts of the Catholic culture that produced Western Civilization: