Navigating the Interior Life: Spiritual Direction and the Journey to God (Sophia Institute Spiritual Direction)

I liked the clear and concise descriptions and methodical way to open up our soals to recieve all the graces necessary. All the tools needed to fight the spiritual battle.

Much, if not all, of this book is based on one of the great studies of Christian spirituality of the 20th century: The Three Ages of the Interior Life by Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange. It was difficult or expensive to get for many years, but a new edition was recently printed along with a Kindle version for around $2-$3.I have a few problems with the authors' original contributions which may seem petty but, hey, I confess to being far from perfection so you can absorb or dismiss as you wish.One of these is the suggestion to discern whether a potential spiritual advisor is a true Catholic by asking his/her opinion about abortion. I am perfectly willing to accept the Magesterium's stance on abortion. However, in using this as a primary litmus test one would be excluding such doctors of the church as St. Thomas Aquinas.Another passage suggests a list of five acceptable sources for spiritual guidance and included on the list are Opus Dei and Regnum Christi. The former, while not as maniacal as suggested by Dan Brown, is still an intensely "traditional" organization that might scare (or chase) away someone who has sought spiritual growth from an Eastern perspective but is going back to Western roots. The latter has had its share of scandals, no less than from its founder Marcial Maciel.That there is bias in the authors' approach is evident in the exclusion of spiritual sources as old as the Jesuits (who founded and still teach Ignatian spirituality) and more modernist writers like Thomas Merton.I would have given the book three stars but it includes two long passages, one by St. Teresa of Avila and the other a guide to bishops from then-Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) on the subtle differences between Catholic and Eastern spirituality. I found both very enlightening and highlighted them extensively.To the Catholic this is not a subject to be taken lightly and is nothing less than one's place in eternity as well as the path for developing a personal relationship with the Father of all. For those who are already committed traditional Catholics, or those who came to the church from an evangelical background, it might be a good starting point. For those of us who don't redden at the mention of Vatican II, or came to the church seeking a Western grounding to a life-long search, there are better places to begin.

Concise, explanative, interesting overview of the Spiritual Life and the usefulness of Spiritual Direction in making it work, with a Study Guide available to help. After explaining the classical 3-Way look at this, including the Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive ways, Burke draws a helpful analogy to real life growth that easily puts things in perspective for any reader. He likens these ways to childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Once we have life, we must mature and grow physically, emotionally, psychologically through these periods of life. Likewise, once we have received Spiritual Life, namely at Baptism, we also need to mature and grow through Spiritual Childhood, Spiritual Adolescence, and Spiritual Adulthood. This begins intentionally when we can turn away from sin, especially serious sin, and follow the way of discipleship set out for us by Jesus Christ and his closest followers, the Saints. Burke does a good job of explaining the mechanics and well as the obstacles and pitfalls. He explains well the Church’s tradition and the why’s of Spiritual Direction. He refers sufficiently to essential teachings readily available to all of us in the Catholic Catechism, in particular: the indispensable aspects of "prayer." He also draws on the Masters, especially Saint Teresa of Avila, for the riches left for us by those like her who have been there and chose to write about it for us. To paraphrase Saint John of the Cross, “We’re going to a place we’ve never been. So we must travel by a road we’ve never traveled.” A guide therefore could be especially helpful to us! That's the whole purpose! Interested? Read and study this.

What this book is not:a. A fluffy, feel-good book on contemporary popular spirituality.b. A self-help book (see a, above).c. An easy book to read. Oh, it's easy to read--not many big words, almost no convoluted syntax. But this book requires you to work.What this book is (a modest and humble survey):a. guidance firmly grounded in Catholic tradition and the teachings of the Magisteriumb. A How-To book--how to find a spiritual director, how to prepare for spiritual direction, how to find some purchase on where you stand, spiritually.c. A tough book to read, not because of its readability level but because the content is vigorous and if you take it seriously, the book will help you 'Navigate your Interior Life.'If that deep, interior longing for a richer relation to God, a stronger commitment to discipleship--you know, those yearnings that bubble up in our thoughts and our heart when we least expect it--won't leave you alone, this book is a great start. Be forewarned, however, that you will need to find a spiritual director and you Must. Do. The. Work.Editing on 1 June 2014 to recommend searching out the interviews Johnette Benkovic did with Dan Burke for her program on EWTN: Women of Grace. You can find them archived on her website WomenofGrace. Click the TV/Radio link for the videos.

I was hoping this book would give me more information about the different ways I could try and utilise to help me to grow more with regards to my own interior spiritual life but although it did have some useful information I found that the first few chapters (the first 30% of the book) wasn't really very helpful. Instead of helping me foster a positive outlook about seeking help with spiritual direction instead I found it depressed & discouraged me. To me it seemed as if the author was emphasising that a person seeking spiritual direction should consider themselves very fortunate indeed and that the time of all spiritual directors is very precious indeed… Everybody's time is precious but I was left feeling as if instead of describing a potential encounter with a person you could help you with spiritual direction instead it was more like describing firstly a visit to a GP in that the time is very limited that you will have with your director and secondly it felt like going to see a private consultant in that you should expect to pay a certain amount of money at least for a good spiritual director… Maybe I'm just naïve but to me it seemed as if he was treating spiritual direction as if it was very clinical and cut and dried… Personally I find it distasteful that you would have to expect to pay a lot of money for something like this, I kept thinking about the moneychangers in the temple…I got so disheartened with this book and it confused me so much that I just had to put it down and it was only about a year or so later that I decided to pick it up again and started to read from the chapter entitled "Spiritual Director Responsibilities". I would not recommend reading this book as I think there must be a lot better offerings out there to help one with regards to the interior life & spiritual direction…Please note: I bought this book from Amazon when it was available in Kindle format.

Not quite what I expected. I have to be honest though I havnt yet finished the book. However initially it seems Burke is suggesting what to look for in a spiritual director and what to expect in the spiritual direction process. Many, like me, are unable to find a good spiritual director and do understand the basics of the process. I assumed he was going take on the spiritual director role as much as is possible, so I think the title may be a little disingenuous.

This book is written in simple and easy terms to read, leading to guidance according to the teachings of the Catholic church. It contains quotes from other books which makes it richer, giving the reader the opportunity to explore other works regarding the spiritual journey. Recommended for all beginners

Absolutely brilliant, will be so heartbroken when finished reading it, but I can re-read it again and again which I will most definitely will do AAAAA

The Spiritual Conferences of St Francis de Sales, is incomparably better, but no harm with this