Receiving spiritual direction

Still another recommendation, we feel, is in place here: that, in undertaking and advancing in the spiritual life, you do not trust too much to yourselves, but with docile simplicity seek and accept the help of someone who, with wise moderation, can guide your soul, point out to you the dangers, suggest suitable remedies, and in every internal and external difficulty can guide you in the right way towards an ever greater perfection, according to the example of the saints and the teachings of Christian asceticism. Without these prudent guides for one's conscience, it is often very difficult to be duly responsive to the impulses of the Holy Spirit and of the grace of God. (Papal Writings, Menti Nostrae, 23 September 1960).

The ultimate aim of our practice is to escape from the tyranny of the ego, but there could be no greater vanity than supposing liberation to be possible on the ego's own terms. This is why it is said that the man who chooses himself for a master has chosen a fool, and this is the reason that direction by another person is so important. If the spiritual journey consists in becoming what one is, spiritual qualification consists in being what one is to become, and only the experienced guide is capable of discerning whether a given aspirant meets this condition. (James S Cutsinger).