Growth in Holiness Fund

“A spiritual director who intimately knows and loves Christ can help the directee to achieve that same love and intimacy”
Pope Benedict XVI

Providing support for the formation of spiritual directors

The scriptures remind us that we are all called to be holy as God is holy (see Leviticus 19:2; Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 1:15-16). What does this mean? It means growing in our capacity to allow Christ to indwell in us and fill us with his life which sanctifies us and makes us holy. We need all the help and support we can get to answer this call from God to be holy. Often, we are not able to do this on our own and lacking spiritual guidance can often wander into dangerous paths. This highlights the important role of spiritual direction in the life of every Christian. As noted by Pope Benedict XVI, “a spiritual director who intimately knows and loves Christ can help the directee to achieve that same love and intimacy.”

The Spiritual Direction Formation Programme offered by the Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality (CACS) forms spiritual directors who can support, accompany and guide people along the path of knowing and becoming intimate with God. The formation prepares them to be attentive to and depend completely on the Holy Spirit – whom Saint John of the Cross calls ‘The Real Director’. It is the Spirit who in prayer and exercise of the virtues of contemplative docility and humility, inspires the wisdom and insight that enable a spiritual director to see the truth of what God is doing in another’s life and where God may be leading that person.

By donating to our Growth in Holiness Fund you can help us

• form spiritual directors who can lead others towards intimacy with Christ and holiness of life.
• ensure that more spiritual directors are accessible to people in parishes and online
• provide ongoing in-depth spiritual formation for spiritual directors
• ensure that spiritual direction as the Spirit’s gift for holiness remains free and accessible to all

St John of the Cross, the patron of this fund, was from a poor home. Through the generosity of a benefactor, he had the opportunity to get educated and this enhanced his ability to guide many souls in holiness towards union with God. This Growth in Holiness Fund will support hardship cases. Through it many who need financial support can benefit from our Spiritual Direction Formation Programme which prepares them to journey with others and guide them towards union with God in the footsteps of St John of the Cross.

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