The diocese’s School of Spiritual Direction restarted in 2023 after a seven-year hiatus. The goal is to help students grow in their faith so they can help others do the same.
The first and second cohort of the three-year bilingual program currently has 24 students. The third cohort will start this fall. Arkansas Catholic asked these second-year students to share how they have grown spiritually through the training.
Deacon Charlie Kuehl
Immaculate Conception, Fort Smith
What is spiritual direction, and what role does your spiritual director play in your spiritual growth? Spiritual direction is taking the time to speak to God in the presence of a trusted ally, so that the conversation evolves, leading to a deeper relationship with God.
How did you know you needed a spiritual director? I didn’t know that I needed a spiritual director. It was a required part of my deacon spiritual formation.
How have you benefited from spiritual direction? Spiritual direction has uniquely deepened my prayer life. Sometimes, when prayer life seems to be like a mouse running on a wheel, a spiritual director can help you get off that wheel. A good spiritual director has the ability to help me see God working in my life in a way that I did not see.
How did you find your spiritual director? In some areas, spiritual directors are hard to find, and seeking the right spiritual director takes time and prayer. There is a list available through the diocese, but I have asked priests and other deacons for recommendations. It takes a few sessions to feel comfortable with directors. So be patient and give it/them a chance.
How has spiritual direction helped you to discern God’s voice? Spiritual direction makes me take the time to stop my life and my brain so that I listen to God more completely. Spiritual direction helps with hearing God’s voice calling me from my wilderness.
Deacon Larry Fox
St. John, Russellville
What is spiritual direction, and what role does your spiritual director play in your spiritual growth? It is a way for me to grow closer to Christ with the help of someone to guide and help me along this path. My director has accompanied my journey, not really with directions, as much as helping me see Christ with gentle help and suggestions.
How did you know you needed a spiritual director? I knew I needed direction when I started discernment for the diaconate.
How have you benefited from spiritual direction? I have learned more about my own spirituality and grown much closer to Christ. He has helped listen to Jesus instead of my own will.
How did you find your spiritual director? I had others talk about Father Jerome Kodell and had known him for years. We already had a good relationship, and it was a natural choice. And he accepted graciously.
How has spiritual direction helped you to discern God’s voice? Direction has helped me develop ways to set aside my will and listen quietly to God’s voice. One thing I have learned is that if I find peace in discernment, it is from God.
Taffy Council
Our Lady of Fatima, Benton
What is spiritual direction, and what role does your spiritual director play in your spiritual growth? Spiritual direction provides companionship to persons pursuing a closer relationship with God. A spiritual director listens and encourages. Scripture and journaling are key elements.
How did you know you needed a spiritual director? I was finishing an eight-day Ignatian retreat that had been a real turning point for me spiritually. It was a natural move to ask for direction to continue. That was over 13 years ago.
How have you benefited from spiritual direction? Spiritual direction allows me to stretch in my prayer experience. If I doubt something or question its source, I can take it to direction. That, plus prayer during the session, most always brings clarity. I appreciate the accountability that, in part, keeps me committed to my prayer practice as well.
How did you find your spiritual director? I asked the director from the retreat I’d been on.
How has spiritual direction helped you to discern God’s voice? In direction, I’m encouraged to speak to Jesus about this or that. That seems so simple, but it’s really not. Letting go and letting God is freedom. I’ve discovered God’s voice is alive and active in my spirit. He calls me to simply come and see and be. My spiritual director walks beside me and nudges me back on the road if I wander.
Nancy Unverferth
St. Joseph, Conway
What is spiritual direction, and what role does your spiritual director play in your spiritual growth? Spiritual direction is a beautiful process where two people walk together in life’s journey with God. It is this relationship of three that makes spiritual direction so valuable and inherently fruitful. The one seeking the Lord (or a deeper relationship with the Lord) invites a trained/certified spiritual director to accompany him/her in their quest for a richer, fuller spiritual life with God — and God, as the Third Person, is always present and attentive.
He desires relationship with both the one seeking and the one directing. His love is for all! My spiritual director prays with me and for me. In our one-hour sessions, we begin by asking the Holy Spirit to be present and to guide us. My director then listens to me as I share my life’s ups and downs since our last meeting and the blessings and trials of my daily prayer in that same time frame.
How did you know you needed a spiritual director? I found myself yearning for more than casual — even good — conversations about the Lord. My heart wanted to talk to someone who had walked (or was walking) the same path toward holiness and could help me understand what I was experiencing, what the Lord may be asking of me. That is when I knew a spiritual director was what I needed.
Molly Walchuk
St. Joseph, Conway
What is spiritual direction, and what role does your spiritual director play in your spiritual growth? Spiritual direction is a ministry of companionship as I search for God’s action and direction on my life’s path. My spiritual director gives me her deep listening and her prayers to help guide me to what the Lord is truly calling me to do and be.
How did you know you needed a spiritual director? Being kind of a literary nerd, I usually turned to books — many of them the spiritual classics of Catholic saints, which were very helpful; however, I longed for a real person to connect with and particularly a woman and mother. The Lord answered my plea when one day (maybe 13 years ago), at Debbie Eckert’s hair salon, she told me that she knew someone who was in the practicum phase of spiritual direction school who needed a directee.
How have you benefited from spiritual direction? My spiritual journey is so much richer for the time I’ve spent in direction. My prayer life is deeper and more vibrant. I am more confident and trusting in my experience of the Lord’s love, care and guidance in all areas of my life.
How has spiritual direction helped you to discern God’s voice? By listening with a prayerful heart, asking gentle questions and encouraging me to always look deeper and not to hesitate to seek the “more” that the Lord is anxious to give.
For more information, call the Office of Spiritual Direction at (501) 664-0340.
