2006 Conference Papers
Photos and reflections during the Gathering
AUSTRALIAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL
FOR SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
(AECSD)
NATIONAL GATHERING
FRIDAY 30 JUNE & SATURDAY 1 JULY 2006
AT
TRINITY COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
Smoking Ceremony to begin the Gathering
Commitment Prayer
Before we know it, before we seek it,
before we enter it,
thank you, O God for this journey beginning.
In faith we invite you to beckon us on,
that we may be your people
and you may be our God.
We commit ourselves to you
as we celebrate
this Ecumenical Council for Spiritual Direction,
in this time and place
and our ongoing conversations together.
We will risk hearing each other,
trust ourselves to each other in faith,
and await the presence of your Spirit
among us O God. Amen.
When in doubt,
I always assume
that God is at work;
that is, the person is pregnant.
Margaret Guenther
Council Members
Back row: John Stewart, Brian Gallagher, Philip Carter , Robin Pryor
Middle row: Elaine Smith , Stephen Truscott, Frank Daniels
Front row: Ruth Morgan, Lynette Dungan , Jill Manton , Anne Lane , Beth Roberton
The Interim Council
Back row: John Stewart, Brian Gallagher, Philip Carter , Robin Pryor
Third row: Kevin Canty, Michael Smith
Second row: Elaine Smith , Jill Manton , Mary Cresp
Front row: Joan Ryan, Deirdre Scott
Our Vision
Spiritual direction seeks to listen the life-giving
presence of God into articulation with the
individual and the faith-community.
We believe that the spiritual journey is unique to
each person and that God fashions and
transforms according to the secret call within us.
The ministry of spiritual direction is a sacred
trust, calling for the highest standards of
formation, practice and accountability.
This ecumenical Council welcomes the ministry
of spiritual directors who belong to the different
Christian traditions in which Christ continues to
minister through his Spirit.
Speakers: Denis Edwards. Eileen Glass, Linda Walter
A reading from Thich Nhat Hanh
Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow because even today I still arrive. Look deeply: I arrive in every second to be a bud on a spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone. I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, in order to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that are alive. I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river, and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time to eat the mayfly. I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond, and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence, feeds itself on the frog. I am the child in Uganda , all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks, and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda . I am the 12 year old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate, and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving. I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands, and I am the man who had to pay his “debt of blood” to my people, dying slowly in a forced labour camp. My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all walks of life. My pain is like a river of tears, so full it cries and laughs at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one. Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up, and so the door of my heart can be left open, the door of compassion.
Spiritual directors are not
agents, but instruments
to lead souls….
John of the Cross
There
is only one
guide in the darkness.
Spiritual nurturers help
people to turn
towards this
Guide.
Sandra Cronk
Mary Cresp and Philip Carter at the Dinner
Mysticism
is the art
of union
with reality.
Evelyn Underhill
It is easier
to gaze into the sun
than into the face of the mystery of God.
Hildegarde of Bingen
Above all, trust in the slow work of God,
We are, quite naturally,
impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We are impatient of being
on the way to something unknown,
We should like to skip
the intermediate stages.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability –
And that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually –
let them grow,
let them shape themselves,
Don’t try to force them on,
As though you could be today
what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the
anxiety of
feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J.