The first residency of the training program for spiritual guides took place at Sangamum, Kopay from March 11 – April 08, 2020, conducted by Fr. S. M. Selvaratnam, OMI. There were nine participants from five religious congregations including an Oblate from Colombo Province, Sri Lanka. They began the program with an eight-day contemplative retreat, and then they were introduced to Spiritual guidance skills with a lot of practicum, and this was followed by inner child work so that they heal themselves at least to some extent. This was followed by some lectures on Wisdom in the O.T. and the Gospels, and concluded with the theme on Emerging Spirituality and lectures on ‘What is Real Spiritual Guidance?’ One other aspect is that each participant was required to read a book on spiritual guidance and make a presentation to the group. The importance of spiritual guidance for those who are on a spiritual journey has been well emphasized. The participants were individually met with their autobiographies, and the animator of the program co-journeyed with them.
Further, it was impressed on the participants that a spiritual guide first of all needs to commit her/himself to her/his own spiritual journey. We can claim that this is a uniquely designed program that can match any program on this theme in the English-speaking world. We thank the Lord for guiding us. Christ is the real spiritual guide, who journeys with anyone on a spiritual journey as he did on the road to Emmaus. The second residency will be hopefully in next April-May 2021, God willing and Covid-19 permitting. In the meantime they will practice, and will meet together for supervision.
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