Two Years, One Saturday a Month: What a Course in Spiritual Direction Taught Me

2026 Graduation: Anndrea, Steve, Amber and Janet

When I signed up for a two-year course in spiritual direction, I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting into. I knew it met once a month, on a Saturday, and I knew it had something to do with different faith traditions and with learning to listen – really listen – to others’ spiritual struggles and journeys.

A Rhythm, Not a Rush

There's something about meeting only once a month that changes the texture of learning. Instead of racing through material, the course unfolded slowly, giving each topic room to settle before the next one arrived. Each participant was encouraged to find their own Spiritual Director for the duration, and in between each session we were paired with another person to discuss our experiences. Journaling was encouraged. Our Saturdays together were built around didactic presentations — deep dives into different faith traditions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism), the mechanics and meaning of forgiveness, the practice of gratitude, the realities of recovery, and the ongoing conversation between science and religion. Each session added a new lens, and each month gave us time to actually live with what we’d learned before returning for more.

Learning to Listen, Really Listen

If there was a thread running through every single session, it was active listening. Not the kind of listening where you're quietly composing your response while the other person talks, but the kind where you set your own agenda aside and simply make room for someone else's story. We practiced this frequently — with, with partners, in small groups at an overnight retreat — until it stopped being a technique and started becoming a posture. That shift, from listening to respond to listening to receive, is probably the single most transferable skill the course provides.

More Than a Credential

The course exists, in part, to prepare people who feel called to become spiritual companions — to sit with others as they explore their own inner and spiritual lives. But it is also something more than professional preparation. It becomes a container for connection. The people in my cohort were all, in their own ways, on a journey toward deeper spiritual awareness, and the monthly gathering became a safe place to be honest about where that journey was actually taking us — the doubts, the breakthroughs, the ordinary struggles in between. Over two years, classmates became companions in the truest sense: people who held space for each other, month after month, without judgment.

What Stays With Me

Two years is long enough for real trust to form, and short enough that it still feels recent. What I carry forward isn't just knowledge about different traditions or theories — it's the practiced habit of presence. The course didn't just teach me about spiritual direction; it let me experience, firsthand, what it feels like to be truly listened to, and to offer that same gift to someone else. That, more than any single lecture, is what a Saturday a month for two years gave me.

By Steve Duson 2026 Graduate