Removing One’s Sandals Before the Sacred Ground of Another

Removing One’s Sandals Before the Sacred Ground of Another

by Maricar Dizon

When I was asked to write about my experience in taking the Spiritual Direction Certificate program from Divine Mercy University, I was a bit overwhelmed where to begin. I had a myriad of experiences—from deeply spiritual to the integration of the theoretical understanding of the human person from the spiritual and the scientific approach.

When I enrolled, I had no idea what I was getting into. I thought it would be some sort of catechesis like a theology class. However, it was more than that. In my journey as well as my fellow classmates, we learned about our Lord by deeply encountering Him in our hearts, and our minds. What helped me to persevere in this course was the presence of my sisters in Christ from Regnum Christi. Although we were all women, we couldn’t be more diverse. We were a good mix of different personalities, temperaments, characters, and vocations in life. We learned from each other’s insights through our discussion posts and triad sessions.

Through this course, I grew to learn more about the truth—the truth about myself and my relationship with God as well as His personal redemptive love for me and for each one of us. To open one’s heart to this gift of love makes it possible for the Holy Spirit to work in us. Where the Holy Spirit is, it is holy ground.

In our triad sessions, we took turns being the director and the directee. Whatever our role may be, the Holy Spirit was present in both the spiritual director and the directee as we opened our ears, our hearts, and our eyes to listen for God, feel God, and look for God. The deep listening for God at work taught us “to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other.” I learned to recognize the movements of the Holy Spirit within my own soul and the soul of others. The space between us in those moments of deep sharing transformed into sacred ground. The triads were a setting filled with God’s presence… in a way, we wanted to take our sandals off so we can conduct the sessions reverently.

Another thing that God has revealed to me in this course was something remarkably humbling; the more I learned, the more I didn’t know. There were a lot of times when I would think to myself and say, “I know this Gospel story.” But once we start doing our discussion posts and reflect deeply, I realized that “Oh, I didn’t know that!” And this was my first lesson of self-awareness. Jesus said to his disciples, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” (John 16:12–13).

As I progressed from one course after another, I realized I have much more to learn. I am far from perfect. Our Lord, in His infinite wisdom, still has much more to tell me.

A common perception about spiritual direction is that it’s about giving advice, being knowledgeable about scripture passages, knowing many saints, and those related to counseling. Although these could be of some help, I learned that spiritual direction is not about what the director knows but what God is telling the directee. It is all about listening… holy listening. Since the Holy Spirit is the true spiritual director, as we remove our sandals and enter the sacred space, our main task is to stay out of the way, pay attention, listen and see, watch and pray, and discern how God is uniquely communicating to the directee. There were of course occasions when my own experience and knowledge came into play but very minimal. The discernment is not done in a vacuum. It was helpful that I had some grasp of theology and spirituality, but the main skill is deep listening.

As we approach the end of the program, it is a daunting responsibility but also a privilege to meet our Lord at a place where He reveals Himself through spiritual direction. In my own experience of spiritual direction, I have grown so much. He is continuously healing and transforming me. That’s the same gift I look forward to give to others: to listen, to explore, discover feelings, to reach a path of freedom and growth in their life of holiness, and to point to the truths and promptings of the Holy Spirit who is true spiritual director.

Spiritual direction is a service to the mission of evangelization that we are all called to be whether as a director or a directee. I am grateful to our Lord for giving me the opportunity to know Him more, encounter him deeper in my life through the Spiritual Direction Certificate program. I am also grateful to Regnum Christi for the assistance to make it all possible and to my dear classmates: Cathy Floro, Amanda Eckert, Kai Leal, Buding Dee and Cor Medrana (the first group to graduate) for being part of this journey with me.

About the Author

Maricar Dizon is Regnum Christi Philippines’ Women’s Section Director. She is a wife and a mother of three.