The Gifts of Supervision
By John Hanrahan
“Simply said, I have become increasingly more aware of the precious gift of the ministry of spiritual direction through supervision. ”
As a spiritual director, I have been challenged by the openness of my directees as well as their desire for God and their vulnerability as they share the many ways they have experienced God and how they have struggled to experience God. Their joys and struggles have challenged me, disturbed me, motivated me, and have brought me to an ever-greater awareness of my desire to be a spiritual director and of my need to be in supervision.
In supervision, I am challenged to become aware of those parts of who I am which can clog up my listening and openness to the movement of God in my directees.
As an educator, I often picture myself erasing the blackboard, clearing the slate of that which distracts my holy listening in the direction space. Supervision has called me to look more deeply “into the well” in my life, an image that Maureen Conroy, RSM, uses to describe the process of Jesus, my supervisor and me looking together with care at my interior directing space [1]. In her words, I “lower the bucket” and in mine, I take “inventory,” becoming aware of my gifts and the “clutter” I carry, and the ability to know the difference between the two.
“What stands in the way of your freedom?” was a question asked in creative, subtle and gently probing ways by my supervisor in a supervision training program I recently completed. She challenged me to become aware of and to process those things I “heard” in the direction room, things that may have settled into my heart, almost unknowingly.
As an educator I have always held close the truth that “A teacher’s greatest gift is believing in a student until the student believes in themselves”. As a spiritual director, I find the same through my supervisor, who has helped me to become more aware of God’s belief in me by helping me to be released from my doubts, my unfreedoms. These are sacred reminders; gifts received in supervision. They lead me more deeply into the mystery that is God, and to a deeper realization that God works in each of my directees and in all of us personally. It is here that I find the freedom and confidence to “allow the Creator to deal directly with the creature.”
Being in supervision is wonderfully humbling, challenging and inspiring all at the same time. It helps me to become “free,” to silence that inner voice which invites me to “take charge” and not allow the Spirit to guide both my directees and me as well. Shedding fears, concerns and insecurities through supervision and prayer has led me to deep consolation in the ever-greater awareness that God is in charge.
Yes, supervision is a gift, one which has opened me to greater growth as a director. It helps me to listen more deeply and to “become free” from those things that have and can make me unfree to be God’s instrument. Being in supervision has helped me to sharpen my “hearing,” to be an observer of the “conversation” between my directees and God, allowing each directee to deepen their awareness of God as they grow into a deeper personal relationship with God.
John Hanrahan is a spiritual director and supervisor who serves as the Dean of School and College Counseling at Fairfield Prep in Fairfield, CT. He recently completed the Art of Supervision Formation Practicum Training along with nine others at the Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality.
CITATIONS
[1] Looking Into the Well: Supervision of Spiritual Directors by Maureen Conroy, RSM, Loyola Press, Chicago, IL, 1995, p. 39.