Jean Khoury
Summary: This article addresses a question that arises naturally within priestly formation: if spiritual direction cannot be an isolated discipline within the seminary curriculum, then neither can theology remain an externally juxtaposed body of knowledge alongside the priest’s spiritual and pastoral life. Taking as its starting point a priest’s own reflection on the continuity between spiritual direction, preaching, confession, and pastoral visiting, this study argues that the entire priestly ministry flows from a single interior source, communion with Christ the Shepherd, and that this same principle demands a radical reordering of theological formation itself. Theology, it is argued, must cease to function merely as scientia de Deo and must be recovered as sapientia: a wisdom capable of nourishing and forming the new man in Christ. Drawing on Presbyterorum Ordinis and Pastores Dabo Vobis, the article proposes that the unity of priestly life and the reform of theological method are, at root, one and the same task.
Introduction
It goes without saying that spiritual direction must occupy a place within priestly formation in seminaries. Yet a simple pastoral observation, offered by a priest reflecting on his own ministry, opens onto a much larger theological question. He writes:
“It has become clear to me that there is no sharp dividing line between spiritual direction in the strict sense and all sorts of other things we do as priests: hearing confessions, preaching, catechising, and pastoral visiting. What are the implications of this? For instance, it often seems to me that during a homily I’m in effect giving a kind of spiritual direction to the whole parish.” (a Priest)
This is not a minor observation. It touches the very structure of priestly identity. If the boundary between spiritual direction and the ordinary exercise of priestly ministry is not, in fact, a sharp one, then the entire theological formation of the priest must itself be ordered towards the same unifying pastoral end. A curriculum that trains the intellect in one register and forms the soul in another cannot, in the end, produce priests capable of the unity this priest describes. The present article argues that what is needed is not merely an addition of spiritual direction courses to existing programmes of study, but a reform of theology from within, so that knowledge and life, doctrine and communion, are integrated at the root.
I. The Unity Hidden Within Priestly Ministry
The priest is, before anything else, a shepherd. He is given to a flock in order to nourish it with the food that gives life. The priest’s testimony quoted above reveals the heart of authentic pastoral charity: a man who has reached a certain unity of life, in which doctrine and spiritual guidance, catechesis and discernment, teaching and accompaniment, are no longer felt as separate activities but are lived as expressions of one and the same charity.
This is not to erase the specificity of spiritual direction properly so called, which requires a personal accompaniment and a discernment of the movements of grace within an individual soul. But the priest’s insight discloses something deeper: every priestly ministry is ordered towards a single end, the leading of souls into communion with Christ. The homily, the celebration of the Eucharist, the sacrament of reconciliation, the anointing of the sick, catechesis, pastoral visits, and spiritual direction in the strict sense are not a list of discrete functions. They are distinct modalities of one and the same mission, the cura animarum, the care of souls.
Consequently, theology itself cannot remain externally related to spiritual theology, as though it were merely one discipline standing beside others. Its content and its method must be intrinsically ordered to the transformation of the person in Christ. Theology is not only scientia de Deo, a science about God; it must be recovered as sapientia, a wisdom that participates in the divine life and disposes the believer towards communion with God. As the Church herself teaches and lives, she is mater et magistra: she introduces the faithful into union with God and into the fullness of charity.
II. Christ, the Interior Principle of Unity
The entire life of the priest is called to a profound unity. His celebration of the Eucharist, his ministry of reconciliation, his preaching, his teaching, his accompaniment of souls, and his spiritual direction all proceed from a single source: the charity of the Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep. In this sense, every priestly act can, in a broad sense, become an act of spiritual direction, insofar as it is ordered to leading persons into a deeper participation in the life of God.
This corresponds closely to the Second Vatican Council’s presentation of priestly identity, especially in Presbyterorum Ordinis, which does not describe priestly functions as a set of discrete tasks but as participation in the one mission of Christ the Head and Shepherd. As the Council states, priests “exercise the function of Christ the Head and Shepherd” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 6). The unity of priestly life is thus grounded in a recovered Christological identity: the priest is not primarily a religious functionary but a shepherd configured to Christ.
This unity does not arise primarily from the coordination of external activities. It comes from above, from the depth of the priest’s communion with Christ and his docility to the Holy Spirit. It is insofar as the priest is interiorly conformed to the Shepherd that his various actions become expressions of a single pastoral charity. The Eucharist he celebrates, the absolution he gives in confession, the Word he proclaims, the teaching he offers, the counsel he gives in spiritual direction, and his pastoral presence among the faithful are not merely different functions juxtaposed alongside one another. They are manifestations of one and the same life received from Christ. Christ himself is the principle of unity: it is not the priest who first unifies his ministry, but Christ who unifies the priest from within.
This is why the deepest foundation of the cura animarum is not pastoral technique but sanctity. The more the priest lives in communion with Christ and in docility to the Holy Spirit, the more his entire ministry becomes transparent to the action of Christ the Shepherd. His words become more than instruction, his preaching more than teaching, his accompaniment more than counsel. All becomes participatory in Christ’s own pastoral activity. This resonates strongly with Pastores Dabo Vobis, where John Paul II insists that priestly ministry flows from configuration to Christ rather than from functional competence alone: the priest is made pastor because he participates in the life and charity of the Good Shepherd.
The exercise of priestly charity consists, then, in offering truly life-giving nourishment to those entrusted to him. The bread of this charity is the cura animarum itself: to lead souls towards God by communicating what truly sustains divine life within them. As Christ gives the bread of his Word — “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (Jn 6:63) — so the priest, united to Christ and transformed by the Holy Spirit, becomes an instrument through whom this same Word is communicated to the Church. The priest does not merely transmit doctrinal content; he participates in Christ’s own living address to his people. This is illuminated also by Christ’s prayer in John 17: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word” (Jn 17:20). The apostolic word is fruitful because it is intended to be a transparent participation in Christ’s own Word, made effective in the power of the Spirit. Thus priestly charity takes the form of shepherding charity: the charity of Christ the Shepherd, who feeds his flock not with human wisdom alone, but with the very life of God, drawing the faithful into communion with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
III. The Radical Reform Theology Requires
If the unity of priestly ministry is grounded in an interior configuration to Christ, the theological formation that prepares men for this ministry cannot remain unchanged. It is not enough to add courses in spiritual theology or spiritual direction to an otherwise unaltered curriculum, as though wisdom could simply be appended to knowledge from the outside. What is required is a reform of theology from within its own method and finality.
A proposal such as Integral Theology points precisely in this direction: a reform of theology not from without but from within its own spiritual goal. Such a renewed theological vision tends towards the integration of knowledge and life, so that the seminarian, and later the priest, may be formed into a unified existence in Christ. This is theology understood not merely as fides quaerens intellectum, faith seeking understanding, but as fides quaerens unionem, faith seeking union — a theology whose rigor of thought is not opposed to, but is placed entirely in service of, the transformation of the person and the building up of the new man in Christ.
Such a theology cannot content itself with transmitting propositions to be memorised or systems to be mastered. It must nourish. It must be capable of forming a new humanity, conformed to Christ, capable of that same unity of life the priest above discovered in his own ministry. A theology that produces well-informed minds but unchanged souls has failed in its deepest purpose. A theology that, by contrast, disposes the whole person — intellect, will, and affectivity — towards communion with God, is a theology worthy of the name sapientia, and it alone is capable of forming shepherds whose entire ministry becomes, in the broad sense described above, a continuous act of spiritual direction.
Practical Conclusions
Several concrete implications follow from the argument developed above, for those responsible for priestly formation and for the shape of theological curricula.
1. Spiritual direction as integrating principle, not isolated course
Spiritual direction should not be taught merely as one course among others in the seminary programme. It should function as an integrating principle that illuminates how every other subject — dogmatic, moral, pastoral, and biblical theology alike — is ultimately ordered to the formation of the person in Christ.
2. Formators must themselves live the unity they wish to transmit
Since this unity comes from above, from communion with Christ and docility to the Spirit, it cannot be produced by curricular design alone. Those who form seminarians must themselves be men of prayer and interior configuration to Christ the Shepherd, capable of showing, and not only explaining, what a unified priestly life looks like.
3. Homiletics, catechesis, and confession as exercises in spiritual accompaniment
Courses in preaching, catechetics, and the practice of confession should explicitly form seminarians to exercise these ministries as true acts of spiritual accompaniment of souls, rather than as technical skills detached from the discernment of grace.
4. Theological method itself must be re-examined
Faculties and programmes of theology should ask, discipline by discipline, whether their method disposes the student towards union with God or merely towards the acquisition of information. Where the two have become separated, a genuine reform of method, along the lines proposed by Integral Theology, is required.
5. Formation as a five-year, or lifelong, journey
The unity described here is not acquired instantaneously but is the fruit of a sustained formation journey, requiring ongoing accompaniment well beyond the years of initial seminary training, so that the priest continues to grow into the configuration to Christ the Shepherd throughout his ministry.
Conclusion
The seemingly modest observation of a priest — that there is no sharp dividing line between spiritual direction and the rest of his ministry — opens onto one of the most pressing questions facing theological formation today. If the priest’s entire life is called to be unified in Christ the Shepherd, then theology cannot remain a discipline external to that unity. It must become, once again, what it was always meant to be: not merely scientia de Deo but sapientia, a wisdom capable of nourishing and building the new man in Christ. The reform of theology and the unity of priestly life are, in the end, one and the same task, because both depend on the same source: communion with Christ, docility to the Holy Spirit, and the charity of the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.
Bibliography
Magisterial and Scriptural Sources
Second Vatican Council. Presbyterorum Ordinis, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, no. 6.
John Paul II. Pastores Dabo Vobis, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Formation of Priests.
The Holy Bible: John 6:63; John 17:20.
School of Mary — Related Studies
Khoury, Jean. “The Meaning of Sapiential Formation in Priestly Formation.” School of Mary.
Khoury, Jean. “Restoring Theology.” School of Mary.
Khoury, Jean. “Theology, Spiritual Theology, and the Question of Method.” School of Mary.
Khoury, Jean. “Wisdom and Knowledge: Spiritual Formation and University Theology in the Christian Tradition.” School of Mary.
Khoury, Jean. “Rethinking Theological Method and Theology.” School of Mary.
Khoury, Jean. “Reforming Spiritual Formation.” School of Mary.
Khoury, Jean. “Reforming Theology, A Call for Deeper Engagement.” School of Mary.
Khoury, Jean. “Integral Theology Project.” School of Mary.