Christian Spirituality and Care of Souls

Eugene Peterson says:

Christian spirituality means living in the mature wholeness of the

gospel. It means taking all the elements of your life-children,

spouse, job, weather, possessions, relationships-and experiencing

them as an act of faith. God wants all the material of our lives.

(4)

Therefore, for Peterson, spiritual direction is the "cure of

souls,' which seriously long for the integration of every part of their

life.

The soul is the essence of the human personality. The cure of souls,

then, is the Scripture-directed, prayer-shaped care that is devoted

to persons singly or in groups, in settings sacred and profane. It is a

determination to work at the center, to concentrate on the essential.

(57)