Spiritual Guidance for Adolescents Choosing a Spiritual Vocation in our Time

Abstract

The author reflects on a particular reality with which the Church has had to deal in the course of its history, as it does even today, albeit from various perspectives and in diverse ways: it is the issue of spiritual guidance. The documents of the Magisterium emphasize the importance of spiritual guidance as an expression of concern for the young and for new spiritual vocations. The documents encourage priests to give precedence to the spiritual guidance of youth. The spiritual guidance ministry originates in the spiritual vocation, which is the reason why Pope John Paul II said: “It is necessary to rediscover the great tradition of personal spiritual guidance which has always brought great and precious fruits to the Church's life. Priests, for their part, should be the first to devote time and energies to this work of education and personal spiritual guidance.” (Pastores dabo vobis, 1992) The adolescent phase in life is a time during which one’s personal identity is shaped in a most profound way; therefore, it is a particularly important time in the process of the spiritual and religious formation of each individual, since at this age one is open and sensitive to growth in the spiritual life.