"Miguel Ángel Fuentes has produced a very useful handbook for spiritual directors in the tradition of spiritual manuals. It is comprehensive, exploring the entire history and practice of spiritual direction with a special emphasis on the Carmelite tradition with generous references to Ignatian Spirituality."
—Earl Muller, S.J.
Description
The Holy Spirit is the true guide of every soul. Yet God entrusts the care of souls to human instruments, and the spiritual director must be well formed in the spiritual life in order to lead them wisely along the path to holiness.
In The Art of Guiding Souls, Fr. Miguel Ángel Fuentes offers a comprehensive and practical guide to the ministry of spiritual direction. Drawing upon Sacred Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the rich tradition of Catholic spirituality, he explains the principles by which a spiritual director can help souls recognize God's action in their lives and cooperate more fully with His grace.
Covering prayer, virtue, vice, temptation, discernment, the interior life, and the various stages and difficulties encountered on the journey toward holiness, this work provides priests, religious, seminarians, and others engaged in spiritual direction with a solid foundation for the demanding and beautiful task of guiding souls toward God.
About the Author
Fr. Miguel Ángel Fuentes, IVE, is a Catholic priest, theologian, and author whose work has focused particularly on moral theology, the spiritual life, marriage and family, and the formation of priests and religious. Ordained in 1984, he holds a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome and a doctorate in theology, specializing in Marriage and Family, from the John Paul II Institute at the Pontifical Lateran University.
Fr. Fuentes has taught theology and directed theological formation in seminaries and houses of formation in Argentina and the United States, and continues to give theological courses and conferences internationally. He is also the founder and director of El Teólogo Responde, a long-running apostolate dedicated to answering questions about Catholic faith and morals.
Author of over twenty books and numerous articles, Fr. Fuentes' works have been translated into several languages. His works available in English include The Art of Guiding Souls, the "Virtus Series" (The Particular Examination of Conscience and Dominant Defect, etc.), Stolen Truths, and He Made Them Male and Female.
