Spiritual Directors in Europe News

Christmas letter from the Chair

Antoinette van Gurp — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:54:14 GMT

Here you can find the Christmas letter from our chair.

As well as Christmas messages from three other SDE members. (Click on the underlined text.)

The first one is written 'When God enters the night' by our chair, prof. Sigridur Halldórsdóttir, the second, a poem, is from Elemér Vízi SJ , the third message 'Pulse of God' from Stiiv Knowers and the fourth 'Christmas in Greccio' from Aija Kaartinen.

The whole EC wishes you a blessed Christmas and all the best wishes for the New Year.

May everyone belonging to SDE be blessed with good health and inner light and peace, and share this with the world.

EC of SDE

Letter from the Chair: Happy Easter

Antoinette van Gurp — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:49:17 GMT

Jesus Christ: The Eternal Conqueror

May you experience renewed faith with the hope Easter brings.

May your Easter be filled with renewed love for our risen Savior.

He has conquered death and is risen indeed!

Celebrating the miracle of Easter, the beauty of God’s creation and the blessing of belonging to God in this season of resurrection, may you feel your faith renewed and your heart made new with the hope Easter brings.

On the cross, one of the thieves crucified next to Jesus said to him, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23.42-43). Then what is Paradise? Paul Pearson's edifying book Spiritual Direction from Dante: Yearning for Paradise is spiritually edifying. Reading it can make our hearts listen, ready to be inspired and ready to change. “Paradise begins with God's glory”, writes Pearson, “Heaven is not so much a place as a relationship. Its splendor comes from only one source: God himself. He is what makes paradise be paradise.”

Paradise is an invitation to the relationship we desire, whether we know it or not. We are called to remember our dignity as spiritual beings called to life with God in heaven and the eternal consequences of our choices. Remembering heaven lifts our hearts with hope and opens our minds to the possibility of a new sort of happiness.

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him, God has revealed to us through the spirit.” (1 Cor 2:9).

Heaven is not merely God’s home and the dwelling of the angels and saints. It is our intended home, too. God created each of us individually with heaven in mind. Saint Augustine wrote in his Confessions, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Therefore, heaven is a homecoming. “You might not see the possibility of holiness within you, but God does. He has seen it for all eternity”, writes Pearson. Heaven should be the goal of our lives and the motive for our actions. Our souls yearn for paradise. Earthly life has a purpose far exceeding time and space. This world is our entry into a world that never ends. It is a portal to our eternal destiny. Like St. Therese of Lisieux said: “I am not dying; I am entering life” (The Last Conversations).

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20) … “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1).

“We know that everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). We must be willing to stand at the foot of the cross, to take up our cross, and to embrace the suffering in our own lives. I pray with Pearson that every soul's burning desire for paradise is enkindled. We need that spark now more than ever.

Pearson affirms that for souls in paradise, happiness consists of resting in God’s will. Willing what God wills is not an act of self-sacrifice for them. They are not offering up their happiness for God. They know they are being cared for by God and that only in Him is true happiness.

Happy Easter, beloved sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ, the Eternal Conquerer

On behalf of SDE’s EC, Antoinette, Sirkka-Liisa and Ulla

SDE chair

Letter in Word

Christmas letter from the Chair

Antoinette van Gurp — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 11:57:59 GMT

Statue of Christ in Hallgrimskirja, Iceland

Dear members and friends,

The Fulness of Christ

Christmas Message from the Chair

When our Lord Jesus Christ called me in 1987 to offer Sisterdays to Icelandic women in silent retreats with spiritual direction, I went before him to understand why he wanted that. The answer was from Ephesians 4:12-13:

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (King James Version).

We have had many guests on our Sisterdays throughout the years. One of them was Joann Nesser, who founded Christos: Center for Spiritual Formation in 1990. They have a two-year program in spiritual direction. She taught us a song which I have never forgotten:

Sacred is the call,

awesome indeed, the entrustment,

tending the holy,

tending the holy.

Interestingly, many women who have attended Sisterdays, in the almost 40 years they have been offered, have become leaders within the Church of Iceland, taking part in edifying the body of Christ. It has taught me at a very deep level how Christ loves his church and its workers. He wants his servants tended to and yearns for the unity of all Christians. Most of all, he wants us all to know and love him and to keep his word so that God the Father will love us, and they may come to us and make our hearts their home.

We must decrease so that Christ may increase in us until we reach the fulness of Christ. This divine process is the work of grace through the Holy Trinity, originated in the love of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and is perfected through the Holy Spirit - happening through our YES without hesitation. I once met a wise man who said there is no 50/50 God and human being in this process, but 100/100. We must give him all of us; he gives us all of himself. This holy process has been called sanctification and is God’s will for us (1 Thess. 4:3), not only as individuals but for the SD-E community because a community of believers are sanctified by unity with Christ. We in the SDE all have a sacred calling to love God and our fellow human beings and tend to the holy, our directees and each other. This is an awesome entrustment indeed.

A woman recently asked me what I thought about our dark times. Yes, they are dark, but we must never give up. We must fight the good fight and remember the vision given to us that the time will come when our Lord Jesus Christ destroys all evil (every rule, every authority, and power), and God, who is Love, Light, and Beauty, will be all in all. What an incredible vision for the future. What is so remarkable is that this heavenly sequence of events started with a baby boy born in Bethlehem in a barn and was put in a manger. Now, he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the beginning and the end. His kingdom is everlasting, unlike earthly kingdoms that rise and fall. He will, therefore, rule forever, and we are his; we belong to him, and he to us. He wants us to abide in him and love all he loves with his love. Let us, therefore, rejoice and be filled with hope for the future, filled with gratitude for God’s unending love and mercy.

Christ was born, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Sigríður Halldórsdóttir - HA

Chair SD-E

Happy Christmas

Antoinette van Gurp — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 11:42:19 GMT

Christ does not have to come,

He is already here, but often hidden.

Go to your true self to meet God.

The Word is near... in your heart.

Happy Easter

Antoinette van Gurp — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 14:54:32 GMT

Christ has risen!

Happy Easter to all of you!

Letter of the Chair, read pdf

If you want to react, you can use this blog.

Blessed Mother's Day!

Lehel Lészai — Sun, 01 May 2022 15:36:30 GMT

Dear Sisters,

I know that the Mother's Day is celebrated over the whole world, although there are set different dates for this magnificent event. I wish all of you God's blessing on this (that) special day, as you already experienced His blessings when you delivered your babies. For those Sisters who do not had a child, you where blessed with people of whom you still had to take care, to love, help and comfort. I wish you all the best, and especially God's presence with Proverbs 31:10-31 "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple. Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."

With true appreciation,

Lehel Lészai

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First ever blog - scary

(Past member) — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 20:54:13 GMT

Odd, that me, who am quite brave to comment and eager to have dialogues, feel almost fear as I write my first blog entry. Yes, I know this is just a try out pages we are playing with to find our the structure we would like to have to serve our members.

It is strange how different effect I sense for spoken or written word. Perhaps I need to train this a bit more.