Preparing to Deepen Two-Way Spiritual Direction with Duffy Gardner in Catholic Liturgical Year 2026

7:18 AM Thursday.

Greetings Duffy, my contemplative Catholic mentor in Vermont! I thought I would try writing you a weekly public letter as we prepare to deepen our two-way spiritual direction practice heading into liturgical year 2026. I hope you don't mind the experiment. Let's see how it goes and may God bless the next year of our interfaith Catholic teaching and learning together.

The first thing I should do is draw your attention to the page on my blog titled Spiritual Direction | East. Spiritual Direction is one of my seven areas of responsibility, and it consists of four key projects: 

• Consultation with Mentors
• Daily Prayer
• Religious Reading
• Religious Writing

Is "Spiritual Direction" the best expression for what God is calling me to do here, and are these four projects the best way for me to go about doing it? I am open to the idea that "Spiritual Formation" might be a better descriptor, and that I might need more than four projects here.  

I put a photo of Hans Küng at the top of my Spiritual Direction page because I imagined I would be following his lead on a year-long deep dive into Islamic studies, but now I am doubtful that such an exclusive course of research would be balanced enough for my interfaith discernment.  

To help round things out, I've recently introduced quite a bit of supplemental reading in Native American studies into my program, and I have also committed to daily devotional study with 365 Days of Walking the Red Road starting on January 1, 2026. 

I have never seriously tried to stick with a 365-day devotional before, but I have had some very rewarding spiritual formation results with shorter Lent and Advent devotionals. Advent and Christmas with the Church Fathers: A Seven-Week Retreat on the Mystery and Meaning of the Incarnation looks like an excellent choice for a devotional prologue to 365 Days of Walking the Red Road. I am grateful for your suggestion, and I am fully on board.

In order to deepen my growth during this retreat, I am considering publishing a weekly reflection on the text, which I will email to your attention. How does that sound?

End 11:37 AM.