Both a reflection and a practical guidebook on spiritual accompaniment, or direction, Light for My Path does not sidestep such delicate issues as: the relationship between authority and spiritual direction, how to discern the vocation of a person with a homosexual orientation, and the presence of delusions along the spiritual journey. Dom Bernardo Olivera also makes a distinction between spiritual direction and sacramental confession, and explores the relationship between authority and therapy, while showing the complementarities for each. Through repeated and balanced references to tradition, the teaching of the magisterium, and psychology, readers will realize how grace meets people in their humanity.
Dom Bernardo Olivera was born in Argentina in 1943. He entered the Trappist Abbey of Azul after his university studies and completed his theological studies at the Catholic University of Argentina and in Rome. Olivera had been master of novices and abbot of his community before being elected Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) in 1990, a position he held until his resignation in 2008.
