Why is spiritual direction important?

God desires to communicate His life to all believers, and those who have communed deeply with Him can help others mature in their experience of God. Pope Benedict XVI, in a general audience held September 16, 2009, recommended that “everyone -- priests, religious, laypeople -- and especially youth, should have a spiritual director to help them in the Christian life… and [to] lead [them] to union with the Lord, so that [their lives are] increasingly conformed to the Gospel…. We always need a guide … to go to the Lord," the Pope affirmed. "We cannot do it with our reflections alone.”
Spiritual direction offers Christian disciples the companionship of a seasoned believer who has rich experience of knowing and being with God.  Directees can grow to know themselves and God, to deepen their prayer life, and to conform their inner lives to Christ’s example.  Most of all, through the experience of spiritual direction, the “common good [of] prayer” will be enhanced, because prayer enriches and sustains the life of the entire Church.