Spiritual Direction for the Unmarried within the Nigerian Socio-cultural Context

Abstract

This article seeks to study what should be the nature of spiritual direction for the unmarried within the Nigerian socio-cultural context. The unmarried meant are those who have attained the age of marriage, and desire to marry yet are not able to meet this desire. The article tried to study the situation of this unmarried people from Nigerian socio-cultural, as well as theological perspective. These provided a clear understanding of their situation from both perspectives and a clue to what should be the nature of spiritual direction for them. From the former, the unmarried feels out of place and suffers a lack of identity. But from the latter, they have a recognizable position before God. Having studied the meaning of spiritual direction in general, the article made some recommendations that helped in dening the nature of the spiritual direction needed. The proposed nature of spiritual direction for the unmarried is one that has good space for counselling while maintaining its goal of deepening their relationship with God or guiding souls to perfect union with God.