Staff

Tod Twist

(Tod Twist is open to receiving new spiritual directees at this time.)

In addition to being on the Spiritual Direction team at the Benedictine Center, Tod Twist also serves as Co-Director. Tod trained as a Spiritual Director through the program at the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, WI. At present, Tod’s work life is bi-vocational: he works in building maintenance at St. Paul’s Monastery in addition to his role at the Benedictine Center.

Tod writes:

After things went differently in mid-life than I thought they were supposed to, spiritual direction was a big part of my learning to live the life that was actually happening for me, as opposed to the life that I thought I was supposed to be living. It took a long time for me to adjust, and I needed others to listen to me as I trudged through it all.   

Aside from marrying my beloved spouse and being blessed with our two children, the best thing that has ever happened in my life is growing in my experience of God’s presence. For me, that experience of God’s presence comes along different pathways—some traditional, some unexpected.

The central conviction that I bring to spiritual companioning is that your awareness of God is crucial and your freedom in your relationship with God is the main agenda. Noticing where God is working in your life isn’t automatic, though, and a spiritual companion can help unpack experiences where there might be more at work than is immediately obvious. The blessed part in life is that some of the most important things that elude our intellectual understanding can be perceived with the heart.

‘It’s not the age, it’s the mileage’—or so the saying goes. No one ever told me that the miles could end up being fun and ending up somewhere totally unexpected could turn out to be the best thing for me. May you know God in your journey!