Mary Shaffer

Mary Shaffer is a contemplative hidden in the heart of the world, serving the spiritually poor through spiritual direction and silent, directed retreats. She feels particularly called to accompany those who feel stuck or hopeless in their relationship with God. Like the friends of the paralytic in Luke’s Gospel, she carries to Jesus those who don’t have the strength to reach Him on their own, especially women seeking the Divine Physician’s healing from trauma, abuse, grief, or mental illness.

Holding a Masters of Arts in Theology from the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity, Mary has been a spiritual director for over ten years. In 2023, she began offering silent, directed retreats at Bethany Center for Prayer and Renewal in Scandia, MN. Because she experiences spiritual direction as an expression of spiritual motherhood, she is committed to offering it free of charge. She also gives talks and teaches classes on the spiritual life, shining light into the mystery of the interior world to help others navigate it more freely.