COURSE INFORMATION
At the heart of the spiritual life is prayer. It is how we best prepare the interior life for union with God. This course is meant for spiritual direction students who would like to help deepen a directees’ understanding of the meaning and kinds of prayer, and to companion them through the steps needed to grow in this union. The characteristics of each stage of the spiritual life – – purgative, illuminative and unitive – will be analyzed and the role of the spiritual director in guiding a directee will be explored. Spiritual direction students will learn how the soul moves through the stages and what prayer looks like in each stage. The course presents both the biblical history and the development in the Christian tradition of various approaches to the spiritual life and growth in prayer. Specifically, the course looks at vocal prayer, meditation, centering prayer, and contemplation, and the various systems developed to enhance each in the soul. The prayer systems of the great spiritual masters, such as Ignatius Loyola, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis DeSales and Thomas Keating are presented and discussed. Practices such as lectio divina, fasting, abstinence, and almsgiving will be viewed in terms of their role in bringing a soul closer to God. Impediments to the spiritual life, such as the seven capital sins, the three temptations of humanity, the dark night of the soul and spiritual desolation will be examined.
Because this course is meant to provide the knowledge necessary for spiritual directors to address the prayer and spiritual life of directees, students will receive a Spiritual Direction guide. The guide will outline the stages of the spiritual life, provide methods for the spiritual director to proceed in each stage, and supply outlines of the major spiritual systems.
Course Code: SC 692
Contact hours of continuing education: 50
Instructor/Course Authors: Rosemary A. Castelli, Ed.D., MA, BA, SMC-C,GC-C
Certified Funeral Celebrant
Certified Grief Counselor
Instructor Resume: Access Here
TEXTBOOKS: There is two (2) required textbook for this course.
Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus. Brant Pitre. Crown Publishing Company, 2025
-
ISBN-10: 0525572767
Link to Purchase on Amazon.com: click here
Additional Reading
There are additional readings which are required for this course. These are provided to students who are enrolled.
TIME FRAME: You are allotted two years from the date of enrollment, to complete this course. There are no set time-frames, other than the two year allotted time. If you do not complete the course within the two-year time-frame, you will be removed from the course and an “incomplete” will be recorded for you in our records. Also, if you would like to complete the course after this two-year expiration time, you would need to register and pay the course tuition fee again.
GRADING: You must achieve a passing score of at least 70% to complete this course and receive the 50 hours of awarded continuing education credit. There are no letter grades assigned. You will receive notice of your total % score. Those who score below the minimum of 70% will be contacted by AIHCP and will be permitted one more attempt to retake the online examination.
BOARD APPROVALS:
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is an Approved Provider for Continuing Education by the South Carolina Professional Counselors, Marriage & Family Therapists and Psycho-Educational Specialists licensing board, Provider # 4637. Access information
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals (The Provider) is approved by the California Board of Registered Nurses, Provider number # CEP 15595 for 50 Contact Hours.
This course, which is approved by the Florida State Board Of Nursing (CE Provider # 50-11975) also has the following Board of Nursing Approvals, for 50 contact hours of CE
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the Arkansas Board of Nursing. CE Provider # 50-11975.
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the Georgia Board of Nursing. CE Provider # 50-11975.
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the South Carolina Board of Nursing. CE Provider # 50-11975.
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Professional Registered Nurses. CE Provider # 50-11975.
The American Institute of Health Care Professionals Inc: is a Rule Approved Provider of Continuing Education by the New Mexico Board of Nursing. CE Provider # 50-11975.
Course Refund & AIHCP Policies: access here
ONLINE CLASSROOM RESOURCES AND TOOLS
- Examination Access: there is link to take you right to the online examination program where you can print out your examination and work with it. All examinations are formatted as “open book” tests. When you are ready, you can access the exam program at anytime and click in your responses to the questions. Full information is provided in the online classrooms.
- Student Resource Center: there is a link for access to a web page “Student Resource Center.” The Resource Center provides for easy access to all of our policies/procedures and additional information regarding applying for certification. We also have many links to many outside reference sites, such as online libraries that you may freely access.
- Online Evaluation: there is a link in the classroom where you may access the course evaluation. All students completing a course, must, without exception, complete the course evaluation.
- Faculty Access Information: you will have access to your instructor’s online resume/biography, as well as your instructor’s specific contact information.
- Additional Learning Materials: some faculty have prepared additional “readings” and /or brief lecture notes to enhance your experience. All of these are available in the online classrooms.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Articulate what is meant by the universal call to holiness
- Name and describe the forms of prayer
- Describe the kinds of prayer
- Describe what great spiritual writers have said about prayer
- Describe how the spiritual director may assess and help in the growth of prayer
- Explore the Jewish roots of spirituality
- Explore the development of vocal prayer in the Bible
- Discover the role of vocal prayer in the Christian tradition.
- Describe the pathways to meditation and contemplation
- Articulate how prayful meditation is developed and enriched
- Describe the role of the Lord’s prayer in the spiritual life
- Examine the meaning and facilitation of contemplation
- Explain the interior life in terms of purgative, illuminative and unitive stages
- Identify ways a spiritual director may move a person through the stages of the spiritual life
- Define the five keys to achieving growth in the spiritual life
- Identify both the Old and New Testament underpinnings of the seven deadly sins
- Explicate how a spiritual director may lead a directee to a better prayer life
- Examine the seven deadly sins and their corresponding virtues
- Understand what is meant by an examination of the heart
- Distinguish the steps and value of lectio divina
- Explain the concept of Jacob’s ladder
- Explain the dark night of the soul
- Name scriptures that describe spiritual desolation and the dark night
- Explicate the meaning of prayer as a gift from God
- Explain the models of prayer of Teresa of Avila, Ignatius of Loyola, Thomas Keating
COURSE CONTENT:
A brief abstract of content:
- The types of Prayer
- Vocal Prayer
- Meditation
- Contemplation
- Centering Prayer
- The Kinds of Prayer
- Prayer of adoration and praise
- Prayer of intercession
- Prayer of Petition
- Prayer of Thanksgiving
- Prayer of Lament
- Great Spiritual Writers on Prayer
- The three stages of the spiritual life
- Purgative
- Illuminative
- Unitive
- The role of the spiritual director in each stage
- The spiritual path
- The Jewish roots of repentance
- John’s baptism of repentance
- Jesus and repentance
- Parables on repentance
- The ten commandments
- The call to holiness
- Jesus and the ten commandments
- Understanding the three great temptations
- Jesus and the three temptations
- The root of human sinfulness
- The concept of the two trees
- Christian antidotes to human temptation
- Prayer
- Fasting
- Almsgiving
- Preparation for entering God’s presence
- Signs of interior repentance
- The Power of prayer and fasting
- The meaning of the Lord’s Prayer
- Jewish roots
- The petitions
- Avoiding distraction
- The seven great sins of the spiritual life
- The great sins and corresponding virtues
- Jesus and the seven sins
- The seven sins in the Old and New Testaments
- Remedies for the seven great sins
- Prayer and the Examination of the Heart
- The trees of life and evil
- The examination of conscience
- Lectio Divina
- Jacob’s ladder
- Perseverance in prayer
- Jesus and the battle of prayer
- Parables about perseverance in prayer
- The dark night of the soul
- Origins of the concept
- Scripture and the concept of the dark night
- Specific systems and models of prayer
- Lectio Divina
- The mansions of St. Teresa of Avila
- The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola
- The Examen
- The model for centering prayer by Thomas Keating
- The Role of the spiritual director in facilitating growth in prayer and spiritual life
- What the director must look for
- What the director should avoid
- Questions that help guide a directee through spiritual stages