Christian Spiritual Counseling

Other resources:

Christian Counseling Certification Program: The Epiphany is Little Christmas

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling Certification Program: Christmas Season Has Just Begun!

Secular society begins and ends Christmas season to early.  The corporate greed hopes to bring in sales as soon as the last bit of Turkey is gobbled up and once the spending spree and the last return is complete, closes up shop and all sounds of Christmas.  This backwards mentality is not the true season of Christmas.  A Christian Counseling Certification Program should emphasize that the Christmas season extends well into January.
In the Western Church, the season of Christmas extends to the feast of the Epiphany or the adoration of the wise men.  This feast is usually celebrated on Sunday within the first two weeks of January.  In some traditions, this feast was also known as Little Christmas and family members would again unite and give small gifts to each other.
The reason why was simple, this is the day Christ received the three gifts from the Magi which illustrated to the world that the child Jesus was divine; The manifestation of the divine is the primary principle of this feast.  In the East, this manifestation is known as the Theophany or the Baptism of Christ.  Both are different moments in the life of Christ, but both point to his divine nature.
So while many people rush to take down the Christmas tree and other decorations, Christians understand that the idea of Christmas extends for a few more days to celebrate the Logos becoming flesh.  Let us all acknowledge this and continue to show the same Christmas spirit in the following winter months.
If you are interested in learning more about Christian Counseling Courses, please review the program.
Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counseling Program: Predictions Come and Go, But Christ Remains a Constant

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling Program: Christian Counselors Need to Guide People Away From Secular Prophesies

While predictions of the end of world will continue to circulate (even after 12-21-12), the message of Christ remains constant.  While people put their faith in ancient pagan societies, or the prophesies of those whose gift is not from God, Scripture leaves all that is needed.  St. John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote the Book of Revelation.  While the book is full of symbolic meaning, everything a Christian needs to know about the future is recorded in this book.  Christian Counselors need to direct their spiritual children away from anything else not from God.
It is true, God does send prophets to help us understand the Book of Revelation and the end times, but God does not want his children continually worrying about the end.  He wants us to live a holy life today and not worry about tomorrow.  How many Christians, who are urged by sinful curiosity, seek the advice of mediums or other fortune tellers?
Christ is very clear.  He states that only the Father knows the day and the time when the world will end.  So while throughout the centuries we see people expecting Christ to return,, whether in the year 1000 AD or 2000 AD or in the form of some obscure native prophecy, Christians should take heart and not lose sleep over doomsday prophesies.  Instead they should focus on today and try to become better Christians so when the day does ultimately come when Christ returns in all his glory, then we will be prepared and not taken off guard.
If you are interested in learning more about AIHCP’s Christian Counseling Program, then please review it.

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counseling Education: The Incarnation: Divinity on Earth

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling Education: The Divine Element of the Incarnation

In the previous blog, we reviewed for Christian Counselors and other members of the faithful the central importance of the Logos becoming fully human.  In this segment, I would like to delve deeper into Christ’s divine nature.  This is the second piece of the puzzle to the central dogma of the Incarnation.  If Christ is only a man and not divine, then our religion is just a social philosophy on life without any true redeeming value.  Christian Counseling must emphasize both the divine and the human elements of Christ.

The Logos Became Man But Retained His Divine Nature

The phrase above is key.  The apostles and early Church emphasized that Christ was also God.  The Apostles and Nicene Creeds all emphatically exclaimed this doctrine.  Unlike the modernists and followers of Bultmann, there is no mythical language in these creeds but concrete statements of faith.
The Incarnation loses all spiritual value if Christ is merely a man born with the spirit of God.  Instead as Scripture and later the Church councils definitively proclaim, Christ retained his divine nature while adding upon a human nature.  Or as St. John so poetically writes, “The Logos became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us”.
Hence Christmas is not just the birth of a holy man or prophet who displayed the spirit of God but actually is the Logos Who has fused his nature with Jesus Christ to become both God and man.  Doubters and those without faith can deny the truth, but Christians are blessed with the gift of faith to see beyond the mere eyes of Jesus.  The believer understands that beyond those eyes is the King and Creator of the universe.

Heresies Against the Divinity of Christ

There are many heresies against the divinity of Christ.  From mere atheism and agnosticism to formal religions such as Islam and Judaism which formally reduce Christ to a mere man.  However, the most alarming heresy against the divinity of Christ and the miracle of the Incarnation stems from within.  Since the late Nineteenth Century, a Modernist movement has swept within the Church.  Amazingly, priests as Alfred Louisy and George Tyrell were among the first Catholics to deny the divinity of Christ.  These early modernists were condemned by St. Pope Pius X in his encyclical, “Pascendi“.  His holiness openly called these priests, wolves in sheep clothing and boldly stated, it is time to show the world who these men truly are, men who are badly disguised.
The modernist movement was far from just a Catholic event, it spilled into every venue of Christianity.  Rudolph Bultmann arrogantly defiled Scripture as he attempted to demytholize it. Obviously, Christ’s divinity was among the first to go in his ungodly enterprise.  Following in this great heretics wake, were supposed scholars who attempted to define what was ‘true’ and what was ‘false’ in the Bible.  This group became known as the Jesus Seminar.  There quest was for the historical Jesus and not the Jesus of faith.  As Christians we all know there is no such division for the Jesus of history is the Jesus of faith–Emmaneul–God is with us!
The current field of Christian theology continues to degrade as Process Theology, Liberation Theology, and various teachings of Paul Tillich continue to corrupt students on college campuses but Christians understand the true nature of the Incarnation and during Christmas, they give adoration to the Godman.
In the meantime, let us all offer up reparations to Christ’s Sacred Heart for these blasphemies, especially as enemies of faith bombard us with sacrilegious billboards that cry to Heaven for justice.  Let us ignore these pagans and focus as the shepherds did on the soon to be born King, who is our God forever and ever.

If you are interested in Christian Counseling Training, please review the program

Mark Moran, MA

Education Program in Christian Counseling: Christ Through the Incarnation Became Fully Human

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Education Program in Christian Counseling: The Incarnation as the Cornerstone of Christianity.

The central theme of Christianity is Christ and the historical event known as the Incarnation.  Without this event, Christianity would be merely a social philosophy without any theological and spiritual meaning.  Christian Counselors must emphasize the centrality of the Incarnation as the cornerstone of our faith.

Christ Became Man

Emmanuel, means “God with us”.  The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became fully human to redeem us.  If the Logos did not become fully human, then the Redemption could not happen because man required a fellow man to offer to God an atonement for our sins.  Only a God-man could accomplish this and hence Jesus Christ.

Heretical Ideals Against the Humanity of Christ

The Church and the Apostles understood the natures of Christ.  The apostles realized he was both God and man.  The early Church would face heretical propositions that would attack Christ’s humanity and divinity.  The earliest confusion regarding the Christology of Christ and his human nature occurred in the first centuries.  The Gnostics contended that the Logos did not take upon a true human form but was merely a phantasm or a spiritual form.  Other groups later would deny this but reduce Christ’s human nature to a shell without a human soul.  The Monophisites contended that Christ had one nature and his body was an incomplete shell.  This was fiercely condemned by the Church at the Council of Chalcedon and Constantinople in the Fifth Century.  Later, a compromise attempted to dilute the true human nature of Christ by accepting a human nature but making it still incomplete by denying a independent human soul that existed side by side with the Logos.  This was also condemned.  The most convincing statement came from Pope Leo at Chalcedon when he boldly stated, one person, two natures.  In that, the Church accepted the idea that the Logos became flesh and while retaining his divine nature, fused the human nature with it in perfect harmony.  This confirmed a true representation of the Incarnation.  One person, two natures, two wills, but one God.  Hence, when we worship the human nature of Christ, we worship the Logos.  When we worship the Logos, we worship the human nature of Christ as well.  This is why at the Council of Ephesus, Mary was proclaimed ‘Theotokos” and not “Christokos” because Mary while not the origin of the Divine element of Christ, was nevertheless the mother of the person of Christ and in that was the Mother of God.
From this, we clearly understand that the Church has ardently defended the full human nature of Christ.  Why?  Because if Christ is not fully human and born as any man, then he cannot represent mankind as it’s High Priest.

Christ Lived As Any Man

Through this gift of Christmas, the Incarnation, Christ lived fully as a man  (except as Paul says, in sin).  In this, he not only redeemed us, but taught us how to live.  He endured every temptation, suffered and dealt with everyday things we all encounter.  He served as a perfect paradigm for humanity and instead of judging us from a far away throne,  he instead lived and walked in our shoes as a compassionate and loving God.  Only Christianity and its truth gives its people a God who suffers with us!  This suffering was not inherent or deserving of the Trinity, but an open gift, where the Trinity, allowed the Second Person to open himself to us in such a special way; a special way that allowed him to become vulnerable to our rejection but also open to our love.  This is an amazing miracle from God and it is accomplished through his gift of Jesus Christ.
Christ is Born, Glorify Him!
If you are interested in learning more, please review our Christian Counseling Courses and see if they can help you bring Christ to others.  Also please review our education program in Christian Counseling that leads to certification

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counseling Training: The Theology of the Incarnation

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

 Christian Counseling Training : The Theology of the Incarnation

Christian Counseling training should include a solid understanding of the Incarnation.  This way Christian Counselors can not only counsel but inform their spiritual children of the awesome nature of the Incarnation.  Through an understanding of it, one can appreciate the gift of Christ and his humble birth for our eventual salvation.

There are two aspects to the great mystery of the Incarnation of Christ.  First, one of soteriology and second, one of love.  Soteriology or the study of Redemption points out that after the sin of Adam, man a finite creature owed an infinite debt for sin.  Justice demanded this payment.  Until it was paid, man would be under the spell of Original sin and Lucifer.  This payment was a paradox though.  Man could not pay an infinite debt.  He was incapable.  The debt required a perfect sacrifice and victim but man had to offer it and he was far from perfect.  The answer was the Incarnation of the Logos.  God out of pure love and no obligation paid our debt for us.  He did this by becoming man.  The second person of the Divine Trinity, retaining his divine nature, took upon a human nature to redeem us.  In the Incarnation, a divine nature and a human nature become fused together without tainting the other.  Christ is both man and God; as man he becomes our representative high priest and as God offers the perfect sacrifice.   The second element of the Incarnation is love.  While many believe the Incarnation was merely a reaction to Adam’s sin, many also contend that the Incarnation regardless of sin was inevitable because of God’s love for us.  Because God is immutable, he cannot change or emotionally interact with us.  Through the human infusion into the Logos, Christ is also a human person who can love us as a fellow brother.  He can suffer with us, share emotions and love us.  God wanted to love us at every level and via the Incarnation he was able to accomplish this.

 Through the Incarnation we see a logical step to resolve a paradox but also an ultimate gift of love.  In it, we understand a very important dogma that the early councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon and Constantinople taught against the various heresies of Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism and Monothelitism—-namely that Christ through the Incarnation is fully God and fully human, a Divine intellect and a human soul and body.  In this way Christ is truly Emmanuel or “God among us”.  Christ is Born–Glorify Him

If you are interested in learning more about Christian Counseling Certifications or learning more about Christ, please review the program in Christian Counseling Training.

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counselor Training: Joyous Giving and Joyous Receiving

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counselor Training and Joyous Receiving

Christian Counselors many times encounter the reluctant taker.  The person who denies any help or who feels guilty if they accept any gift.  These individuals enjoy giving and are sincere but they forget the joy that others may feel when giving.   As Christians we must be joyous givers, but we also must learn how to joyously receive as well.
Our faith is based upon the greatest gift.  That gift is Jesus Christ taking the form of a slave and dying for us.  If we cannot learn to joyously accept that gift, then how we can joyously give that message to others?
During the Advent season, we see two key figures who help us accept this gift.  First, Mary who unselfishly shares her son with the world, giving up her only son for the redemption of the world.  Second, we see St. John the Baptist.  While Mary offers us Christ, St. John directs us to Christ.  He was among the first to rejoice when, as a fetus, he lept with joy in St. Elizabeth’s womb.  From that day forward, he prepared the world for the coming of the Messiah.
From this, we must spiritually accept the great gifts of God with joy and thanksgiving.  Let us also this Christmas year, accept the gifts of others with joy and gratitude.  Ultimately may we all share the gift of Christ and then spread it to others.
If you are interested in Christian Counseling Courses, please review the program.  Christian Counselor Training is available for qualified professionals.

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counseling Certification and the Faith of the Centurian

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling Certification : Not Worthy That You Should Come Under My Roof

The faith of the centurion was the greatest faith that Christ had witnessed in all of Israel.  Upon meeting our Lord and begging for a cure of his servant, his faith  was illuminated by the mere words, “merely say the word”.   He did not require that our Lord should come to his home, nor grace his unworthiness by entering his lowly home, but his faith only required Our Lord’s word of healing.   His humility and faith earned him the cure he so desperately sought for his servant.
Christian Counselors should try to cultivate such faith in their spiritual children.  Our faith in God’s love for us should be so strong that it does not require visions, heavenly visits or spiritual favors.  The words of Our Lord should be enough, as they were for the centurion.

Liturgical Application of the Centurian’s Faith

In Catholicism and maybe some denominations of Protestantism, the centurion’s faith is memorialized before communion, when the faithful recite, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed”.  This phrase reiterates one’s faith and humility before reception of the Eucharist.  It acknowledges one’s unworthiness but also one’s faith that Christ can spiritually and physically heal our weaknesses.
While all who are baptized are infused with the gift of faith, we still must cultivate it on this earth.  This supernatural virtue will cease to exist in the next life when our faith is realized, but in the meantime, we need to strengthen it with ferventacts of faith, as the centurion did.
If you are interested in Christian Counseling Courses, please review the program.  Our Christian Counseling Certification is granted to qualified professionals who complete the required course work.

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counseling Certification : Don’t Forget the Poor During Christmas

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling Certification : Care of the Poor During Christmas

While care of the poor is vocation all Christians must undertake the whole year, it is especially important to remember the poor during Christmas.  Christian Counselors should lead and partake in various ministries that alleviate the suffering of the poor during Christmas.  There are a multitude of ways this can be accomplished.
First, donating various articles.  Clothes, coats, and other articles of use can be donated to various charities in your community.  One should take the time to go through old and unused materials that could be useful for a poor family.
Second, donation of food is critical.  Many shelters have Christmas dinners.  One can volunteer or donate various canned goods or even donate a Christmas Ham.
Third, toys give great joy to children.  Be sure to sponsor a child or give to an organization that finds toys for poor children.

Christ Had A Special Ministry For the Poor

Christ’s love for the poor was a large part of his ministry.  Many of his parables and deeds correlate with a message to care for the poor.  Christ’s first and foremost purpose was our spiritual salvation, but he also understood the need of our physical well being.
When he fed the thousands, he was concerned for the people’s hunger.  He had already satisfied their spiritual hunger with his words, but through an act of charity, he also satisfied their physical hunger by multiplying the bread and fish.  This miracle would later foreshadow the Last Supper where Christ gave us His Body and Blood to feed our spiritual hunger.
This Christmas, let us try to spread the message of the Incarnation to spiritually feed others but let us also physically feed the hungry and care for the poor via acts of charity.  Remember, when you do a charitable act for a least of your brethren, you do it for Christ.
If you are interested in Christian Counseling Certification, please review the program

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counselor Education Training : Christmas Giving: St. Nicholas or the Richman?

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counselor Education Training: Those to Give

Who will you emulate, not just during Christmas, but your entire life–the richman as found in the Gospel of Luke or St. Nicholas?  With the feast of St. Nicholas approaching and the happen chance reading of the passage in Luke about the richman, I found many interesting correlations for Christian Counseling.
Luke 18:18-27 tells the story of the richman who hoped to impress Christ with his adherence to the Law of Moses.  The richman had kept all the commandments and continued to press Christ on what made someone “good” or worthy to attain eternal salvation.  Christ quickly offered him the rhetorical question of what makes someone good?- And then very quickly reminded him that no one is good but God himself.  This did not pertain to Christ denying his divinity, but asserting that all goodness flows from God and any finite creation cannot attain salvation without that source of God.  Hence, in keeping the commandments, we are not earning heaven, as Pelagius would contend, but instead by the grace of our cooperation, being given the gift of salvation.
Christ, however, pushes the question further to the richman because he knew the man’s heart.  He told him to become closer to God, one must give up their possessions and give to the poor.  These corporal works of mercy greatly distressed the richman for he had much to lose.  His attachment to material things exposed his sin of greed.
Does this mean that Christ is against private ownership or personal possessions?  No, but it does emphasize the dangers of greed and materialism in our spiritual life.  If material things are more important than sharing, giving and eternal life then we have a serious obsession with finite things.  An obsession that could cost us our spiritual life.  This is why Christ firmly states, that it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than a richman to enter into heaven.  This was not a marxist class warfare statement, but an observation of those who hold to material things before their spiritual welfare.
In contrast to the richman, we see the kindness and giving of St. Nicholas.  The true and historical St. Nicholas was an Eastern Bishop of the early church.  His love and compassion for his fellow man was unequaled in his time.  He gave everything he had to his city and people.  His giving became so well known that history to this day associates him with the greatest gift, the Incarnation of Our Lord.
St. Nicholas understood the meaning of spiritual treasure.  He also followed the command of Christ to give to the poor and share one’s gifts.  Do we behave more like the richman or St. Nicholas?

If you are interested in Christian Counseling Courses, please review our Christian Counselor Education Training.

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Counseling For Avoiding Christmas Time Burnout

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling for a Joyous Christmas

The secularization of Christmas causes burnout.  When we strip Christmas of its spiritual value and turn it into a “Holiday” season of gifts, shopping, and over stretching ourselves mentally, physically and financially, then we can only expect a time of peace to become a time of chaos.  How many people lose this peace in their attempts to micromanage every event, instead of focusing on spiritual preparation for the Lord?  Christian Counseling emphasizes the importance of spiritual preparation and a sharing of Christ’s gift with our family, friends and even strangers.
One of the first types of burnout may be an over zealous attempt to give.  There are many Christians who go to church or give just during the Holidays and they find themselves running a marathon with a minute to go.  True Christian giving is year round.  Many to their own agony, go store to store, hoping to get gifts for everyone just to “get a gift” or feel the need to help anyone and everyone to share the “Christmas Spirit”.   We must stay within our energy and budget!  If one has paced themselves the whole year with helping the poor, aiding friends, and showing affection to family, then perhaps the stress to go overboard in the final month of the year would not be necessary?   Are you there for your family all twelve months, or just at the end?
I do not want to lessen the spiritual urge to give, what I want to emphasize is the necessity of not just saving it all for Christmas but giving to our neighbor year round within our energy and budget.  If one attempts to do every good deed, buy every single gift and donate every cent at the end of the year, then that person will experience burnout.  We must also as Christians distinguish between giving and being used.  The saints gave everything to God, but they helped those truly in need.  When our good intentions not only help others but fulfill their own obligations, then we are no longer helping them but being a crutch for them.  Many people need help, but let us help those who truly need it.  Establishing boundaries and having a little for you and your family in regards to time and savings is not against the Gospel, especially when your vocation is first to your family!
Yet there are those who exist on the opposite end of the spectrum who never give.  These “Uncle Scroodges” make it a year round habit of hoarding for themselves without sharing or giving to the least of their brethren.  They are absorbed in self love and the secular values of Christmas.  These people will defintely experience burnout as they jump from party to party, worrying ‘who gets what and who did not get that’.  These individuals will also begin to experience post holiday depression as the festivities die down and the grind of the new year sets in.  This is because their Christmas season is during the time of spiritual preparation and not after Christmas.  Their depression will result due to a lack of spiritual joy that Christ gives via his Incarnation.  They will not dwell upon Christ’s love to become a slave and eventually die for us, but they will dwell on what they need next or what they did not get or the emptiness of no time off from work or the lack of parties this weekend.  The secularism will choke them during the Christmas season as their energy is drained and it will also depress them when the post celebration is over and they have no energy left nor anything to look forward to.
So to avoid these burnouts, enjoy the traditions but primarily focus on Christ.  During the Advent season and the St. Phillip Fast, prepare yourself spiritually with sacrifices for Christ.  Understand the giving nature of Christ and how we can emulate that but within our own capabilities.  Keep this season peaceful with prayer, spiritual exercises and attendance at Church.  And most importantly meditate on Christ’s Incarnation!

If you are interested in Christian Counseling Certifications, please review the program.  The program offers a variety of courses for those interested in christian counseling certifications.

Mark Moran, MA