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CHAPTER 1 : THE LIFE OF GRACE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST CONVERSION. The necessity of the interior life. The principle of the interior life. The beginning of eternal life. The importance of true conversion. The three periods of the spiritual life. CHAPTER 2 : THE SECOND CONVERSION: ENTRANCE INTO THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY.
- The Purgative Way (Fr. The Purgative Way is the primary stage in mental prayer, according to the teachings of the great Carmelite mystics St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.
- The Illuminative Way (Fr. The Illuminative Way is the intermediary stage between “purification” and “union” on the path to Christian perfection.
- The Unitive Way (Fr. The Unitive Way is the third and final stage of Christian perfection, beyond the Purgative and Illuminative. Its principal feature is a more or less constant awareness of God’s presence, and a habitual disposition of conformity to the will of God.
- Purification of The Heart
- Divine Illumination
- Union with God
The human heart is plagued with sin, habits of sin, that begin in our youth and torment us to the grave. In the Greek tradition, the word for these habitual sins is “passion(s).” When a sinful passion has its root in the heart, a man is moved every which way toward greed, envy, anger, lust and pride. He seems unable or unwilling to be unmoved by th...
When the heart becomes pure, one can see, through meditation and contemplation, the reality of her inner life, the world around her, and God Himself.The part of the human heart that perceives the world no longer distorts and twists everything it sees, hears, touches, and thinks about. When she reads the Scripture, the illumined woman understands as...
Finally, the third stage is called in Greek, “theosis.” I personally am not sure what this stage looks like or how it is experienced, but I do believe that many of the saints in the Church have experienced this stage of union with God in this life. “God is love” as the Apostle John writes, and so men and women who experience this stage are made per...
- Purgative Way: this is the state of beginners. In this stage it is often difficult to overcome daily temptations, and practicing the virtues can require an inner battle because of attachment to venial sin.
- Illuminative Way: this is the intermediary stage between purification and total union with God. In this stage, there is enlightenment in the ways of God and a clear understanding of his will in one’s life.
- Unitive Way: this is the final stage of Christian perfection. A soul in the unitive state has a constant awareness of God’s presence and habitually conforms to God’s will.
Aug 22, 2021 · There are three basic stages of the spiritual life (holiness), called the Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive Ways. One passes from the lowest (purgative) to the highest (unitive) along a spectrum. You’ll notice as you read the first stage, purgative, that the person is already a practicing Catholic, with all that entails.
The Holy Spirit works to transform us “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18) until we are conformed to the image of Jesus himself. The spiritual life is traditionally understood to include three basic stages: The beginner (the purgative way), the proficient (illuminative way), and the perfect (unitive way).
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May 3, 2023 · Stage 3—The Spiritual Life. The final phase of the spiritual journey is at the level of the “spiritual life”. The phrase “the spiritual life” is delineated as the level where mankind’s spirit and the Holy Spirit connect— it also presupposes and fulfills the latter two stages in the spiritual excursion. Example of Mary. At the ...
