Moving Away from God → Darkening of the Soul → Spiritual Age -3
What happens in the soul?
The initial lukewarmness and worldly life have deeply weakened the perception of God. The person begins to experience a growing indifference towards God and towards sacred things. the person may even mock or laugh at what the person previously respected. At the same time, it seeks to fill the inner void through ever greater pleasures and satisfactions.
How do you live?
Outwardly an apparently normal life may continue, but God occupies less and less space. Spiritual things may seem distant, unnecessary, or annoying to the soul. The need for distractions and satisfaction increases, trying to fill with them the void left by distancing ourselves from God.
The prayer
Prayer is deeply weakened. The spontaneous desire to meet the Good Lord has almost disappeared. Forgetfulness of divine experiences may appear: the soul no longer remember with the same vividness the moments of closeness, comfort or sweetness of God.
The great danger
The great danger is getting used to living without God. The person can fall into mortal sins and begin to get used to them as well; subtle demonic influences may appear.
Signs that may accompany this age
• Growing indifference towards God and sacred things
• Mocking about what previously inspired respect
• Increasing search for pleasures to fill the void
• Profound loss of taste for the Word of God
• Very marked decrease in the desire to pray
• Forgetting divine experiences
• Spiritual confusion
• Getting used to living without God
• Risk of becoming accustomed to mortal sin
• Possibility of subtle demonic influences
A phrase to remember
“When God stops filling the heart, we look in the world for something to fill its void.”
Where does it lead
If the descent continues, sin begins to acquire an increasing dominance over the will and one enters into the Enslavement of the Soul.