Where are you on the path: Illuminative Way → Prelude to the Unitive Way → Spiritual Age 21
What happens in the soul?
The soul enters a very high time of transition. After being deeply purified and enlightened, the soul begins to experience frequent and deep union with God. The soul begins to live almost in Him. Prayer is now predominantly contemplative and a loving and silent absorption appears, accompanied by an almost total interior docility. However, this union is not yet fully stable and transformative. There remain final purifications that the Good Lord must carry out.
The action of the Good Lord
the Good Lord continues to draw the soul into an ever deeper union. Contemplative prayer becomes stable and the interior life acquires an extraordinary richness. At the same time the ultimate purification of the self continues, preparing the soul for the fuller union that is yet to come.
How do you live?
These people usually perceive themselves as happy and serene, but many times they seem to live in two places at the same time: outside and inside. They are often collected and thoughtful. This is not about evasion; the soul’s inner life has become extraordinarily rich and, many times, difficult to express in words and even to share with other brothers. On some occasions they can stray from the group and be found alone, staring into space. The reason is very concrete: the prayer of the heart, initiated and sustained by the Holy Spirit, can suddenly burst in and lead people to interior recollection even in the midst of ordinary life.
The prayer
The prayer of the heart continues, but now it can burst forth suddenly at the initiative of the Holy Spirit and lead the soul into deep recollection. Prayer is predominantly contemplative and stable. Spiritual life can intensify especially during the night. The soul is then led to a deep prayer in which it can receive enlightenment about itself and about the ways of God. For this reason, sometimes these people stay awake during those hours.
Thank you can appear
At some moments the soul can be led in spirit to pray with others. In others you may receive interior lights, deep intuitions or visions, always ordered to goodness and spiritual growth. These graces can make you know in prayer the spiritual needs of other people, even before they express them to you.
Signs that may accompany this age
• Frequent and deep union with God.
• Stable contemplative prayer.
• Loving and silent absorption.
• Almost total interior docility.
• Joy and serenity.
• Deep meditation even in the midst of daily life.
• Sudden irruptions of the prayer of the heart.
• Intensification of prayer during the night.
• Illuminations on himself and on the ways of God.
• Possible inner lights, deep intuitions or visions.
• Knowledge in prayer of the spiritual needs of others.
A phrase to remember
“The soul begins to live almost in God.”
Where does it lead
The union is already frequent and deep, but there is still a final purification. the Good Lord will lead the soul to a much more radical emptying, reaching even the most subtle forms of spiritual self-love. A decisive moment will then come: what The Divine Work also calls awakening, when the eyes of the soul are finally opened. Age 22 — Dark Night of the Spirit →