Where are you on the path: Purgative Way → Initial Conversion → Spiritual Age 1
What happens in the soul?
Something has happened deep down. The person discovers that the person no longer wants to continue living the same way and begins to perceive that the Good Lord is calling Him.
It may have occurred during a preaching, a retreat, a painful event, or through a special grace. The important thing is not so much how it happened, but what it has awakened: contrition and a sincere desire to change your life.
It is the beginning of the ascending spiritual path. Faith begins to stop being just a received custom and begins to become a personal response to God.
The action of the Good Lord
The initiative comes from grace.
the Good Lord touches the heart and allows the person to contemplate their own life with a clarity that they did not have before. What perhaps seemed normal for years begins to worry the person.
Internally a simple certainty may appear: “I can’t go on like this.”
How does the soul respond?
The soul begins to turn the soul’s gaze towards God. Recognize what needs to change, experience regret and the desire to start a different life is born.
There is still a long way to go. It does not mean that all sins or habits have disappeared; it means something previous and fundamental: the soul has changed direction.
The prayer
The prayer is usually still simple and mainly vocal. The soul is learning again to address God and make a real place for Him in its life.
Signs that may accompany this age
• Contrition for the past life.
• Sincere desire to change.
• Greater approach to God and the Church.
• Beginning of a sincere examination of one’s own life.
• Desire to learn and receive help to advance.
A phrase to remember
“I can’t go on like this.”
Where does it lead
The conversion does not end here. When the soul begins to understand that sin not only breaks a rule, but also hurts its friendship with God, something new begins to be born: filial fear.