Where are you on the path: Purgative Way → Active purification of the senses → Spiritual age 6
What happens in the soul?
Faith acquires a new firmness.
The soul may have always believed in God, but now that faith stops relying solely on what has been learned and is strengthened through a personal encounter with the Good Lord.
Often this happens precisely when one’s self-sufficiency reaches its limit: there is a problem that can no longer be solved with one’s own strength alone and, in the midst of that situation, God intervenes in a way that leaves in the soul a certainty that is difficult to remove.
God exists. He is present. And He loves me.
The action of the Good Lord
God grants the soul an internal guarantee of the soul’s presence and His love.
This experience does not eliminate difficulties, but it changes the way we go through them: we are no longer faced with the problem alone, but with the problem accompanied by God.
How does the soul respond?
Confidence grows.
The trials begin to be faced with greater serenity and a new ability to resist without despair appears.
Faith begins to produce stable fruits in character, particularly strength and temperance.
The prayer
The previous forms of prayer continue, now sustained by a much firmer personal faith, born of an experience of the presence and love of the Good Lord.
Signs that may accompany this age
• Firm certainty of the existence of God.
• Personal awareness of feeling loved by Him.
• Greater strength in the face of difficulties.
• Growth of temperance.
• Greater serenity in the face of suffering.
• Decreased self-sufficiency.
A phrase to remember
“I know The soul exists and I know The soul loves me.”
Where does it lead
With an increasingly firm faith, the soul is prepared for a deeper transformation. Up to this point you have actively collaborated in ordering many of your behaviors and desires. Now the Good Lord begins to touch the inner roots. The inner Purification begins.