PROGRESSIVE STATES
WHAT IS THE PURGATIVE WAY?
Initial conversion · Active purification of the senses · Interior purification · Passive purification
The progressive union of the soul with God is called the ascending spiritual path. The Purgative Way is the first way, in which the soul, moved by grace, begins a process of interior purification¹ and renounces sin, disordered attachments, and the habits that drew it away from God. At this stage, deliberate sin is abandoned, the conscience gains clarity and repentance, and habits and desires are changed and redirected toward God. Finally, the enslaving attachments and affections are relinquished, purifying the soul and preparing it for the next spiritual way.
Its purpose is to uproot sin and submit the passions to the guidance of reason illuminated by faith. The clearest signs that the soul is being purified are sincere sorrow for sin, a constant struggle against imperfections, a sincere desire to please God, falls followed by repentance, perseverance in prayer even when it is dry and very simple, and growing humility and charity. At this stage, the key is not the absence of sin, but the struggle to break free from it.
¹ Interior purification: work by which God cleanses the soul of all disorder.
BACK TO THE MAP
Initial Conversion · Ages 1–2
When the Good Lord begins to call the soul with strength, it discovers that it can no longer live in the same way. It may have reached this point through a sermon, a retreat, a painful event, or a special grace, but what matters is that something has awakened within it: sincere contrition and a true desire to change its life are born.
Faith gradually ceases to be merely a custom and begins to become a personal decision. Those living this stage usually draw closer to the Church with greater constancy, sincerely examine how they have lived, and begin to ask where their soul is headed. Filial fear also appears: not merely fear of the consequences of sin, but sorrow for having wounded the Good Lord and fear of losing His friendship.
For this reason, the person seeks help, listens with docility, and feels the need for spiritual direction to provide support while learning to walk this path. This fervor often reaches family members and those closest to the person, who are also invited to draw nearer to the life of the Church.
Prayer is still simple, like that of someone learning to speak with God again. What matters at this moment is not perfection in prayer, but that the soul has truly begun to return to Him.
Active purification of the senses · Ages 3–6
Once the soul has decided to return to the Good Lord, the time comes to bring concrete order to life. A patient struggle begins against what once dominated it. Habits, priorities, and conduct change; drunkenness, quarrels, disorder in the home, and other behaviors that harmed the person and those nearby gradually disappear.
There may be relapses, because purification does not happen overnight, but the change begins to be real and sustained. Mortification helps to abandon vices and, at this stage, meditation on the Word applied to one’s life occupies a main place: the soul listens, looks at itself in the light of what has been heard and tries to turn it into concrete decisions; lectio Divina continues and deepens.
Through amendment of life, the conscience becomes more refined. The struggle is no longer only against grave sins, but also against habitual venial faults; life becomes purer and simpler. Prayer becomes discursive and sometimes meditative, as the person learns to use the understanding to converse with God, reflect, and form concrete resolutions for life.
At the culmination of this state, FIDES appears: a firm faith born from a personal encounter with the Good Lord, an inner guarantee that is difficult to defeat, and with it temperance and strength begin to assert themselves, so that suffering can be faced with greater calm and perseverance.
Inner Purification · Ages 7–10
At this point, the Good Lord begins to work in deeper places of the heart. It is no longer primarily about correcting visible behaviors, but rather about touching the inner roots of many concerns, sufferings and attachments.
Holy abandonment first appears in relation to material goods: the soul learns to trust that the Good Lord will provide what is needed and ceases to be ruled by material concerns. This trust becomes concrete; possessions can be placed at the service of family and the brethren with greater justice and freedom, while self-sufficiency gradually fades.
At the same time, disinterest in the world, in luxury, ostentation, consumerism and the pride that can accompany possessions or achievements grows. Life becomes more sober.
Later, grace allows us to look at one’s own history with different eyes: painful events that previously seemed incomprehensible begin to find a place within a providential vision and a deeper peace with one’s own life is born.
Finally, the Good Lord purifies the affections and teaches to love without slavery, detaching the heart from disordered attachments to people, traditions, goods or ideas.
In this state prayer is a deeper meditation: the mind can no longer pray as before through continuous discursive reasoning, and the soul learns to remain before God in a more interior way, letting the Word and grace reach the deep areas that He is purifying.
Passive Purification · Ages 11–13
After all that the soul has been able to do by actively cooperating with grace, there comes a time when the Good Lord takes on the work of purification more directly. The soul no longer controls the process: it receives it and goes through it.
A great longing for God can grow and, at the same time, the sensitive pleasure that previously accompanied prayer disappears. Dryness, confusion, strong temptations and a desolation arise in which it seems that what was held internally has been hidden.
Precisely there, more subtle dependencies are purified: the need for consolations, hidden spiritual pride, one’s own image and forms of self-love disguised as piety.
In daily life, these people may find themselves facing tribulations that are humanly beyond them—illness, conflict, lack of work, or suffering caused by people close to them—and yet they remain sustained by a proven faith.
Prayer ceases to rely mainly on words, repetitions, or emotions and becomes interior and contemplative. The soul learns to seek the Good Lord even when it does not sense His presence. In the midst of the night, it remains faithful.
When the trial comes to an end, the Good Lord once again grants a profound conviction, a grace, or a providential sign confirming His power and faithfulness: a spiritual assurance that nothing can overcome. Thus the Dark Night of the Senses ends, having strengthened the soul and prepared it for the Illuminative Way, where it will begin to receive new graces and light.