The Purgative versus the Illuminative Way
In our study of Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle , we have come to the end of the third mansions, the end of the Purgative Way. The fourth mansions begin the second stage of the spiritual life, the Illuminative Way. How are these stages different? Souls in the Purgative way are beginners–yes, even those in the third mansions. They may be very zealous about following God, but they have not yet advanced very far. Thus far they have been combating sin and attachment with the ordinary grace God gives Christians. They have had to work hard. But eventually they come to a place where that is no longer enough. They have advanced as far as they can without greater help. Then God steps in and begins to cleanse them himself. Pere Marie-Eugene writes: We come now to the souls that are in the first three Mansions, or in the first phase of the spiritual life. To say that there is in them a mystical life would be formally to contradict Saint Teresa who characterizes this phase b...