Is there a point in perfection at which the soul enters heaven directly after death, or does it differ between people?
If one goes to heaven directly after death, it would be immediately after the particular judgement for everyone in that stage. We all experience the particular judgement, and from there go to heaven, hell or purgatory.
A saint is one who goes directly into heaven at this point. But, there are indications, as given in the series, as to their having reached a level of perfection while on earth. However, there are some saints, such as Mother Teresa, who seemed to enter into the unitive state, the state of perfection, just before death.
What do you think the balance is between discerning and acting on God's will versus suffering through something?
All suffering is a gift from God and should be seen as such. If one is called to be healed through the intercession of a saint, or blessed, as a man was recently healed by John Paul II of Parkinson's disease, the prayer will be answered.
As a rule, I do not think we should pray for healing unless it is clear that is what God wants. Or,you can ask God to heal you of something, or take away another kind of suffering, and it He does not, that is an answer. Financial hardships can bring humility and the destruction of self-will, for example.
I have been praying for three things for almost two years with no answer. But, I am discerning that God at this time wants me to learn patience and so, I keep trusting that He is going to answer those three prayers. However, it is good to get input on such things
Unanswered prayer may be seen as the discernment, and the answer needed, as well as circumstances.
Many year ago, I was miraculously healed of migraines even though I did not ask for this directly, but was praying about something else. However, many years of prayers for a relative has not taken hers away. Answer: God must want her to be in that pain for her own purification and spiritual growth. I am not God. He has His own reasons.
And finally, what do you recommend to help the active purification of beginners?
This is an easy answer. Prayer, such as active meditation as taught by St; Ignatius, the Lectio Divina, or the daily reading of Scripture, fasting, mortification. and alms-giving all are part of the active purification into which the beginner participates. Also, frequent Confession and the daily examination of conscience is part of this active state. Most of the saints refer to this, and The Imitation of Christ is brilliant for beginners.
Passive purification is out of one's hands, as it were. One is passive and in a spiritual darkness, which is NOT depression, but an experience of the purification of the senses and the purification of the spirit. This happens almost quietly, in prayer and out of prayer even as one is going about outward business. One lives two lives-the outward life and the inward one. Mother Adele writes about this. . But one cannot meditate at this point, only contemplate God. One basically, as Mother Teresa said, looks at God and He looks at the person. One is learning patience and the great destruction of the self-will in that Dark Night. It is the final purging if one cooperates. Most times, as in the last two years or so of the life of the Little Flower, it involves tremendous suffering and no consolations-none.
The Dark Night can last a very long time-for some, over forty years, with the final unitive state happening just before death. Or, as in the case of some saints, such as John of the Cross, and Bernard of Clairvaux, one can be in the unitive state for years on earth.