A dangerous position for writers studying the path of holiness is that scholarship overtakes experience. I have tried to hold back on writing on the Illuminative State, as, obviously, I am not "there". But, for those of you who are on a path beyond where I am, and for those of you aspiring to holiness, I can share the outlines of this remarkable state.
The Illuminative State involves the end of the active types of prayer and leads one into the passive type of contemplation. This type of prayer happens when Christ, the Bridegroom, takes over prayer, and the soul remains in the passive position of the Bride.
Some of the great saints, such as Bernard of Clairvaux, experienced this state, before moving on to the Unitive State, very early in life, of course, and were fortunate in their ability to share in words what this stage involved.
God allows Himself, finally, to be found, to be apprehended by the soul, which is now purified. God can take over the soul and loosen the bonds which held back the complete life of the virtues. The second chapter of the Song of Songs delineates the Illuminative, and finally, the Unitive State. Once the soul, mind and body are pure, God allows us to find Him.
4 He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me.
5 Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love.
6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
7 I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the, fields, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please.
8 The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices.
10 Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.
11 For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:
13 The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:
14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.
Garrigou-Lagrange notes these characteristics of the Illuminative State:
time of contemplation which is no longer active but infused;
gift of wisdom under practical form (especially for those in the active life);
extraordinary visions and revelations attached to contemplation;
One thinks of Padre Pio and his great gifts in the confessional, along with his ability to bi-locate, for example. That he attained the Unitive State is heralded by the Church in his canonization.
Gemma Galgani reveals the Illuminative and then the Unitive State. Like Padre Pio, the complete union with Christ may involve the saint suffering the real pains of the Passion of Christ.
However, in the Illuminative State, one is still not in complete union, or union as it is possible while one is still on earth, body and soul.
Again, I have met a few people who have attained this state-very few. One was an Opus Dei priest, whose wisdom and deep spirituality in the confessional provided me with great guidance when I was in Ireland.
Pray for the purgation necessary to reach this state of Illumination. Then, truly, you will be building the Kingdom of God, allowing God to use you, now stripped of all egotism and the predominant fault.
To be continued....