In the Illuminative State, two things happen. One is that new energies, wisdom, infused knowledge and goodness pour forth from the stream which is God's Love in the person. God can now "trust Himself" to His bride, because she has humbled he
Can one imagine God trusting an impure mind, a compromised heart, a mediocre soul?
He woos, waits, withdraws Himself until the person begs Him for love. The Bridegroom is like a jealous" Lover, wanting the bride to Himself.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux notes that Christ the Bridegroom, like any good husband, glories in His wife. But, how can God glory in a person who is not pure of heart?
Suddenly, the purgation of the senses and spirit, the darkness is flooded with love and light.
Then, second, God comes and leads the person to the work He has saved for them to do on this earth.
Again, the weakness of the Church is that too many impure brides are running around working out of their egos and not Christ's love and grace.
One "sees" all of this in the Illuminative State. One see one's smallness and the greatness of God. Gratitude, as Bernard points out, is a sign of grace, a sign of enlightenment.
Those great saints who began orders, like Benedict, Francis, Dominic, Ignatius, and John Bosco, were in the Illuminative State when they wrote their rules. They were thinking and acting with the mind of Christ.
David understood that the works of the Lord are not the works of the wicked, and sometimes, the wicked may be sitting in church, week after week, not allowing God into the deep recesses of their spirits.
This psalm could be the psalm of the Church right now.
Psalm 27
[1] A psalm for David himself. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not thou silent to me: lest thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. [2] Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to thee; when I lift up my hands to thy holy temple. [3] Draw me not away together with the wicked; and with the workers of iniquity destroy me not: Who speak peace with their neighbour, but evils are in their hearts. [4] Give them according to their works, and according to the wickedness of their inventions. According to the works of their hands give thou to them: render to them their reward. [5] Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, and the operations of his hands: thou shalt destroy them, and shalt not build them up.
[6] Blessed be the Lord, for he hath heard the voice of my supplication. [7] The Lord is my helper and my protector: in him hath my heart confided, and I have been helped. And my flesh hath flourished again, and with my will I will give praise to him. [8] The Lord is the strength of his people, and the protector of the salvation of his anointed. [9] Save, O Lord, thy people, and bless thy inheritance: and rule them and exalt them for ever.