Final Purgation of the Soul

Part IX of a Lecture Series Given by Fr. Ermatinger

Black Sea at Night, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1879

Outline: Final Purgation of the Soul

  • Prayers and Introduction: 0:00-1:04
  • Recap of Purification of Spiritual Life: 1:04-1:48
    • Soul is Invited into A Dark Place to Be Transformed
    • Nature Doesn’t Change
      • Soul Is What it Out to Be
  • Passive Night of the Spirit: 1:48-2:11
    • Requirement for Heaven
      • All Must Go Through It
        • This Life or in Purgatory
  • Recap of First Conversion and Mansions: 2:11-4:08
    • Three Conversions of the Soul
      • Dark Night is the Most
        • Transformative
        • Painful
        • Longest
  • The Dark Night of the Soul:  4:08-20:45
    • Darkness of Memory Intellect and Will
    • God Is So Close
    • Leaves the Spirit
      • Miserable 
      • Humbled on Account of Its Natural State
      • Understanding the Emptiness of All Created Things
      • Its Participation in Creation
      • Confronted with Its Own Nothingness
      • Impoverses the Soul
        • St. John of the Cross – Denudation of the Soul
    • Soul Is Being Prepared for Union with God: 6:00-9:32
      • All Attachments Are Stripped Away
        • God Doesn’t Want to Be #1 of Many
      • Our Fault That it Is Painful: 7:38-9:32
        • Wounds / Disorder Needs to Be Healed
    • Grace Causes the Soul to See Itself / Creatures More Clearly: 9:32-11:28
      • Painful Realization
        • Better in This Life Than the Next
      • Necessary in Order to Abandon Oneself 
    • Don’t Understand How the Impoverished Soul Can Be Loved: 11:28-13:01
      • The “Old Man” / Roots of Attachments Become Severed: 12:12-13:01
    • Examples: Dark Knight of the Soul / Come Be My Light: 13:01-13:33
    • Precarious Time: 13:33-16:26
      • Temptation to Fall into Despair
      • Memories of Former Joys that No Longer Bring Joy
      • Just “Darkness”
      • Temptation to Go Back
      • Wearness and Restlessness
      • Longing for God but
        • No Consolation
        • No Meditation
          • Faith Is Built on Facts
            • Not Experiences/Feelings:
    • Ultimate Purification of…: 16:26-17:07
      • Intellect Through Faith
      • Memory Through Hope
    • St. John of the Cross: Analogy of Log in the Fire: 17:07-18:10
    • Divinization: 18:10-20:45
      • Eastern Church: Concept of Theosis: 18:19-20:45
        • Divine by Participation
      • Nature Remains the Same
      • Heresy of Angelism
      • Demands the Reunion of the Body and Soul
  • Summing Up: 20:45-23:21
    • Degrees of Love
    • Initial Purgative: God is Generous with Consolations: 21:00-21:26
    • Advancing Dryness: Faithful Service with Lack of Consolations: 21:26-22:00
    • Enkindling of Spiritual Love: 22:00-23:21
  • St. John of the Cross: 23:21-40:33
    • In Darkness and Secure, by the Secret Ladder Disguised: 23:38-37:27
      • The Soul Is a Creature of Good Habit
      • Infused Knowledge of the Faith: 25:26-29:30
        • Not Trying to Figure Out God: 26:06-27:23
        • Secret and New Way of Communicating with God: 27:23-29:30
          • Mystical Charism of Poetic Transmition of Truths
          • Beyond Words and Concepts
            • An Impression of the Divine Essence Upon the Soul
      • Ladder Rests Upon the Divine Beloved: 29:30-30:41
        • Necessary Failures at the Begining
          • Source of Humility
          • Humility Makes Ascent Surer
      • 10 Rungs of the Ladder: 30:41-37:27
    • Disguised: 37:27-40:33
      • Religious Habit: Tunic, Scapular, Cowl 
      • Faith Hope and Charity = Camulfauge Where the Enemy Cannot See Us
  • Dark Night of the Soul Is an Unfished Book: 40:33-41:04
  • The Poem: 41:04-42:58
St. John Resting His Head Upon Christ’s Breast

— Fr. Ermatinger

The Goal of The Spiritual Life, Part I: The Purgative Way Part I — Click Here

The Goal of The Spiritual Life, Part II: The Purgative Way Part II — Click Here

The Goal of The Spiritual Life, Part III: Memory and Virtue — Click Here

The Goal of The Spiritual Life, Part IV: Meaning and Efficacy of Penance — Click Here

The Goal of The Spiritual Life, Part V: Introduction to Mystical Marriage — Click Here

The Goal of The Spiritual Life, Part VI: Passive Night of the Senses — Click Here

The Goal of The Spiritual Life, Part VII: 3rd and 4th Mansions: Beginnigs of Contemplation — Click Here

The Goal of the Spiritual Life, Part VIII: Active Purification of the Spirit — Click Here

The Goal of the Spiritual Life, Part IX: Final Purgation of the Soul — Click Here