Love's Purification: When God Takes You into Deeper Prayer

In this episode of our Advent series, Sr. Shawn Pauline describes how God takes a beginner into deeper stages of prayer. Sr. Shawn Pauline and Jess discuss:

• How a soul transitioning into deeper prayer often experiences dryness, distraction, and an increased awareness of their own sin and weakness
• How to tell the difference between dryness, desolation, and depression
• The importance of perseverance, humility, and detachment

Sr. Shawn Pauline is a religious sister in the community of the Carmelites of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus of Los Angeles.


Here are Sr. Shawn Pauline's notes on transitions in prayer:

1)      Transitions in prayer/ Dark night of the Sense/GOD’s Work in the soul 

a.      St. John of the Cross-What God Does…  Dark Night (overview of the DN of the Sense Chapter 12 &13)

• The soul is purged of its attachments 
• It gains a deeper understanding of the vices that it has and gains greater humility and a greater desire for knowledge of God rather than self

b.      Movements into a deeper life of prayer with less consolation, times of dryness and when prayer may seem to change and be difficult 
c. Signs of the dark night of the sense common in the lives of most people who develop a solid and strong prayer life. 

• Soul no longer able to pray with discursive meditation/ consolation as known prior to the time of prayer is gone.
• The soul is deeply committed to prayer and continues to stay so.  One knows that one must be with God in this time of prayer regardless of feelings. One continues to serve God well. 

c.      Perseverance in prayer is needed. Teresa would tells us not to quit. / don’t be afraid of changes and ways that you can no longer meditate as you used to.

• Learn to be still and ready for something new…
• Let go of the desire for consolations and focus on the presence of God  and learning to just be with Him.
• You are not wasting time/ resist the temptation and let go of not “doing” something.
• Listen/be still/ wait.

d.      On those with the inability to reflect discursively, “dull imagination”: “…if one perseveres, one reaches contemplation more quickly along this way of inability to work discursively with the intellect…it is fitting for persons with this tendency to have greater purity of conscience than those who can work with the intellect.” Life 4:7-8

e.      “And so I would never counsel anyone-if there were someone to whom I should have to give counsel-to fail out of fear to put a good inspiration into practice when it repeatedly arises. For if one proceeds with detachment for God alone, there is no reason to fear that the effort will turn out bad; for He has the power to accomplish all”. Life 4:2