This is the last of four articles on the three main stages of Christian spiritual life, as understood in the tradition of Catholic spiritual theology
© Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
‘The third endeavour and pursuit
of man should be to rest in God and enjoy Him; and this belongs to the
perfect who desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ.’ [1]
In the final, unitive, phase, the individual reaches the point of being free from even minor sins and imperfections, with only the most trivial and inconsequential exceptions, and now enjoys a relationship of constant loving contemplative union with God, perfect love of neighbour and a positive loving regard for the world and everything made by God.
