Spirituality of the Religious Life According to St. Stanislaus Papczyński 64 as a “mystical night” and he gives us Nicodemus as an example of a man whose “eyes of the soul” were covered by night and his intellect was “plunged into the cloud of darkness.” The Marian Founder is of the opinion that Nicodemus’s example will help others to successfully get through similar experiences, for in the ultimate outcome, “the darkness of his soul was dispersed by “that Light, “which enlightens every man that comes into this world” (Jn 1:9).”111 Here we may notice that Papczyński does not treat the elements proper to the purgative path equally. He omits some: e.g., the development of a life of prayer, the characteristics of the sacramental life on that stage of striving for holiness, or the issue of passive purification.112 On the other hand, he sets emphases in such a way as to situate the purgative path within the context of the entire Christian life, where – aside from the other sacraments invoked in various references – baptism appears as a foundation of the spiritual life. Supernatural love, recognized in relation to the Person of Christ, is presented not as something theoretical or as an abstract idea, which assigns worthy goals for selected people, but becomes an extremely specific reality, revealed and already fulfilled, as described in the pages of the Gospel. With this approach, the purgative path becomes not only a stage of growth in supernatural love, but also a period of becoming conformed to Christ. 2.2. Anima tua resplenduit sicut sol, a Sole increato illuminata – illumination Speaking about the illuminative stage in the development of supernatural power as presented in the teaching of the Marian Founder, it is necessary to point out two main trends of his thought. First, Saint Stanislaus Papczyński is quite willing to call the “enlightened” (illuminati), those religious who obediently submit themselves in faith to “illumination” fromGod. Secondly, the duration of the illumination is proportionate to the growth in 111 IC, For the Feast of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, AHC, pt. 3. 112 Cf. R. Garrigou-Lagranbe, Trzy okresy życia wewnętrznego, t. 1, Poznań 1960, pp. 271-472.
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