Book II, Chapter X Summary and Analysis

St. John gives an example of a log in a fire to illustrate the way the purification process works. The fire of divine love will first bring out all the imperfections in a soul and make it seem worse than before and it becomes clear how wretched the soul is before God. There are seven important points of the burning wood example. First, one can understand how the divine love can purge the soul. Second, the soul feels its afflictions come from the weakness and flaws of the soul. Third, this example teaches about the state of souls in purgatory. The fire of hell would have no power over souls in purgatory if there were no imperfections in their souls. Once these imperfections are gone, the fire is finished with them. Fourth, just as the...