The soul in the Third Mansion has not yet experienced the supernatural force of love; this is still a natural spirituality – it’s growing, its mature, it has foundations, but a person hasn’t entered yet into the more the supernatural, infused gifts of God’s grace.
As a result, because the supernatural force of love has not yet been experienced, as a Christian, the person’s love and response to God’s spirit is governed by an often too human prudence; this too human prudence limits the soul’s growth to what can be understood or measured by natural reason or common sense alone. This fault is a huge one for everybody, and priests are definitely no exception.
In the Third Mansion, especially, the biggest struggle is Pharisaism, becoming very Pharisaical, doing all the right things for the wrong reasons. It becomes more about you than it becomes about God. And when the ego gets involved in selfish ambition and jealousy, the drama in prayer groups, conflicts in parishes, all the chaos that happens in the parish staff, and all the difficulties like a soap opera can erupt.
Christians are human beings just like nonbelievers and anybody else. A big part of the Pharisaism in the Third Mansion can be one’s tendency to be attached to one’s own agenda, and not even know it. The person carries an ambition and an agenda that comes from one’s own will, but is done in the name of God.
As a result of this stronghold of egoism – the personal agenda, my will, and my way of seeing things, and my way of understanding the Doctrine of the Faith, and the tradition of the Faith – a person can become very legalistic. A person can become very legalistic and ultraconservative in a way that can limit growth, just like the Pharisees.
Prudence is one of the cardinal virtues; after humility, it is the most important virtue that bridges Humility and Love; Humility and Love are the most important virtues. Humility is the root, Love is the fruit, and the stem is Prudence – a proper understanding of how to apply the truth of God to respond to the will of God; a proper understanding of how to respond to God’s grace. That’s Prudence and it’s very, very important.
When Prudence becomes too earthbound, too human, too much natural reason left to itself, and not enlightened by supernatural faith and what God reveals about Himself and the radical, paradoxical nature of the Gospel, there begins to be a confusion of the Gospel.
SOURCE: Teresa 5, Copyright 2018, Father Robert Barcelos, OCD