of the sun, and it is poured upon the soul, though it is as yet
neither merited nor desired. In this light God gives Himself, by
free will and by bounty, and no one can merit it before he has it.
And it is in the soul an internal and mysterious operation of God,
above time, and it moves the soul and all its faculties. Here then
ends antecedent grace; and here begins the other--that is to say,
supernatural light.

This light is the first necessary condition, and from it is born a
second spiritual condition--that is to say, a free conversion of the
will in a moment of time, and then love is born in the union of God
and the soul. These two conditions are connected, so that one cannot
be accomplished without the other. There, where God and the soul are
united in the unity of love, God grants His light above time, and
the sou! freely turns to God by the force of grace, in a moment of
time, and charity is born in the soul, from God and the soul, for
charity is a bond of love between God and the loving soul. From
these two things, the grace of God, and the free conversion of the
will illuminated by grace, is born charity--that is to say, divine
love. And from divine love proceeds the third point, the
purification of the conscience. And this is accomplished in the
consideration of sin and of the flaws in the soul, and because man
loves God, there enters into him a contempt for self and for all his
works. This is the order of conversion. From it are born a true
repentance and a perfect sorrow for the evil that we have done, and
an ardent desire to sin no more and to serve God henceforward in
humble obedience; from it are born a sincere confession, without
reserves, without duplicity and without pretences, the desire to
satisfy God and to undertake the practice of all the virtues and all
good works. These three things, as you have just heard, are