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 We see that the God-focused fire of charity is crucial for heroic habits. By uniting us to God as our highest good and best love, charity focuses on everything in our life on God, including our habits, dispositions, and skills. In the words of St. Paul, it is the " bond of perfection". ( Col 3:15). Charity sets our habits aflame with divine love, acting as a furnace in which they are gradually perfected. As charity becomes more perfect, it also comes to take command of all our acts and habits. The gradual perfection of all habits therefore corresponds to the stages of the perfection of charity. Following ancient tradition, Aquinas describes the growth of charity as belonging to three stages: beginners, the proficient, and " the perfect". Here, then , I will merely summarize the stages, which can be compared to the way fire gradually burns wood.

First, fire acts upon green wood by heating it up and expelling all interior moisture. Through this " purgative" process, wood is " purified" of interior moisture. In this process, the wood becomes black with charcoal , similar to how a person sometimes seems worse in the first stages of the spiritual life as he realizes his imperfections. During this stage, it is important for a person to carefully consider his habits in the light of faith , to pray that they be purified by charity,and to let go of any habits by asceticism if they are contrary to holiness. The person might sigh at the pain of being detached from a disordered love for worldly things.

Second, fire sets the wood alight. In this "illuminative" stage, the soul both receives greater light from God and it begins faintly to shine forth to others. Once some of the obstacles of charity have been cleared away by purification, a person will want to focus more on growth in the virtues, actively cultivating them in a way that helps him accomplish the duties of his state of life. One will avoid lukewarmness by feeding his soul with the sacraments and the prayer of contemplation, as well as with works of charity. He will also avoid burdening himself with excessive spiritual activities, for which his love and energy may not be adequate.

Third, fire transforms wood entirely into flame so that only a blaze remains in this " unitive " stage. Those who have been transformed by charity desire " to be dissolved and to be with Christ". In this stage, purifications and illuminations continue but in a higher register as the soul ascends closer and closer to the state which it will enjoy for eternity. Here , human nature remains, though in an elevated state, such that the person radiates the heat and light of God's love and seems to be another Christ. In this stage, as the developing saint experiences greater transforming union with God , the Gifts of the Holy Spirit become more predominant in his life. A person in this stage spends longer hours in prayer, achieves greater apostolic works, and becomes transformd into a sort of divine fire.