Beginner in spiritual life (Christianity)

After individuals have been converted to God's service and have begun a contemplative life, they are at first nurtured by God's grace. They experience a taste of spiritual depth, largely without effort on their part. They have great delight in spiritual exercises; they find joy in prayer, there is pleasure in penances and fasting. The sacraments bring them consolation. Spiritual people use these activities carefully and find them useful and some discover they are weak and imperfect in the spirit. At the same time they have certain faults because they have not matured through struggling with goodness. The spiritually immature often fall into one or more of the seven deadly sins.

This is the first stage in the Dark Night by St John of the Cross.