Of course certain interior dispositions are necessary if we are to make good use of the great means which the Church proposes to all. These dispositions constitute the chief conditions ordinarily required for the mystical life. As a rule they accompany the proximate individual call to contemplation [i.e. entering the dark night of the senses and the signs that accompany that entrance as described by St. John of the Cross]; in very generous souls they may supply for exterior conditions if these cannot be had [i.e. favorable environmental conditions conducive to spiritual growth].
Spiritual authors group these dispositions as follows: (1) purity of heart; (2) simplicity of spirit; (3) profound humility; (4) love of recollection and perseverance in prayer; (5) fervent charity.
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Source: Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Christian Perfection and Contemplation, trans. M. Timothea Doyle (Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 2003), 388.
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