Corpus Christi Blog

We've reached the third and final installment of this series about the Three Ways, in which a person moves through phases on a path to holiness, each phase bringing them closer to God and sainthood. The first phase, the purgative way, involves purifying your internal and external senses with mortifications and purging sin and attachments while cultivating the opposite virtues. Entering this phase requires a person to make intentional decisions that necessitate commitment, and the process of purgation can be frustrating and painful as individuals detach from worldly goods for the sake of higher spiritual goods.

Last week, I began a series about “The Three Ways” – a practical process for growing in holiness and becoming a saint. Those who undertake this path will not only move through each of the three phases consecutively as they mature spiritually but also concurrently, as one can never be removed entirely from the foundational principles.

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt 4:48)

Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that we all are called to live a life of holiness, which means that we ought to intentionally strive to be saints daily. Of course, the temptation is to look at one's own life and think that obtaining the level of perfection and holiness of the Church's canonized saints is incredibly difficult, if not altogether impossible. If we decide we want to take this call to holiness seriously, we may still need help to answer it in the practical sense. Fortunately, the Church has a roadmap for our path to holiness called “The Three Ways,” which I will explain over the next three weeks.

During this time that the Church has set aside for focused energy on Eucharistic revival, I have made an effort to put many of our doctrines into the context of the Eucharist to shed light on how everything we believe directs us toward the Eucharist as the “source and summit of the Christian life.” Now, with the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis just days away, I thought it might be time to reflect on the Blessed Mother’s relationship with the Eucharist. With titles such as Mother of the Eucharist, Mother of the Blessed Sacrament, and Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, the honor with which the Church regards Mary extends to her relationship with her Son in the Blessed Sacrament and is therefore worth exploring.