I want to summarize a few points here on the way to perfection. As readers have followed this series, I hope these points resonate.
1) All Catholics are called to the way of perfection;
2) the call to perfection is a call to all those Catholics who are baptized, no matter what the age;
3) the call to perfection has stages which cannot be skipped, as these reflect the spiritual, psychological, and physical growth of the person;
4) one must start with being orthodox, that is, an obedient son or daughter of the Church;
5) the sacraments are key to the reception of sanctifying grace, necessary for the road through purification, to illumination, to perfection;
6) the road to perfection is the natural way for the each Catholic; purgatory is not the goal, heaven is the goal;
7) God offers all of us these graces and those who are generous respond to this call of Love;
8) all of the saints and all the Doctors of the Church knew and experienced these three stages; they also, as seen in my series on the Doctors of the Church, wrote about these, as did, of course, Garrigou-Lagrange;
9) Christ the Bridegroom calls us to the stages of understanding that each one of us must experience, as explained, for example, by Bernard of Clairvaux; these stages are knowing one is a child of a loving Father; that one is the student of the Master, Christ; and finally, one is the beloved of the Bridegroom;
10) the virtues and gifts given in the sacraments are freed up though purification and brought to fruition;
11) only when one pursues perfection and allows God to purify one does that person finally do work of God, and not the work of one's self-will;
12) the way of perfection is suffering, period;
13) prayer is a necessity, starting with meditation and moving to contemplation;
14) patience and humility must counteract anger, complaining, and spiritual pride.
I hope you ask questions in the comment box set up yesterday for Q and A.
