My Top 3

In "Jorge from Argentina: The Story of Pope Francis for Children" by Marlyn Monge, a pre-ordination event is mentioned when the then-seminarian was moved to write thirteen precepts of his personal faith convictions (of the Mother of God, of Christ, etc.) It will serve as his touchstone once he became a Jesuit priest, bishop and later history-making pope. It was a most useful exercise, and it inspired me to make a list, which telescopes into three biggies from my own life journey. They are:

1. DIE to SELF.
This is the most crucial of all of Christ's lessons if we are to stay followers of Him, and fruitful ones at that. We must serve God and others, to the point of self-offering (which will not be to the point of blood for many, but nonetheless, one that is difficult spiritually and will take us to a different level if we decide to accomplish them. It is how saints and martyrs are made, it is how sanctity is gained. The cross is where glory is gained, small and big ones. In daily life, it is best to remind the St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism highlight in its back cover: what is Jesus asking me to die to myself today?

In a nutshell, this activity brings the love and knowledge of God into action, which is naturally not the easiest and natural way, but one which will stretch and strengthen us and will allow is to grow fast in our spiritual progress. Fighting our vices is one way where we can die to self; doing what God calls us to do in trust is another.

In the book "Vices and Virtues: Knowing, Accepting and Improving Yourself" Fr. Alejandro Trillo gives even a way to realize which vices are high-priority (clue: the one which we do most often, disclosed by a table by date on one axis and the seven vices on the other). Once it is known, doing the virtuous behavior or action opposing them is useful. St. Francis de Sales in "Introduction to Devout Life" counsels that we do not proceed until we conquer one link of the vice chain, so we must apply all our effort to singularly tackle one vice/ behavior of a vice (ex. being distracted by tv or internet from the vice of laziness) until it is eliminated.

2. Trust like a child.
St. Teresa of Liseux is the great example of this childlike trust, where her smallness gives great urgency for Jesus to answer her prayers, no matter how seemingly impossible her requests are. I have come to see that trust is one thing Jesus would like for us to have and per the "Diary of St. Faustina" the one thing that hurts him when we do not have it.

A elderly prayer warrior gave me this advice when I asked her to pray for some crucial prolife legislative battles. Because she has a great relationship with the Lord, she simply said, "It is done" and it was!
One regular adorer has this version: Pray and forget about it because it has been answered. The subsequent prayers are now in thanksgiving for their expectant achievement. I should have used his advice the moment that I heard it because I could have moved to other intentions/persons to pray for after I requested an intercession for X. I could have rejoiced instead of prolonged agonizing worry, as it was answered in three days in a most amazing way.

3. Love like Mary.                                                                                                                                               Can the Blessed Mother--the most "blessed among women"-- be outdone? We must love Jesus, meditate on His life through the Rosary, do the Frst Saturday devotions and all other of Her requests, the foremost of which: Do whatever He tells you. We must be pure of heart for the Holy Spirit and totally antagonistic to sin for grace to work in us and effect transformation and credible witnessing. We love as he loved--knowing that for those in the married vocation, we must affirm that our way to sanctification is through wives and mothers. We must rejoice in the offerings of the church, loving passionately as she did, never lukewarm, doing right away, with a resolute and steadfast "yes" despite the threat to her life and the subsequent sorrows--but oh, such glory follows! Queen of angels, confessors, saints... Her faithful Pio in "Padre: St. Pio of Pietrelcina: Testimonies" by Fr. Marcellino Iasenzaniro showed that the saint was all about saving souls (as it should be for a priest), and through Eucharist, adoration and reconciliation, the priest and the people merit salvation. The Blessed Mother who had birthed Christ and is also the Mother of the Church would affirm this affinity with Christ as the standard for every human being. As St. Thomas Aquinas exhorts from the book divine precepts are "dimension(s) that structures the human being in itself and steers and stimulates his development". 

May we all learn to love as the Blessed Mother loves and show this to God and our fellow man. Amen.