Several years ago I was introduced, by my friend K, to an educational philosophy that many homeschoolers use as a guideline. This philosophy is based on the writings of Charlotte Mason (or CM), who I think was a pretty smart cookie for her day (or any day really). For more on CM, visit Mater Amabilis.

Anyway, students of the CM philosophy have a motto: "I am, I can, I ought, I will." Here's a summary from the Ambleside Online site:

I am . . . a child of God, a gift to my parents and my country. I'm a person of great value because God made me.

I can . . . do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God has made me able to do everything required of me.

I ought . . . to do my duty to obey God, to submit to my parents and everyone in authority over me, to be of service to others, and to keep myself healthy with proper food and rest so my body is ready to serve.

I will . . . resolve to keep a watch over my thoughts and choose what's right even if it's not what I want.

Noble goals, to be sure, and goals I have been familiar with since first reading CM. So, imagine my surprise when I was reading through Fulton Sheen's Lift Up Your Heart one day and I read, "One might indicate the various steps in accomplishing this intimacy [with God] as four:

I am.
I ought.
I can.
I will."

So Fulton Sheen has read Charlotte Mason! Probably not. Actually, to be fair, CM based her motto on St. Augustine, and I'm pretty sure Fulton Sheen read St. Augustine at some point, so I guess that's where the similarity lies. Anyway, Fulton Sheen explains these steps in this way:

I am - "...there is consciousness only of our own existence, and this is egotism."

I ought - "...the soul is aware of conscience, which it feels to be an 'ought': here the I, or personality, has begun to develop."

I can - "...there is the recognition that, thanks to God's Grace, the I can become something far greater than itself. This is the soul's first inkling of the possibility of self-transcendence."

I will - "[there] is an identification of the I-will with the will of God Who has taken up residence in the soul. Because of this special presence of the God in the soul, the body now becomes a Temple of the Holy Ghost..."

So Fulton Sheen's take is more of a series of steps one goes through to attain perfection. I guess I think of the CM version as the undergraduate class, and Fulton Sheen's as the graduate work. I think I need to start with the the undergrad!