Taking Up Our Cross

While we, on our side, labor for these two ends by the means which he has placed at our disposal.

The crosses finish the work;  without them it would be imperfect.

The reason of this is clear.  Self cannot kill itself;  the blow must be struck from elsewhere, and self must rest passive in receiving it.

As long as I act I live;  I shall mortify myself in vain, I shall not succeed in dying spiritually by my own efforts.

God must do this for me.  He must act within me, and the fire of his love must consume the victim.

There are so many different kinds of crosses that it is impossible to enumerate them all;  and the same crosses are capable of infinite variety.

They change according to different characters, different circumstances, different degrees.  Some are simply painful, some are humiliating, other unite humiliation to pain.

Some assail a man in his worldly possessions, in those who are dear to him, in his health, in his honor, even in his life.

Others assail him in his spiritual interests, in that which touches his conscience, in that which concerns his eternal salvation; and these are undoubtedly the most frequent, the most destructive, and the most difficult to bear ...

All have an effect upon us which inward mortification is unable to produce, and without them we cannot expect to attain to an eminent degree of holiness.