"Then JESUS called the people and HIS disciples, and said, 'If you want to follow ME, deny yourself; take up your cross and follow ME. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you lose your life for MY sake, and for the sake of the gospel, you will save it.'" - Mark 8:34-35
(JESUS tells us that to follow HIM is to follow the same path that took HIM to the cross. To reach maturity it is necessary to renounce our life; in other words, we must risk ourselves for something noble instead of being concerned about our own future; we must find a life-style that will help us excel in the way of love; and we must accept that our life may be a failure according to others' way of thinking [Luke 17:33; John 12:23-25].
Taking up our cross by accepting freely the sacrifices that the FATHER sends each day, we receive from that moment something even more marvelous than what was sacrificed: inner freedom and more profound happiness [Mark 10:30].
Think of what JESUS says: from ME, for ME, and not: from GOD, for GOD. For GOD has come in the person of JESUS to knock on our door and to propose to us very specific commitments.)
