our kind sponsors.
The Fifty-Sixth Chapter
WE OUGHT TO DENY OURSELVES AND IMITATE CHRIST THROUGH BEARING THE CROSS
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
MY CHILD, the more you depart from yourself, the more you will be able to enter
into Me. As the giving up of exterior things brings interior peace, so the
forsaking of self unites you to God. I will have you learn perfect surrender to
My will, without contradiction or complaint.
Follow Me. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Without the Way, there is no
going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no
living. I am the Way which you must follow, the Truth which you must believe,
the Life for which you must hope. I am the inviolable Way, the infallible Truth,
the unending Life. I am the Way that is straight, the supreme Truth, the Life
that is true, the blessed, the uncreated Life. If you abide in My Way you shall
know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free, and you shall attain life
everlasting.
If you wish to enter into life, keep My commandments. If you will know the
truth, believe in Me. If you will be perfect, sell all. If you will be My
disciple, deny yourself. If you will possess the blessed life, despise this
present life. If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth. If you
wish to reign with Me, carry the Cross with Me. For only the servants of the
Cross find the life of blessedness and of true light.
THE DISCIPLE
Lord Jesus, because Your way is narrow and despised by the world, grant that I
may despise the world and imitate You. For the servant is not greater than his
Lord, nor the disciple above the Master. Let Your servant be trained in Your
life, for there is my salvation and true holiness. Whatever else I read or hear
does not fully refresh or delight me.
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
My child, now that you know these things and have read them all, happy will you
be if you do them. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that
loves Me. And I will love him and will show Myself to him, and will bring it
about that he will sit down with Me in My Father's Kingdom.
THE DISCIPLE
Lord Jesus, as You have said, so be it, and what You have promised, let it be my
lot to win. I have received the cross, from Your hand I have received it. I will
carry it, carry it even unto death as You have laid it upon me. Truly, the life
of a good religious man is a cross, but it leads to paradise. We have begun --
we may not go back, nor may we leave off.
Take courage, brethren, let us go forward together and Jesus will be with us.
For Jesus' sake we have taken this cross. For Jesus' sake let us persevere with
it. He will be our help as He is also our leader and guide. Behold, our King
goes before us and will fight for us. Let us follow like men. Let no man fear
any terrors. Let us be prepared to meet death valiantly in battle. Let us not
suffer our glory to be blemished by fleeing from the Cross.
