Why Carry the Cross?

Luke 14:25-33

"Seeing its wretchedness so clearly, the soul senses the infinite distance separating it from God; and, while desiring even more to be united to Him, it realizes that it is farther from Him than ever, absolutely incapable of bridging the chasm that divides them....If many souls are not convinced of this, thinking that they are able, of themselves to do something to advance toward God and holiness, it is because they have not yet been enlightened as to the depths of their own nothingness.

If we are, then, utterly unworthy of God...it is equally true that God Himself, in His merciful love, has desired to bridge the distance that separates Him from us. He has stooped down to us to the point of clothing us with His divine Life and calling us to intimacy. What is impossible to our misery is entirely possible to the omnipotence and infinite mercy of God. He wills to do this work in us, yet He wants us to realize that it is His work alone.

In those moments when the soul is tempted to despair of attaining to God and eternal salvation, it must remain firm in unshakable hope, However justifiable may be its mistrust of itself and all its efforts, there is even more reason to await all from God, whose love and goodness infinitely surpass its poverty and its expectation. In this way the desolation of the night of the spirit will achieve its end -- that of establishing the soul in deep humility, in a purer and more perfect hope, because now the soul trusts only in the merciful love of God."
--from Divine Intimacy, #353, pp. 1065-1066