| BkIII:2.II.4 | In terms of My passage through Earth as a man Christ, we could say that Lent, the forty days that preceded my resurrection, began with a request: take the cross and follow me. That request was not in vain. It was a necessary beginning to be able to take everything unwanted to that ineffable place in which everything that is not part of love is transmuted into love and vanishes forever. When I said, "He who would come after Me, take up his cross and follow Me," it was not an exhortation to suffer, but to take charge of all that exists in your mind and heart that is contrary to love, and to diligently, in serenity and peace, remove it from the garden of your soul. To do so requires two things: 1) observance, that is, attentiveness, and 2) obedience, that is, beginning to let go of all of what you perceive as your will and allowing the will of God to direct all of your conscious existence. |