“If anyone wishes to follow my way, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses it for me will gain it” (Mk 8:34). What is demanded here is not merely a small degree of withdrawal from the world, a certain improvement in this or that circumstance, praying a little longer, or practising a little renunciation while at the same time enjoying consolation and spiritual feelings… To drink the chalice of the Lord (Mt 20:21) means dying to one’s natural self – both in the sensitive and in the spiritual part.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross