Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 2.12

Of the royal way of the Holy Cross

1. That seems a hard saying to many, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow Me." But it will be much harder to hear that last sentence, "Depart from me, you wicked, into eternal fire." For they who now willingly hear the word of the Cross and follow it, shall not then fear the hearing of eternal damnation. This sign of the Cross shall be in heaven when the Lord comes to Judgment. Then all servants of the Cross, who in life have conformed themselves to the Crucified, shall draw nigh unto Christ the Judge with great boldness.

2. Why fear you then to take up the cross which leads to a kingdom? In the Cross is health, in the Cross is life, in the Cross is protection from enemies, in the Cross is heavenly sweetness, in the Cross strength of mind, in the Cross joy of the spirit, in the Cross the height of virtue, in the Cross perfection of holiness. There is no health of the soul, no hope of eternal life, save in the Cross. Take up therefore, your cross and follow Jesus and you shall go into eternal life. He went before you bearing His Cross and died for you upon the Cross, that you also may bear your cross and may love to be crucified upon it. For if you be dead with Him, you shall also live with Him, and if you be a partaker of His sufferings you shall be also of His glory.

3. Behold everything depends upon the Cross, and everything lies in dying; and there is no other way unto life and to true inward peace, except the way of the Holy Cross and of daily mortification. Go where you will, seek whatsoever you will, and you shall find no higher way above nor safer way below, than the way of the Holy Cross. Dispose and order all things according to your own will and judgment, and you shall ever find something to suffer either willingly or unwillingly, and thus you shall ever find your cross. For you shall either feel pain of body, or tribulation of spirit within your soul.

4. Sometimes you will be forsaken of God, sometimes you will be tried by your neighbor, and which is more, you will often be wearisome to yourself. And still you cannot be delivered nor eased by any remedy or consolation, but must bear so long as God wills. For God will have you learn to suffer tribulation without consolation, and to submit yourself fully to it, and by tribulation be made more humble. No man understands the Passion of Christ in his heart so well as he who has had somewhat of the like suffering himself. The Cross therefore is always ready, and everywhere waits for you. You cannot flee from it wheresoever you hurry, for wheresoever you come, you bear yourself with you, and shall ever find yourself. Turn above, turn below, turn without, turn within, and in them all you shall find the Cross; and needful is it that you everywhere possess patience if you will have internal peace and gain the everlasting crown.

5. If you willingly bear the Cross, it will bear you, and will bring you to the end that you seek, even where there shall be the end of suffering; though it shall not be here. If you bear it unwillingly, you make a burden for yourself and greatly increase your load, and yet you must bear it. If you cast away one cross, without doubt you shall find another and perchance a heavier.

6. Think you to escape what no mortal has been able to avoid? Which of the saints in the world has been without the cross and tribulation? For not even Jesus Christ our Lord was one hour without the anguish of His Passion, so long as He lived. It behooved, He said, Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory. And how do you seek another way than this royal way, which is the way of the Holy Cross?

7. The whole life of Christ was a cross and martyrdom, and do you seek for yourself rest and joy? You are wrong, you are wrong, if you seek anything but to suffer tribulations, for this whole mortal life is full of miseries, and set round with crosses. And the higher a man has advanced in the spirit, the heavier crosses he will often find, because the sorrow of his banishment increases with the strength of his love.

8. But yet the man who is thus in so many ways afflicted, is not without refreshment of consolation, because he feels abundant fruit to be growing within him out of the bearing of his cross. For while he willingly submits himself to it, every burden of tribulation is turned into an assurance of divine comfort, and the more the flesh is wasted by affliction, the more is the spirit strengthened mightily by inward grace. And oftentimes so greatly is he comforted by the desire for tribulation and adversity, through love of conformity to the Cross of Christ, that he would not be without sorrow and tribulation; for he believes that he shall be the more acceptable to God, the more and the heavier burdens he is able to bear for His sake. This is not the virtue of man, but the grace of Christ that has such power and energy in the weak flesh, that what it naturally hated and fled from, this it draws to and loves through fervor of spirit.

9. It is not in the nature of man to bear the cross, to love the cross, to keep under the body and to bring it into subjection, to fly from honors, to bear reproaches meekly, to despise self and desire to be despised, to bear all adversities and losses, and to desire no prosperity in this world. If you look to yourself, you will of yourself be able to do none of this; but if you trust in the Lord, endurance shall be given you from heaven, and the world and the flesh shall be made subject to your command. Yea, you shall not even fear your adversary the devil, if you are armed with faith and signed with the Cross of Christ.

10. Set yourself, therefore, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to the manful bearing of the Cross of your Lord, who out of love was crucified for you. Prepare yourself for bearing many adversities and manifold troubles in this wretched life; because so it shall be with you wheresoever you are, and so in every deed you shall find it, wherever you hide yourself. This it must be; and there is no means of escaping from tribulation and sorrow, except to bear them patiently. Drink lovingly from your Lord's cup if you desire to be His friend and to have your lot with Him. Leave consolations to God, let Him do as seems best to Him concerning them. But set yourself to endure tribulations, and reckon them the best consolations; for the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, nor would they be even if you were to endure them all.

11. When you have come to this, that tribulation is sweet and pleasant to you for Christ's sake, then reckon that it is well with you, because you have found paradise on earth. So long as it is hard for you to suffer and you desire to escape, so long it will not be well with you, and tribulations will follow you everywhere. 

12. If you set yourself to what you ought, namely, to suffer and to die, it shall soon go better with you, and you shall find peace. Though you should be caught up with Paul unto the third heaven, you are not on that account secure from suffering evil. I will show him, said Jesus, what great things he must suffer for My Name's sake. It remains, therefore, to you to suffer, if you will love Jesus and serve Him continually.

13. Oh that you were worthy to suffer something for the name of Jesus, how great glory should await you, what rejoicing among all the saints of God, what bright example also to your neighbor! For all men commend patience, although few are willing to practice it. You ought surely to suffer a little for Christ when many suffer heavier things for the world.

14. Know you of a surety that you ought to lead the life of a dying man. And the more a man dies to himself, the more he begins to live towards God. None is fit for the understanding of heavenly things, unless he has submitted himself to bearing adversities for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more healthful for yourself in this world, than to suffer willingly for Christ. And if it were yours to choose, you ought rather to wish to suffer adversities for Christ, than to be refreshed with manifold consolations, for you would be more like Christ and more conformed to all saints. For our worthiness and growth in grace lies not in many delights and consolations, but rather in bearing many troubles and adversities.

15. If indeed there had been anything better and more profitable to the health of men than to suffer, Christ would surely have shown it by word and example. For both the disciples who followed Him, and all who desire to follow Him, He plainly exhorts to bear their cross, and says, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me." So now that we have thoroughly read and studied all things, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.