Day Five, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Friday July 3

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Fourth Sorrowful Mystery ~ Jesus Carries His Cross

[24] Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. [25] For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it. (Matt. 16)

There are two sorts of self-love: the one good, and the other pernicious. The former is which makes us seek eternal life the end our creation, the latter inclines us to pursue earthly goods and to prefer them to our welfare and to the holy will of God. Hence Jesus Christ has said: “If any man will come after let him deny himself.” (Matt. 24:16)  Christian perfection, then, consists in self-abnegation. Whoever denies not himself cannot be a follower of Jesus Christ. “The augmentation of charity,” says St Augustine, “is the diminution of cupidity, the perfection of charity is its destruction.” The less a Christian indulges his passions, the more he will love God, and if he seeks but God he will then possess perfect charity.
 ~ St. Alphonsus de Liguori