The Duty of Self-Denial

If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ~Luke 9:23

He bids you take up your cross; therefore accept the daily opportunities which occur of yielding to others, when you need not yield, and of doing unpleasant services, which you might avoid. He bids those who would be highest, live as the lowest: therefore, turn from ambitious thoughts, and (as far as you religiously may) make resolves against taking on you authority and rule. He bids you sell and give alms; therefore, hate to spend money on yourself. Shut your ears to praise, when it grows loud: set your face like a flint, when the world ridicules, and smile at its threats. Learn to master your heart, when it would burst forth into vehemence, or prolong a barren sorrow, or dissolve into unseasonable tenderness. Curb your tongue, and turn away your eye, lest you fall into temptation. Avoid the dangerous air which relaxes you, and brace yourself upon the heights. Be up at prayer "a great while before day," and seek the true, your only Bridegroom, "by night on your bed." So shall self-denial become natural to you, and a change come over you, gently and imperceptibly; and, like Jacob, you will lie down in the waste, and will soon see Angels, and a way opened for you into heaven.

~Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman
Parochial and Plain Sermons: Sermon 7, The Duty of Self-Denial

Dearest Jesus, my true and only Bridegroom, strengthen me anew to take up my cross this day and to follow You into life everlasting. Let me learn from You the joy of emptying myself through self-denial as You emptied Yourself for the glory of the Father. Amen.