Why do you embrace your cross?

(From the film The Passion of the Christ)

From a letter by Saint Paul of the Cross:

"It is very good and holy to consider the passion of our Lord, and to meditate on it, for by this sacred path we reach union with God.

"In this most holy school we learn true wisdom, for it was there that all the saints learned it.

"Therefore, be constant in practicing every virtue, and especially in imitating the patience of our dear Jesus, for this is the summit of pure love.

"Live in such a way that all may know that you bear outwardly as well as inwardly the image of Christ crucified, the model of all gentleness and mercy.

"For if a man is united inwardly with the Son of the living God, he also bears his likeness outwardly by his continual practice of heroic goodness, and especially through a patience reinforced by courage, which does not complain either secretly or in public.

"Conceal yourselves in Jesus crucified, and hope for nothing except that all men be thoroughly converted to his will."