The Twelve Rules for (the Interior) Life, According to Thomas a’Kempis: Rules Eleven & Twelve.

Thomas finishes his Twelve Rules for (the Interior) Life by first  offering us the gift of His Cross.

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

And then, after understanding that His burden is easy and light, secondly offers us the gift of our own cross. These are two things we do not want, but that is what we need in order to discover the Way, the Truth and the Life: that the Kingdom of God is within you (Lk 17:21). And when we “do whatever He tells [us] (Jn 2:5),” you know things will work out for our best. It may not be comfortable and it may be lonely but you know that your friend Jesus will show up.

So our run through the Twelve Rules ends: Thanks again, for the idea of the 12 Rules from Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s “Twelve Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.”

Rule 11: Bear the Cross of Christ willingly.
In approaching the Cross we come out of our superficial holiness into its defining shadow. It’s true that we like the goodness and comfort of the Kingdom, but do not want to approach the rough and splintering wood of the Cross. Our

Come, Follow Me

Lord asks us if we want to leave Him (Jn 6:60-69), and many do leave. Our reply has to be the same as St. Peter’s: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (Jn 6:68-69).” The Cross calls us to renounce our materialism and vanities, our maligning of others (calumny) and our gratuitous, self-centered activities. By setting these aside we can begin to accomplish God’s will and accept His commands, His words of everlasting life. And we accept these words with joy out of love, not from unnatural fear.
With these externalities put aside, He then points us to the one thing that we need to face in order to come to love the Cross of Salvation – We must deny our very selves. We must utterly go forward to the Cross and retain nothing of self-love. At the same time we must look back upon this self-denial and recognize that all of our journey’s sacrifice is meager, is nothing (Lk 17:10), and so we leave it all behind and follow Him.

Key Quote: Oh, how much is the pure love of Jesus able to do when it is set apart from self-interest or self-love!

Rule 12: Take up your cross to find the Kingdom of God.
The Cross is the only way to be delivered from this world into the Kingdom of Heaven: we must, therefore, pick up our cross and begin the journey to find this Kingdom – all on the Lord’s terms, with His map, His path, His Via Dolorosa. We render our lives worthy by participating in His life and sufferings. In order to be spared eternal suffering, God will not spare us the sufferings of this time. We will suffer from our self-denial and through our call to holiness. Giving up our sin is painful, but therein is the answer to what our own cross consists of: If you are not sure what your cross is, perhaps look at your favorite sins. That one sin you are always bringing up during Confession. That one sin that you hold tight to even in the quiet of your heart. It visits you in your dreams and you recognize it in the mirror.
Through the self denial of not engaging in that sin, we can learn humility. In our own way, we share the experience of self-sacrifice by obeying God. St. Paul tells us to unite these sufferings with those of Christ (Col 1:24). This self denial builds up our mettle by getting used to the idea of living a life without that sin.
Thomas ends this rule stating that “If there had been anything better and more profitable to your health than to suffer, Christ would surely have shown it to us by word and example.” We now know The Way. Our Lord encourages us to bear our own cross, by saying, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me (Lk 24:46).” We now know the Truth. He wouldn’t advise us to do so unless it was for our own good. We now have the Life.

Key Quote: Behold the Cross is all, and everything else lies in dying to yourself.