must

     And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
     And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.  For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? (Luke 9:21-25)


"If anyone would come after me he must deny himself (as I did), he must take up his cross daily (as I did), and he must follow me.  It is part of the Paschal Mystery; you must be buried with me in order to rise with me to new life.  If I must die to be raised, so must you." ~Jesus


Nothing that has not died will be resurrected. ~C. S. Lewis


Even the darkest moments of the liturgy are filled with joy, and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten fast, is a day of happiness, a Christian feast.  It cannot be otherwise, as it forms part of the great Easter cycle.
     The Paschal Mystery is above all the mystery of life, in which the Church, by celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ, enters into the Kingdom of Life which He has established once for all by His definitive victory over sin and death. ~Thomas Merton