Sancti Hieronymi

to rebuke and say: Far be it from you, Lord; this shall never happen to you. Turning, he says to Peter: Get behind me, Satan; you are a stumbling block to me, because you do not set your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men. For, terrified by human fear, he dreaded the passion of the Lord. And just as, hearing "he must suffer many things" and "be killed," he was afraid, so, hearing "and on the third day he will rise again," he ought to have rejoiced and mitigated the sadness of the passion with the glory of the resurrection. Whence, having corrected him for that fear, he spoke to all the 'disciples,' or summoned the crowd with his disciples, as Mark wrote, or according to Luke, he said to everyone: If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

The meaning of this exhortation is this: a confession toward God that is delicate and secure does not exist. He who believes in me must shed his own blood. For he who loses his soul in the present will gain it in the future. Each day, the believer in Christ takes up his cross and denies himself. He who was immodest, turning toward chastity, denies luxury through temperance; he who was fearful and timid, having assumed the strength of fortitude, does not recognize his former self. An unjust man, if he follows justice, denies injustice; a foolish man, if he confesses Christ as the power of God and the wisdom of God, denies foolishness. Knowing this, let us deny ourselves—those who we were before—not only in the time of persecution and the necessity of martyrdom, but in every conversation, work, thought, and word, and let us confess those who we are, having been reborn in Christ. For this reason, the Lord was crucified, so that we, who believe in him and are dead to sin, might also be crucified with him and say what the Apostle Paul taught: I have been crucified with Christ.