Credis tu evadere, quod nemo mortalium potuit præterire? Quis Sanctorum in mundo sine cruce et tribulatione fuit? Nec enim Dominus noster Jesus Christus una hora sine dolore passionis fuit, quamdiu vixit. Opertebat autem Christum pati, et resurgere a mortuis, et ita intrare in gloriam suam. Et quomodo tu aliam viam crucem quæris, quam hanc regiam, quæ est via sanctæ crucis.

Do you think to escape what no mortal has been able to avoid? Which of the saints in the world have been without the cross and tribulation? For not even Jesus Christ our Lord was one hour without the anguish of His Passion, so long as He lived. It is proper, He said, for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory. And how do you seek another way than this royal way, which is the way of the Holy Cross?

Imitation of Christ, II, 12:6