With man…all the efforts of his nature cannot enable him to do one act above his nature; all his intelligence, courage, and determination will not enable him to pass one step beyond into the kingdom of Heaven.  “Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50).  This is the work of that new life (contemplative life in Christ), that transforming force which, like a seed, has been planted in him.

It is his work henceforth to remove every obstacle to the operation of this seed, to surrender himself and all his powers to its molding hand, to die out of the lower kingdom up into the higher Kingdom, into which this gift would transplant him.  Henceforth, his life must be one of mortification, dying that he may live, a yielding of nature to grace, a surrender of the things of earth to the powers of Heaven, a constant mingling of the sadness of earthily surrender with the divine gladness of heavenly attainment.  –Father Basil W. Maturin ‘Christian Self-Mastery: How to Govern Your Thoughts, Discipline Your Will, and Achieve Balance in Your Spiritual Life’