Do I have to? Yeah.
How do I own it?
How does one keep pressing forward when all seems to conspire against you and weigh you down?
Jesus sheds light on this question in his response to his mother, who implored him to stay away from Nazareth after having been tossed out by his own people.
“Mother, if the Son of man should go only where He is loved, He should turn His step from this world and go back to Heaven. I have enemies everywhere. Because the Truth is hated, and I am the Truth. But I did not come to find easy love. I came to do the will of the Father and to redeem man. You are love, Mother, My love, that compensates Me for everything. You, and this little herd, which grows in numbers every day with some little sheep that I snatch from the wolves of passions and I lead to the fold of God. All the rest is duty. I have come to fulfill this duty and I must accomplish it even to the extent of crashing against the stony hearts unyielding to good. Nay, only after I have fallen, wetting their hearts with blood, I will soften them, stamping on them My Sign that will cancel the Enemy’s sign. Mother, I descended from Heaven for that. I can only wish to accomplish that.”
From Poem of the Man-God, Maria Valtorta, p 566; used by permission of the publisher Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, Viale Piscicelli 89-91, 03036 Isola del Liri FR, Italy