Halfway through Great Lent the Church reminds us of Christ’s invitation to deny ourselves, takes up our cross and follow Him into heaven. The Christian life is a difficult burden for us to bear, but so long as we are focused on our own agenda, we will never accept to take up our cross. When we fast, we learn to control ourselves so that we will accept the struggle of the cross, but we cannot learn to control ourselves unless we allow the Church the guide us. If we choose our own fast, we don’t learn to deny ourselves which mean we will never take up our cross and follow Christ into heaven.