It may be popular these days to pick and choose what we believe and like about the Church, but is that going to help us get to heaven? Christ invites each of us, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” The Christian way of life is not a life of self-indulgence and easy living. It is the hard way, the way of the Cross. When Christ invites us to deny ourselves and take up our cross, He is reminding us that we have to move beyond ourselves in order to follow Him to heaven, and it begins with our ability to embrace the teachings and way of life of the Church in its entirety. If we think we can pick and choose what we believe and how we want to live, we haven’t yet begun to deny ourselves.