"To succeed in reaching our ultimate goal, we need to follow our divine leader, who leads an elect soul only on the path that he walked himself, the path of self-denial and the cross: 'If any many would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me' [Matthew 16:24]. Shouldn't you consider yourself fortunate for being treated this way by Jesus? The person who does not penetrate the secret of the cross is a fool.

The Holy Spirit tells us that to reach the harbor of salvation, the souls of the elect need to go through the fire of painful humiliation and purify themselves, like gold and silver in the crucible, and in that way they spare themselves having to do expiation in the next life:

Accept whatever is brought upon you,
and endure it in sorrow;
in changes that humble you be patient.
For gold and silver are tested in the fire,
and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.
[Sirach 2:4-5]

Jesus wants to make us saints at any cost, but more than anything he wants to sanctify you."

-St.  Pio of Pietrelcina