Ascending the Calvary within

I have always desired to climb the heights of this mountain. Every path, I have taken in my lifetime, brings me to the foot of this mountain. “What mountain is this?” I asked a passerby. He smiled and offered to crucify me instead. Not to have known the mountain, He said I must be a stranger to myself.
This is Golgotha;
Calvary of the mind,
The mountain within.
He said, “You do not have to, if you do not want to. But it is good for you, if you did.”
“Did what,” I asked?
“Ascend to the top.
That is where you get the cross off your back. You have been carrying it for a long time.”
“How do you know?”
“I have my sources.”
Now, I will have to scale this mountain. There is no turning back. Not to have at least attempted the ascent would be a betrayal.
“On my own I may not make it to the top.”
He said not to worry,
“There is someone willing to help.”
I said, “Who, Simon of Cyrene?”
He said, “You truly are stranger to yourself.
You are Simon of Cyrene.”
I asked, “How do you know?”
“I have my sources.”
That was the reply.
“O Simon, Simon
My old friend!
Without you
I would have failed
In My mission.
Without your help
The Roman soldiers
Would have killed Me
Before the appointed hour.”
Just as Simon of Cyrene helped Him carry His cross, now, there is the risen Christ willing to help each one carry their cross up the mountain.
Atop the Calvary of the world,
They crucified Him.
Atop the Calvary within,
We shall crucify sin,
So that man shall be man again.