Follow Christ even as he ascends the cross and is lifted up from the earth that you may position yourself not only above yourself but, also, above the entire world, on the summit of your mind, looking down at all the things that are on the earth; and looking down, too, as it was written: They will behold a land from afar. Let no pleasures of the world influence you, no adversities cast you down. Far be it from you to glory except in the cross of your Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to you, so that what the world covets, you will view as a cross; and glorying through whom you have been crucified to the world, so that what the world views as a cross, you will embrace in the fullness of love.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Lord’s Ascension, Sermon 4, translated by Beverly Mayne Kienzie in Bernard of Clairvaux: Sermons for the Summer Season, CF53, p. 54