Of ourselves, we are too weak to lift up our hearts to the heights of God. We cannot do it. The very pride of thinking that we are able to do it on our own drags us down and estranges us from God. God himself must draw us up, and that is what Christ began to do on the cross. He descended to the depths of our human existence in order to draw us up to himself... Only in this way could our pride be vanquished: God's humility is the extreme form of his love, and this humble love draws us upwards. ~Pope Benedict XVI