Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
WHY THIS CROSS?

why this cross
this ornament
of human suffering
in our musings
it can seem quite
out of place
in comfort
and complacency
yet let one
moment
of tragedy
need
or desperation
enter
and this cross
is no longer
a foreign land
but a shelter
a home
a passage
of power
of transformation
is it magic
some talisman-
so it would seem
as it is fashioned
in gold
carved in wood
strung on necks
fashioned in beads
and rings
held up to vampires
to send them
rushing back
to their graves—
yet kneel–
kneel before
the cross
and experience
the life
the whispers
the struggle
and you will
hear the world-
the daily news
as the world struggles
with its horror
and death
and evil
its cruelty
and selfishness
and greed
politics
and ideological slaughter
it’s mass destruction
our grieving
our loss
our starvation
our calamities
earths quake
worlds fall
within
the cross

we are free
to place
our burden there
and leave
as though
it were
some receptacle
some garbage pit
some scapegoat

yet not for long
for His whispers
His movement
His life
are too compelling
He calls to us
over
and
over
to visit
this strange place of death
that calls us
to Life
enter the suffering
the solitude
the darkness
of the tomb
and answer His
call

pray with me
pray with me
trust in me
the truth of me
the truth of here
and I will bring
you life

how
long is
our suffering-

as long
asit takes
for new life
to begin–
then there is no time
at all
no need-
we are completed
resurrected
in His love