September 14, 2005

This is the last part of the “Triumphant Stations of the Cross” which we began here on Monday:

His last words show Him dancing unto death

Giving paradise to thieves with His last breath

Forgiving and thirsting for every soul

Trusting His Father is still in control

His body dies but His Spirit strengthens us

I want to run by His Spirit with the Cross.

His mother grieves a slow dance with her Son

Still steadfast in her hope of vict’ry won

The Bread she baked is broken and given

She offers His Body to the Father in Heaven

She becomes an altar beneath the saving Cross

I want to run, run and dance with the Cross.

In silence the dance continues at the tomb

Though Hell beneath is shaken by this tune

Even when death makes the valley so deep

There’s no need to fear in the Good Shepherd’s keep

Whose last move trampled death down with His Cross

I want to run, run and dance with His Cross.

Does it seem odd to run and dance this way?

“The Stations were not meant for this,” you say

If death was the end that would be true

But resurrection hope and the Spirit make it new

These exalted steps of the triumph of the Cross

I want to run, run and dance with the Cross.

This theme is not to end in meditation

I want to live it daily as my life’s vocation

With joy like Saint Francis of Assisi

Who made the Cross-yoke look so easy

I want to magnify the triumph of His Cross

I want to run, run and dance with the Cross.

“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. Because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world!”

May the Lord grant you a blessed feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross!

Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR
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