The Easter Altar Cross

On the holy night I kneeled down to pray

For a heavenly peace at the dawning of the day

And the Paschal flame danced round me in a million candle lights

But all that I could feel was the pressing dark of night.

“Why now, dear Lord, on Resurrection eve

Do you allow me in this way so heartily to grieve?

For many sorrows are pressing on my heart

As the Evil One tries hard to keep us apart.

“Why can’t I seem to find the peace in which I used to rest

When on holy days, in love I felt caressed.

On these great feasts, it seems, you now allow me to share

In a sort of suffering which had not formerly been there.”

All my thoughts were swirling, and I could not grasp why

It seemed that Easter peace and joy I simply could not find.

But then my eyes I raised, to the altar of sacrifice

And on it I saw a cross; and on it the crucified Christ.

I looked at it and thought, “Why, on Resurrection day

Do we this sight of death and suffering display?

Why, O Lord, did you return with wounds?”

“My child,” he said, “I do this for you.

“I want you to recall the love with which I suffered death

And how for you I gave my every breath.

And on that cross I saw your every deed

Which came, dear child, the two of us between.

“And you’ll recall that on the day I died

Behind a purple cloth my crucifix you hide.

Yet on Easter night, is my cross hidden away?

No, but rather unveiled, yet not until today.

“For in my Resurrection all sorrow is put to flight

Yet you must recall my Passion through this most sacred light.

For the sorrow of the day I died makes this rejoicing grand

And the Easter message shows, for your suffering, my plan.”

I looked once more at that unveiléd cross

And I saw how greater joy comes from every loss.

There are times when hope is hard, and when it’s hard to pray

But now I see the greatest gift of this Easter day.

In love our Savior died, in love again he rose

And now in our suffering, we are not alone.

And though in all life, suffering has a season,

Upon the Easter altar cross, in suffering I see reason.