Prayer: Cross So Costly, Cross Victorious

Lord Jesus

The way of the cross is so costly

we can barely face it

Shame, sorrow, suffering

Your life poured out

You the Passover lamb sacrificed.

Lord, we shudder at this way you have chosen

And yet we acknowledge our great need

We are so broken, so frail, so surrounded by sin

That we cannot stand

We cannot save ourselves

We are in desperate need

We need a savior

We need you

And in our time of greatest need

Your love came to us

Your love gave yourself

Your love emptied itself

Losing everything

And in this overwhelming defeat 

You claimed victory

You were victorious

You accomplished salvation

And so we honor you

And so we give ourselves to you

And so we find our life in you

Lord Jesus Christ, savior of the world

We come to worship you

Amen and amen

Lorenzo Monaco -Crucifixion

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© Dale Gish 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Forever Imprinted By You

Your shaking hands touched me

Grasping my rough imperfections

Taking my burden upon you

I am what you came here for

You are what I’ve been fashioned for

I can tell that still you love me

Carried until you stumble

Then hauled by another to the place

where we lay defenseless

Your hands pressed against me

The spikes that pierce you

pierce me also

Driven through you

Deep into me.

Your blood spills over me

Soaking into my grain

Like a Passover door post

Forever marked before the Lord

We are lifted up

And I can provide little comfort to you

in your time of trial

You are abandoned

And I alone am left to embrace you

Let this last embrace be one of love

I give what I have to you

You who have absorbed such bitter hate

To be so close to the one I love

These terrible, holy moments

Now in your hour of death

I chant a blessing for your dying

“Receive your servant

His trials done

Let not death hold him

Your beloved Son”

Then you breathe your last

And your spirit departs

I shudder along with all creation

At the emptiness that descends upon us.

I hold your body till you are taken down

Then I am empty, but not barren

Never the same

Forever imprinted by you

© Dale Gish 2019. All Rights Reserved.

This prayer was inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola.If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.