Nailed upon the cross, badly beaten and blood-soaked.
He had no words of anger. Words of love alone He spoke.
Of those who had betrayed Him, jeered at, and mocked Him too—
Father, He said forgive them.  For they know not what they do.

With steadfast love for others, thieves on His right and left,
Hanging there beside Him, in pain and in distress.
Willing only good for souls, that repentant souls be freed,
He assured the good thief: This day in paradise, you will be with Me.

Relentless was the torture, when His eyes looked down and saw,
John, and His loving mother, the mother He adored.
He spoke to John: Behold your Mother.  To Mary: Behold Your Son.
His mother now our mother, that well this race we might run.

Questioning the Father, as He hung before the crowd:
…why hast Thou abandoned me? This, He cried out loud.
Jesus knew His crucifixion, was for Him a choice,
He wanted us to know, when abandoned—when we have no voice,

That He understands.  Abandonment He faced.
That we might in our own agony, cling to our cross in haste.
Jesus, with love for others, still serving others first,
While on that cross, He let us know that for souls: I thirst.

Jesus gave us truth, did only the Father’s will.
With knowledge that His work was done, His purpose fulfilled,
It is finished He said, as on the cross He hung.
His death deemed the path by which heaven would be won.

Surrendered to the Father, at His ending agony:
My Spirit I command, into the hands of Thee.
With that He breathed His last, His last and final breath.
And still today He thinks of us with love and tenderness.

Let us imitate our Savior, seek to serve others first.
When on the cross of life we hang, for souls may we thirst.
When we are abandoned, to our crosses may we cling.
Let us imitate our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and King.

From our misery in life, from our agony and fears,
From lament and sorrow, from this valley of tears,
There comes a resurrection, and a wellspring of hope,
Lifting the burden of the cross; making easy the yoke.

By our crosses we are strengthened.  Though by them, we are tried.
As furnace-tested iron, as gold tested by fire.
Our cross united to His cross; and lifted high anew.
A new day now dawns upon us.  Resurrected, we are too.

At Christ’s brutal crucifixion, as He breathed His final breath,
Love and truth were crucified.  Both, we put to death.
Christ’s triumph over death, leads us to hope and pray,
We too will triumph over death to a new life one day.

On hurting hearts there still descends, as if a gentle dove,
The last words which Jesus spoke to us—His words of Divine love.