The Cross on Mount Crucis

Just in time to honor the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Our oldest son, Paul, a Knight Commander in the Knights of the Altar and one of the counselors at Boys' Camp, wrote the following account of the July '07 ascent up Mount Crucis:

The cool breeze graced our faces like it had not and would never again allow itself to be felt by another person. It calmly whirled around our little group seeming to come from everywhere and to go nowhere. The panoramic view of mountains bounding from the ground over some and below others, stretched endlessly around us. It was as if this tranquil scene had been set aside for us and none but us, like we had stepped into our own little place in the world, and it was exactly where we were supposed to be.

This was, of course, after a grueling three hour hike, 1,800 vertical feet to plant a twenty foot tall cross in the ground at the top of a mountain.

If every rose has its thorns, then every perfect moment has a thousand not-quite-so-perfect ones preceeding it! Maybe “not-quite-so-perfect” isn’t the best way of saying it. Sacrifice creates achievement like nothing else can. A helicopter ride to the top of Mt. Crucis (as we collectively decided to call it), and a few snapshots would have been nearly shameful compared to the accomplishment of over fifty Catholic men and boys ranging in age from five to fifty who made the grueling ascent willingly.