Imagine walking into a schoolyard holding high a crucifix, with Rosaries dangling from your arms as kids coming running and crying out, “Can I carry the Cross?” Yes, they actually come running. And they plead for their turn to carry the Cross. As a matter of fact, the last week of school I decided we would stay in a circle and pray the Rosary during recess, but as the children gathered they insisted on marching. I love to carry the Cross as I walk through the school and pray for the students, smiling at them as we pass each other in the hallways. One student stopped me and asked why I carry the Cross everywhere I go. (I smiled as I imagined him picturing me walking through Safeway with the Cross.) I told him it is because I love Jesus and want all the students to know how much He loves them. Up to that point I had no idea what the students were thinking of me walking around with a big crucifix. His response stunned me. “Miss Clarke, I think you have move faith than anyone else in this school.” What amazed me most was how this simple act of carrying the Cross through the hallways and schoolyard impacted this young man. I am so little and my faith, so weak. But what a powerful confirmation of the need to step out in faith and lift high the Cross, literally!