Students bring the Stations of the Cross to life

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

In the Ninth Station, in loneliness, exhaustion, and desperation, Jesus falls a third time. Reflection: We need to help our friends. IC photos by Christine Young

DRAPER — More than 1,000 students, teachers, and parents walked the Living Stations of the Cross on the grounds of St. John the Baptist Middle School March 19 and 20.

The eighth grade religion class performed their stations at least 50 times between the two days. Many were in tears because it is not an easy thing to watch.

"This is the seventh year the eighth grade students have performed the Living Stations of the Cross," said Peri Flanagan, St. John the Baptist eighth grade religion teacher. "It is so powerful to see teenagers re-enact the passion of our Lord, and it is fascinating to observe the children watching the re-enactment. They become so serious. Some of them watching have to turn away when Jesus is whipped and tortured."

Flanagan said they begin on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and there is a lot of laughter and the students feel out of their comfort zone. They are scared, and it is awkward. But midway through Lent, they really start to become Jesus, Mary, Pontius Pilate, and the Romans.

"When holy week arrives, it is the most beautiful way to re-enact the passion through our young, faithful people, and they do such a beautiful job," said Flanagan. "I am always in such awe every year. They really come to believe in what they are doing.

"The students spend a lot of time preparing the reflection questions and prayers for each station," said Flanagan. "They try to make each one of them personal, powerful, and meaningful."

"It is tough emotionally and it is hard spiritually to get a feel for what the people of that time period went through," said Keri Michalke, an eighth grader. "But by acting out the stations, we can get a feel for what they must have felt.

"It made me sick to my stomach the first few times I acted out the station," said eighth-grader Bridget McNulty. "It scared me because I did not know exactly what I was supposed to do."

"It is hard to portray these historical figures," said Michalke. "They went through so much that we will never experience in life. But we can only do so much and we really try hard to portray these people for everybody who watches our station."

"Trying to be Mary was hard," said one of the students. "I don’t know how she did it."

"We are trying to make people watching feel what they felt, and know this is not joke," said Saige Hoover. "This is real."

"It was awkward being a Roman soldier because I was betraying Jesus, whom I believe in," said eighth-grader Josh Herricks. "I had to portray the Roman soldier by whipping Jesus and it was hard. It goes against what I believe in. But I know it was just part of the station. Doing the Live Stations of the Cross was a very spiritual and powerful experience."