On a cold, snowy and windy Friday afternoon, Christian students as well as other members of the community gathered to re-enact the Stations of the Cross around the U campus.
The stations event is a demonstration in memory of Christ’s final walk to Calvary where he was crucified.
St. Catherine’s Catholic Newman Center organizes an annual procession around campus on Good Friday, commemorating Jesus’ last hours and the crucifixion.
Good Friday is the beginning of Holy Week for Catholics. It is exactly 40 days from Ash Wednesday, the time period called Lent that leads to Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday is the third day from Good Friday, the day that Catholics believe Jesus resurrected.
“The Stations is truly good to get out and relive in some part in what Jesus had to go through,” said Sarah Frohlich, a student member of the Newman Center. “I think it helps everyone who participates to grow spiritually.”
There are 14 stations in the Stations of the Cross, which is celebrated all over the world. According to New Advent, a Catholic Web site, the stations are usually placed in intervals on the walls of a church. But sometimes the Stations can be celebrated in open-air-around the U campus for instance.
“The re-release of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, which follows the traditional Stations of the Cross in its presentation of Jesus’ sufferings, will certainly prepare people for a deeper appreciation of this traditional practice,” said Rev. James Thompson of the Newman Center.
Thompson led the Stations through various campus landmarks. Each station included a reading explaining the event, prayer and singing.
The Stations of the Cross originated in 17th century Europe when Christians traveled to Jerusalem to retrace Christ’s steps, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia.