Staff report
Certain things on Good Friday need no translation.
Like the sound of hammer against nails.
Or standing below three crosses on a hill.
While performed by Latino congregants of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and narrated in Spanish, the Stations of the Cross presented Friday in Salisbury poignantly reminded anyone who watched of Jesus’ final hours and the suffering he endured up to and through his crucifixion.
Once again, the colorful outdoor drama was presented over the handsome, rolling terrain of Sacred Heart’s future home for its church and school.
This is the second year, the Stations of the Cross, or Via Crucis, has been performed on this property off Jake Alexander Boulevard near Isenberg Elementary School.
A large audience followed the performers, musicians and Father Jean-Pierre Lhoposo, who narrated Jesus’ last hours ó from Judas’ betrayal in the Garden to His death on the cross.
Lhoposo spoke from the back of a Chevy S-10 pickup as the drama moved from station to station, each marked by a wooden cross ó most of which were standing along a treeline.
As the crowd followed, they moved up and down the landscape until finally arriving at a hill where three men on three crosses were raised.
Many young adults and children were in attendance as always ó something not lost on Sister Joan Pearson, who plays a key role in organizing the event.
“This is a very young community,” she said.
A wireless mike worked effectively in sending out much of the dialogue of the costumed performers, including Rogelio Garcia, who once again played the role of Jesus.
Stations of the Cross is a devotional exercise usually practiced on Fridays during Lent and most commonly on Good Friday.
The Stations themselves ó often a series of 14 pictures or sculptures ó depict the following scenes:
1. Jesus is condemned to death.
2. Jesus receives the cross.
3. The first fall.
4. Jesus meets His Mother.
5. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross.
6. Veronica wipes Jesus’ face with her veil.
7. The second fall.
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.
9. The third fall.
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments.
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross.
12. Jesus dies on the cross.
13. Jesus’ body removed from the cross (Pieta).
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.