
Holy Week Passion Drama
It is a custom here at Loyola Jesuit College that the Passion of Christ is dramatized on Good Friday, by the SS3 students who are normally in school due to WAEC. But this year was different because other students were present since the school was in session. And so as the day approached SS3 students went about preparing and suggesting roles. I was selected to play Jesus, and I took the challenge with joy. The night before Good Friday, I prayed for the grace to personify Jesus and to achieve the purpose of a good drama.
So, as Jesus Christ, I received my sentence and carried my cross. As the cross rested on my shoulder, I was thinking about how it may have been for Jesus Christ who had probably a much bigger and heavier cross to bear. While being whipped and mocked, I thought about how all these happened to Jesus.
- 1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death.
- 1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death.
- 2nd Station: Jesus carries his cross.
- 3rd Station: Jesus falls the first time.
- 4th Station: Jesus meets his blessed mother.
- 5th Station: Simon of Cyrene is forced into helping Jesus carry his cross.
- 6th Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.
- 7th Station: Jesus falls the second time.
- 8th Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.
- 9th Station: Jesus falls the third time.
- 10th Station: Jesus is stripped of his garment.
- 11th Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross.
- 12th Station: Jesus dies on the cross.
- Stations of the Cross dramatized by Loyola Jesuit College Students
- 13th Station: The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross.
- 14th Station: Jesus is laid in a tomb.
With my executioners behind me and the rest of the school few meters away I met my mother. Seeing her, a gust of emotion well up in me. Who would not? You can imagine how a mother who sees her child on the way to his death would feel. I thought of Mary. Few meters away I met Simon of Cyrene; he helped me carry my cross. He reduced the burden momentarily (and I appreciated his kind gesture). But the struggle continued.
The soldiers continued whipping and mocking me. They were unconcerned about the steady stream of blood and tears dripping from my head and face. But Veronica took pity and wiped my face. As these were happening the women of Jerusalem were behind in tears; the scene was also emotional. I fell the second time. And again. Each time my pains increased. The cross became heavier. I was drained of strength. My weak legs began to give way. I finally got to Golgotha or “The Place of the Skull” where I was crucified. I could not imagine the amount of pain Jesus went through at this time.
The drama ended with Jesus in the tomb and after Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came to carry me from the cross. I felt very sober as I walked the steps of Jesus to his death and this experience really showed me a fraction of the passion of Christ.
Seun Amole