This year, the Hispanic faithful experienced Good Friday in a more profound way in some of our Hispanic communities.
Parishes like St. Jude and St. Thomas in Beloit, St. John the Baptist in Waunakee, and St. Raphael Cathedral (Holy Redeemer Church) in Madison offered dramatic performances of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ with a living Stations of the Cross in their respective churches.
With about a month to go before Holy Week, Fr. José Luis Vazquez, parochial vicar of Cathedral Parish in Madison, encouraged his Hispanic pastoral council to come together to offer the Hispanic community a living Stations of the Cross the night of Good Friday.
Otoniel Ortega, a member of Cathedral Parish, commented, “This was not in our plans, but it was in God’s plans”.
He described the experience as transformative and of conversion not only for those who attended to pray the Stations of the Cross but also for the team of volunteers who practiced for three weeks and acted out the stations.
This team practiced for three weeks from 8 to 1:30 p.m. and once even after 12 midnight.
Although tired, each time they came out happier.
The Living Stations of the Cross took place on Good Friday night in front of the sanctuary at Holy Redeemer.
More than 20 volunteers participated taking on various characters from the Passion narrative and nearly 500 parishioners gathered that night to experience, pray, and meditate personally and in community.
Otoniel commented that it seemed to be a difficult task: “It was something so spontaneous that we thought it was not possible. But God always works at all times, so we started calling some people, and thank goodness the response was positive”.
Although they had most of the characters, the biggest challenge was finding someone who felt worthy of taking the role of Jesus.
“Two days after [the council meeting],” said Otoniel, “before the Blessed Sacrament I asked God to send us a man that He [God] would like to represent Him and the Lord placed Darwin Gamoneda in my heart”.
Otoniel contacted him after his time in worship and Darwin agreed to take on the role of Jesus in the Stations of the Cross, although he only said “Yes” after Otoniel told him that God had put that name in his heart, as Darwin initially did not feel worthy of doing this.
Otoniel shared that “the procession was something beautiful because we saw many people who were touched through the Stations of the Cross. We saw several young people moved, several families very attentive to what was happening, from the beginning to the end . . . the man who represented Jesus, he lived the Stations from within his heart”.
Otoniel commented that at the end of the performance the man representing Jesus was “crying with deep pain because beyond feeling the physical pain, he felt the pain that he himself has caused Jesus with his sins.”
The successful performance of the Living Stations of the Cross at Holy Redeemer, as in the other communities in our diocese, is something that comes from the Hispanic Catholic tradition of living the Passion and death of Christ to the fullest on Good Friday.
It is a moment of acknowledging our sins and recognizing that we ourselves have placed the Lord in his suffering on the cross.
As we now live in the joy of the Resurrection, our transformed hearts, like Darwin’s and the families at Cathedral Parish, are filled with hope and gratitude.
Lorianne Aubut is the coordinator of the Office of Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Madison.