Students relive Christ’s suffering

Pacific Regional Seminary (PRS) students brought the Easter story to life on Good Friday, staging a Stations of the Cross walk through Nasese, Suva, to mark the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

The re-enactment, a Christian tradition remembering the journey Jesus made to his crucifixion, followed nearly a month of preparation involving PRS students and friends from the University of the South Pacific and Corpus Christi.

First-year PRS student Hiroshi Kalolo, who depicted Jesus — including carrying the cross and enduring physical beatings — said the experience gave him a deeper understanding of what Christians believe Christ went through.

“You can feel how painful Jesus is going through this, for our salvation,” Kalolo said.

“Prayer is the most powerful weapon that I trusted. It will help me to overcome it.”

He said gym training every night helped him prepare physically, but described the day itself as more painful than any rehearsal.

University of the South Pacific student Loseli Tausinga, who played Mother Mary, used the occasion to share an Easter message.

“Make sure you know who you are, you know what you want to sacrifice, so that the old you can be left out, and the new you can re-come to you,” she said.

PRS rector Father Okusitino Ulupano said the walk was meant to move beyond belief into feeling.

“The most important thing is just to help us to pray, and also to feel — not only to think and believe, but also to feel how Christ carried on,” Fr Ulupano said.

The Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva is a Roman Catholic institution that provides spiritual and academic training for the priesthood, as well as for religious and lay students across the Pacific.