Every year during Lent, the 8th graders act out the living stations of the cross. If you’re close, try to come. We do it at 2:00 every Tuesday at St. Anne’s Church next to Grace in East Moline. (The next and final one is March 24.)

Here’s what happens:

The students enter the darkened church. They sit quietly as they wait for the stations to begin.

The 8th grade reader walks to the ambo and begins.

Jesus and Pontius Pilate appear … and the stations proceed to the inevitable conclusion.

Everyone is silent. Even the kindergartners and 1st graders are riveted.

We pray as a group, asking the Lord to help us live as Jesus taught. We end with the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be. We leave the space quietly and prayerfully.

It is very moving.