Wesley Karhoff, left, drags the cross as Jesus while Ezra Cuevas, middle, and Madison Racine, right, watch on as John and Mary, respectively, during their rehearsal on Wednesday at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church.

Two seventh-graders from Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church are looking forward to their roles in performances of the 14 Stations of the Cross.

The Faith Formation group will be putting on a performance of the 14 Stations of the Cross on March 20 and March 24. Both performances will take place at 7 p.m. on their respective dates.

The 14 Stations of the Cross depict the last days of Jesus’ life from the Bible.

Christine Aberle, the church’s Faith Formation assistant, has been working with the Stations of the Cross for several years. It used to be all volunteer-based, so youth from any grade could participate. As the years have gone on, however, Aberle noticed a dwindling in the number of volunteers who would come forward, so they came up with a different idea.

“We thought it would be a good idea to have the seventh graders do it for middle school because we are always looking for different ideas for our Faith Formation program, and we just think hands-on is a really great way for kids to learn,” Aberle said.

The performance of the 14 Stations of the Cross with just the seventh graders has only been put on for the past five years. The students who play Jesus, Mary, John and the other characters are different every year, which makes the experience different in itself.

The students are given some freedom to choose who they want to portray. They were allowed to choose their top three wanted roles, and Aberle did her best to make sure to choose the right candidate for the part and still take the students’ desires into consideration.

This year, Wesley Karhoff is playing the role of Jesus and is “actually really excited,” even though Jesus was his third choice. His top pick was Simon, with the runner up being a guard.

“I feel like I can learn more about how it happened,” he said.

The one catch is that he is not looking forward to having to take his shirt off and only wear a loincloth when Jesus is stripped of his garments at the 10th Station.

Madison Racine was overjoyed when she found out she was given the role of Mary, as it was her first choice.

“I’m excited. … I like that I’m in every scene,” she said.

Due to the costumes being used by different students each year, sometimes alterations have to be made to fit properly. Karhoff’s had to be hemmed a bit, but Racine’s was already a perfect fit.

Neither student will have to say many lines or sing along with the choir. For the most part, they are silent actors on the stage, depicting what the narrator is describing.

Since the church does not have an actual stage, the performance is done by the altar. The limited amount of space they have to work with means the props must be changed between every scene. It would be difficult for the seventh graders to change costumes and swap the props at the same time, so a few older students and adults help them make the transitions more quickly.

When Karhoff and Racine move on to eighth grade, they will not be able to be in the play again, but they both said they have enjoyed the experience of acting out the 14 Stations of the Cross. They have enjoyed it so much, in fact, they said, they will likely help future generations in the years to come.