Ladies and Gentlemen, The Passion
Play 2000...
It’s a dilemma that we face annually. But this year, in
preparing for the Passion Play, the Youth Ministry Team at Holy Redeemer decided to go
about the task of choosing people for the major roles quite a bit differently than in the
past.
One thing that kept coming to mind as we discussed how to approach this was that the
Youth Group does this for the Parish. As with so many other
"service" activities, the teens involved really get a lot out of it… but
that is not why we do it. We do not do it for ourselves. We do it to glorify our Lord, not
members of the Youth Group. Key roles should not be "rewards", and no one
"deserves" to have them because of other things they have done. We decided that
our focus should be on choosing the best people for the roles, because the whole point is
to portray the Passion of Jesus in the most powerful way possible.
With that in mind, we decided to do auditions. Also, we had everyone who was
interested in one of the major roles answer the following three essay questions:
- Why is the Passion Play important?
- Why do you want to be involved in a key role?
- What role do you want to play? Why?
Scattered among the pictures below are some quotes from the essays we received. There
were so many insightful answers that it would be impossible to print them all here. Also,
these were anonymous to the ‘judges’, so we cannot give credit where credit is
due. Instead, we would like to thank everyone involved… you did a wonderful job!!!
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"(The Passion Play) teaches unselfishness in the fact that Jesus gave up his life and
suffered so greatly so that we could join him in Heaven."
"(It is important) because it shows us what kinds of things Jesus went
through and it taught me the meaning of life and how important Jesus is to me." |
| "The Passion
Play is very important because it tells the story of how Jesus died for us and it opens
people’s eyes to the story. I also think that it brings people closer to their
faith." |
One of our
favorites… "I would like the chance to take an active role in the Passion Play
so that I could show people the story of Jesus. I want to affect people’s emotions
and make the story go to their heart."
This entire essay was wonderful, and we thought that this was
definitely someone who wanted to play Jesus…yet this was the answer to the final
question: "I would like to play a guard who accompanies Jesus on his journey to
Golgatha. I would like this role because this role always affected me the most when I
would watch the Play. I would never understand (and still don’t) how those guards
could lead Jesus to his death." This is someone who understands that every role is
important, and there is more glory in unselfishly playing a smaller role than there is in
selfishly playing a larger one! |
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"I want to be
involved in a key role because I want to be a part of the Passion Play. As a child and as
a teen, I was always awe-struck by the Passion Play; it really drove home what had
happened. I feel I’ve learned a lot from watching it…it touched me. I would like
to make this Passion Play touch others the way it touched me." |
| "(I would like to play a
key role) because I feel that I can teach through my actions how important Jesus is to the
Church and to myself." |
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| "(I would like to play a key
role) because I think it would be a way to use the gift God gave me and in turn use this
as my gift to God." We agree! Recognize your gifts and use them to glorify God! |
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| "I believe
strongly in our faith and in our roles as youth members in the Catholic Church." |
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| "I really
don’t have a preference on what role I play because I think it’s an honor just
to be able to participate in the play." |
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