Closer to God: Jesus Portrayer Answers Call to Love One Another

Parishioners stand along the Way of Sorrows, watching as Jesus walks the long path from condemnation to crucifixion. Whipped and stumbling, he shoulders a cross to the hill, where he takes his final breath.

It is finished.

For Refugio Corpus, a 44-year-old Spring Valley man, portraying the last hours of Christ is a continuing act of faith. It drives him through the hour-long performance, in which he appears beaten, bloodied, and nailed to a cross. It leaves him emotionally raw.

With tears in his eyes, he speaks softly, haltingly, about the experience.

“Every time I feel God deeper. A little bit deeper and deeper every time,” he says. “I know I need to do this. That’s my motivation to continue doing this.”

Corpus has played Christ for the past four years in the annual Stations of the Cross performance at St. John of the Cross Church, where he is a parishioner.

This year, he especially wants people to remember God's love is available always—not just in times of need.

“We need to work every day to pray,” he says. ”With all the needs that we have, we always come back to God and ask for help. Forgive me, and don’t forget me. Help me with what I need.

“Then after we get what we need, we put him away, over there, because we don’t need him anymore,” he says.

The experience also allows him to share a message of unconditional love. It's an exercise in the instruction Christ gives his disciples in the Bible:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. —John 13:35

“I believe that I need to help others. I need to give my love. It doesn’t matter about race or color, I just need to give what God has given me,” he says.