BUFFALO N.Y. (WKBW) — As we head into Easter weekend, Western New Yorkers are taking time to reflect on the last year and the lives we've lost.
Since May 14th of last year Buffalo has lost dozens of our friends and neighbors in events like the Tops mass shooting . Also in December, nearly four dozen people died in a once-in-a-generation blizzard on Christmas weekend. A week later a fire on Dartmouth Avenue claimed the lives of 63-year-old Lisa Liggans and five of her grandchildren. Following that a Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno died battling a four-alarm fire on main street downtown.
"Buffalo has born a lot of crosses especially this year," St. Michaels Church member Dan Warner said. "It's kind of symbolic in that sense that as a faith community we're praying through all the crosses the buffalo community has born this year."
He and his family, along with other community members, took a brief walk around Buffalo's Theater District lined with stops that took the community through the steps Jesus took as he carried the cross and was crucified. This experience is all a part of St. Micheals Church Good Friday service "Way of the Cross."
"It makes me really reenact being actually the servant of Christ carrying this cross that he bore for use because out of love," church member Darlene Andrews shared.
The church gave people like Andrews time to carry a cross just like Jesus did. She said it made her feel closer to Christ. Heavy is not a word she would use for the cross, Andrews stated, it felt right in her arms. Feelings of empowerment and love filled her body while the dedication of many stops were to the devastation in Buffalo.
"It creates a sense of community a community of purpose a community of conviction - and for people of faith a conviction of God is on our side even in times of grim and difficult," Paster of Saint Micheals Church Benjamin Fiore shared.
He said no one should suffer alone. It can be so easy to lose yourself in the bad happening, he stated, but Easter weekend is all about remembering one's purpose and who is on their side.
