A local school used Holy Week for a time of prayer and reflection to center their lives and the lives of others on Christ.

The senior class of St. Aloysius High School hosted the annual prayer labyrinth on the school’s Balzli Field Wednesday night.

The stadium lights were off and the square labyrinth— a spiritual tool used to facilitate prayer, meditation and spiritual transformation with a single path winding from the edge to the center— was outlined with luminaries. A cross draped with a purple cloth was located in the middle of the labyrinth where people gathered and continued to pray.

Senior Grace Burnett greeted people as they entered the candlelit field and gave them guidelines for their journey.

“You go at your own pace. It’s just a prayful reminder of our symbolic journey to the presence of God. When you get there you can take all the time you need to lay it all down,” Burnett said, encouraging people to get emotional if they felt the need.

She handed people a program explaining the history of labyrinths and showed them how to pray during the walk. The labyrinth had one way in and one way out, and those who walked the entire length in and out walked about half a mile.

The passage starts with prayer for God to be near. Inside the labyrinth worries and distractions are supposed to be let go of and the cross is a place of reflection and awareness. At the end of the walk a last prayer of thanksgiving was suggested.

“We hope that you feel less burdened and that you have the peace of Christ with you when you come out into your life,” Burnett said.

Those who made the journey walking through the labyrinth did so quietly as piano music played from speakers. A soft breeze played on the warm night and set the tone for the event with a bright moon shining down.

Delia Simpson, whose children attend the school, complimented the senior class’ hard work. She felt peaceful about her time in the labyrinth remembering loved ones.

“We had a lot of family members that we wanted to pay remembrance of, and its such a beautiful setting and a beautiful night,” Simpson said. “It was very peaceful, very serene and gave us time to think about loved ones.”

The community is welcomed every year to walk through the labyrinth for free.

The luminaire bags were a fundraiser for the school and were sold by the senior class to anyone who wanted to honor someone or recognize the memory of someone who passed away by writing the person’s name on the bag.

“[It could be] A saint in your life now or a saint that has been in your life in the past, and I think its special because this is Holy Week,” Burnett said.

The money from the fundraiser goes into the school’s general fund.

“All of my senior activities are budgeted by the school so we don’t have to individually fundraise. This is our way of giving back to the school,” teacher Joan Thornton said.

She helped the seniors class, who did most of the planning and manual labor to make the labyrinth fundraiser a reality, with the project.

“She’s the backbone of the whole thing,” Burnett said.

Thornton said the prayer labyrinth service started in 2014 and grew out of a previous luminaire prayer service the school used to host every year. Since it has become a labyrinth service it is now held every year on the Wednesday of Holy Week.

Thornton likes the way the project brings the class together and how they feel as though they have accomplished something from their hard work.

“What I like best is to see the kids when they actually experience it and they feel,” Thornton said. “It wouldn’t be done if it wasn’t for the seniors. Them coming together is the best part.”

Burnett said this event wraps up her senior year.

“It’s kind of symbolic of our whole time here at St. Al,” Burnett said.

She said coming out of the labyrinth almost represents the class’ graduation and the end of their days at the school as they journey out to their lives.