BLACKFOOT — St. Bernard’s Catholic Church and the St. Paul’s Episcopalian Church are offering the Stations of the Cross, a step-by-step remembrance of Jesus Christ’s suffering for the week or month before or after Easter.

St. Bernard’s has been having Stations of the Cross services throughout March in English and Spanish. The last service is this Friday at 5 p.m. (English) and 6 p.m. (Spanish). The church is located at 584 West Sexton St. in Blackfoot.

The St. Paul Episcopalian Church will begin its Stations of the Cross on Palm Sunday, this Sunday. St. Paul’s will be outside on its lawn and will be open for the public to attend at any time for the next few weeks. It is located at 72 N. Shilling in Blackfoot.

The Stations of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa or the Way of Suffering, involves 14 stations that depict the key events of Jesus’ condemnation to his crucifixion. Each station explains a step leading to Golgotha, often with a picture and prayers. In a sense, it is a reminder of how he went from being greeted with Hosannas on Sunday to being jeered by chants for his crucifixion just a few days later.

At St. Paul’s, there is an additional cross that sits near the church’s red front door that has significance for the local church. This handcrafted cross came from one of the huge trees that fell all around the church in the devastating windstorm of 2006 — 20 years ago this week.

Miraculously, the church was spared damage as the huge pine trees fell all around it. A member of St. Paul’s, Todd Whorley, took a remnant of one of the trees and fashioned the cross that now welcomes everyone to the church that was spared.