Faithful honor Jesus Christ's sacrifice for humanity through Mount Cristo Rey pilgrimage

Many of the faithful in the Borderland on Good Friday honored Jesus Christ and his sacrifice by making a pilgrimage up Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, New Mexico.

The week leading up to Easter is known as Holy Week, which begins after the end of the 40-day Lenten season, according to a report from USA TODAY. Good Friday takes place during this week annually two days before Easter.

While Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter, Good Friday is the day in which Christians commemorate his crucifixion and death.

"If Easter is the celebration of Christ's resurrection from the tomb, Good Friday is the day in which the church commemorates everything from his condemnation to his passion," Gabriel Radle, assistant professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, told USA TODAY.

Radle explained the "good" in the death of Jesus Christ is that in Christian ideology, his death represents the redemption of humanity, as the celebrations of Easter wouldn't be possible without what happened on Good Friday.

More: Where to observe Good Friday, Easter and Passover in El Paso

More: What is the meaning of Good Friday? Why is it called Good Friday? What to know about the holiday

"Christ is offering himself on the cross. It's an outpouring of God's love by offering himself on the cross, but it's also not something that ends at the cross," he said.

"It's not just the commemoration of Christ's passion for the sake of focusing on the agony of it all, but the agony has a purpose. That's God's gift of redemption to the world, which finds fulfillment in in the resurrection."

The holiday has different names around the world, such as "Great Friday," "Holy Friday," "Sorrowful Friday" in Germany and "Sacred Friday."

Unlike most religious holidays, Mass isn't usually held on Good Friday; instead readings of the Gospel, veneration of the cross and Holy Communion are done.

The faithful also practice the Stations of the Cross, in which worshippers pray and reflect along 14 "stations" or images depicting Christ's journey from his condemnation through his crucifixion and eventual death. In some parts of the world, worshippers also will perform passion plays in which they recreate the events, similar to what's done during Christmas Mass with the birth of Christ.

In El Paso, Catholics observed the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday at St. Patrick Cathedral.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Faithful honor Jesus' sacrifice in Mount Cristo Rey pilgrimage