Dressed in purple robes and carrying wooden crosses, hundreds of devotees walked the streets of downtown Valencia in the procession of the Nazarene that departed from the Cathedral this Holy Wednesday.
Correspondent lapatilla.com
After the mass officiated by Father Pedro de Freitas, parish priest of the Cathedral of Valencia, children, young people and adults expressed their faith accompanying the image of “Jesus Nazareno.”
The prayers were focused on giving thanks for health and asking for the well-being of Venezuelans.
It was 11:40 in the morning when Romina Guerra was waiting at the door of the Cathedral for the procession of the Nazarene to begin.
Her requests were clear: health, peace and prosperity for Venezuelans. She commented that she lives Easter by attending mass, visiting the seven temples and praying in her house.
Under the inclement sun, Socorro López walked with a purple tunic and a wooden cross in her hands. She is a devotee of the Nazarene and she takes refuge in him when she feels distressed by the crisis that the country is going through.
“I am paying a promise for my health and I came to ask for the country, because many people have dire needs. I have a lot of faith in him and he is very miraculous, we ask him to protect us and guide us because we need him,” she said.
In the middle of the river of people, was Dulce Pérez with her daughter and two of her granddaughters. She lives in the “Central Tacarigua”, in Carlos Arvelo Municipality, but she went to Valencia to express her fervor and thank the Nazarene for the health of her granddaughter, in addition to imploring for a better future for Venezuela.
“I always go to the procession, because he helps me with my children and I am very devoted to him. I ask him for the health of my children, my grandchildren and for the country, to fix it because this situation can no longer be endured,” she said as her voice cracked.
The young Adrián Díaz hugged his grandmother as the procession advanced. Díaz assured that it is proof that the Nazarene performed a miracle for him: curing him of the non-Hodgkin Lymphoma that he faced five years ago.
“My grandmother and my whole family is very Catholic, we have always believed a lot in Jesus of Nazareth. When I was sick, I found out that one night my grandmother made him make a promise (to the Nazarene) that was to wear purple for seven years every Holy Wednesday. After I was cured and discharged from the hospital, I started to wear purple and always come to church,” he noted.
This Holy Wednesday at 5:00 in the afternoon there will be other processions coming out of the churches of La Candelaria, La Michelena and Santa Rosa, to finally meet and merge on Avenida Lara in Valencia.