Before starting, I want to convey my most sincere thanks to those of you who have invited me to this celebration that has reminded me of my childhood years. I feel very proud to be among you who are my people.

When Jesús Ruiz called me on the phone and pronounced the word proclamation, the figure of the town crier came to my mind and I thought, what was he doing? The answer is clear: she announced to the townspeople that someone had arrived with merchandise that we could benefit from. That is to say: it announced good news: I understood that the proclamation had to be that: good news for everyone: And what more important news than the announcement of the celebration of the event that changed the history of humanity? Jesus has risen. Whom the authorities had crucified as a criminal to die, God brings him back to life, thus justifying as true each one of the words and each one of the events that he had carried out during his life, and above all, proclaiming everyone that this man is his son.

This event changes the meaning of our human life. Death is not the end of the road but the beginning of a life. We will continue crying when a loved one leaves us, but they will not be tears of despair but of hope, because he already participates in the Resurrection of Jesus. Everything is seen differently in the light of the Resurrection. Life and death. Everything is temporary except eternity. When life gets ugly for a thousand reasons, there will always be hope. God the father never abandons his children.

There are people who try to present Jesus as a mere man who took the side of the poor and that is why they killed him, they forget the most important: Jesus is the son of God and that is precisely what guarantees his Resurrection. Otherwise, what we are here and what we are going to celebrate during Holy Week would not make any sense.

But the Resurrection only comes by way of death; Jesus also had to go through it and we all know what kind of death he had to endure. The cross was the punishment given to wrongdoers and Jesus died as such. But why did they kill Jesus or better because he died?

What we celebrate at our parties is not the same.

Because they killed him? according to the high priest he should die for blasphemy. He had declared himself the son of God and that went against his religious monotheism.

According to Pontius Pilate he had to die because he had declared himself King of the Jews and that went against Caesar whose power was in the Jewish people.

Why did he die? we read the gospel. Having loved his own, he loved them to the extreme and no one loves as much as the one who gives his life for them.

Jesus gives his life to save humanity.

In the beatitudes he says: blessed are those who are persecuted for defending justice, he was one more of this persecution.

On Palm Sunday he triumphantly enters Jerusalem. He accepts being proclaimed King because.

He was King; but he does not shut up when he sees God's temple turned into a den of bandits. They are his Word.

He confronts the religious authority for defending the dignity of the temple, a symbol of God. There he signed his death warrant.

Jesus offers himself as a solidarity victim of so many human beings who have been unjustly killed and died forgiving those who mistreated. Jesus died young because he was sincere. Thrown into the furrow, crushed against the earth, betrayed, abandoned, misunderstood, he died loving. But as we said at the beginning, Jesus defeated death and presented himself with a new fruit in his hands. The resurrection.

When the disciples became aware of this great event, they understood that this truth had to be announced to all men and they went out to proclaim it in squares and streets throughout the world. This is precisely what you do as Christians when you go out through the streets of Villafáfila in the Holy Week processions. You become witnesses and proclaimers of this Good News.

The processions are a manifestation and a testimony of faith. I encourage you to continue like this and I congratulate those of you who work so that year after year this tradition is not lost, but you are even making it more solemn, recovering new things. Because, you also have some images that are authentic works of art.

I remember as a child hearing my mother talk to me about the Nazarene, about the expressive face he has. It was the first time I heard of the Moreruela Monastery. When I was older I found out that probably not only that but others could have reached Villafáfila as a result of the confiscation. That and the group of churches of Villafáfila have been the reason why the town can enjoy such beauty. The last monks of the Monastery seem to have died in this town which makes it more possible. The monks had a great feeling for religious works of art. The processions were for those simple people who could not read or write, catechesis through images. Hence the need for so many images.

I had to leave Villafáfila when I was eleven years old; but I assure you that I keep those days very well in my memory. Being an altar boy (my memory of D. Camilo may he rest in peace) attending church functions was one of my obligations. What are my most important memories? Before all the fervor that the Nazarene had (manifested in the auction). I was struck by the race of the procession of the meeting; I always had the impression that I would end up with the image on the ground (you can see that they were professionals because they always arrived on time for the meeting). The descent that you have replaced again. The weariness of those who carried the urn. But above all the memory of the dark afternoon of Good Friday. I imagine that those of you who are my age also remember it.

The song of the miserere also replaced: which shows that Villafáfila still has good singers.

According to the gospel, at the time Jesus died, there was a thunder that shook the earth.

It was up to us, kids, to imitate the earthquake by making as much noise as possible and boy did we do it... From that moment on, they stopped playing the shearing and played the ratchet. Until Easter Sunday.

Today many people in the rural world who know that, like Jesus, are stripping them of their clothing. One more reason not to let us win. For this reason, although I would like to thank everyone: brothers and penitents and all those who accompany the processions with their songs and prayers, which are many: The procession of Palms, that of Silence, that of Vera Cruz, that of the Encounter, that of the Holy Burial, Solitude, a true wealth of sacred art and religious fervour, it is worth fighting so that so much wealth is not lost, and this leap year you will have the opportunity to contemplate the replacement, with great success Descent. An authentic dramatization of the descent of Jesus on the Cross. As you well know, thanks to Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who got permission from Pilate to take charge of the condemned man, Jesus would have ended up anywhere. So cruel the future of a crucified.

And allow me a few words about a character although you don't have him in Villafáfila. I mean Cyrene. Although forced, he helped Jesus carry the cross. In our lives we need many Cyreneans to help carry so many crosses: the cross of illness, loneliness, poverty and many more... they are the crosses of life and we need that helping hand to help us in our falls way of our Calvary.

Dear countrymen, we are also remembering the life of our people. The life that is transmitted from generation to generation is an inheritance that we cannot forget in honor of our ancestors.

They also come out in processions in our memory. In honor of them we must defend and continue transmitting our traditions.

Thank you very much and Happy Easter.

Jorge Rodriguez de la Torre.

March 20, 2016, Villafáfila.

Author:

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

Text:

Mr. Jorge Rodríguez de la Torre

Town crier of Holy Week 2016.

Photography:

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

Transcription and montage:

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

All text, photographs, transcription and montage, their rights belong to their authors, any type of use is prohibited without authorization.

All text and photography has been authorized for storage, treatment, work, transcription and assembly to José Luis Domínguez Martínez, its dissemination on villafafila.net, and any other means that is authorized.