José Antonio Gázquez Milanés
It seemed obvious. It was seen coming. Everything indicated that it was going to be like that. And, despite this, something inside us refused to accept it, refused to recognize a reality for which we were not prepared, hoping that the situation would be resolved before the start of our Grand Celebration. Lent 2020 passed relatively normally, but under deep concern caused by the rapid worsening of the health situation, which became unsustainable in mid-March, leading us to home confinement, and blowing up all the work. and the effort made in the previous months. Loneliness and inconsolation filled our feelings in those fateful days. You, brothers, for not being able to carry out the processional parades, and I as a town crier, for not being able to dedicate to you the Proclamation in which I had put so much enthusiasm and so many hours of sleeplessness.
Inevitably, we were forced to adapt to a new situation. To the pain of not being able to collectively celebrate the moments of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus as always, was added the pain of families who lost loved ones, victims of this pandemic that was beginning to wreak havoc in our society. . But it is precisely in the face of this adversity that the feeling of brotherhood that, rooted in a long tradition, has germinated in our people, was revealed. As good ciezanos, we do not resign ourselves to not celebrating our Holy Week. We could not stop remembering in our memory Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us. And we got ready to celebrate a different Holy Week, if possible, more intense.
A different Holy Week, but not for that reason a distant Holy Week. From the public expression of our faith in the streets, we move on to a more intimate experience, within the family, within our homes. From the intimacy we prepared to live more intensely its spirit, its reason for being, to reflect on the true meaning of this celebration, and to fill ourselves with reasons for hope. Hope for a better time.
A year later, that Lent that remained unfinished seems to have turned into infinite Lent, in eternal waiting, given the impossibility of taking the saints out for the second year. Faced with this long delay, my words can only be aimed at asking you not to become discouraged, not to get discouraged, that we all prepare to celebrate again a Holy Week different from what we are used to. Let's be part of the activities that the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods and the Brotherhoods have organized to keep alive the spirit of our Holy Week, and value this tradition so deeply rooted in our town. Let's get ready and prepare to return with renewed illusions and turn this celebration into the prelude to an unforgettable Easter Week.
Because I am convinced, and I am so sorry, that next year Holy Week in Cieza will once again shine with its own light. It will be the most anticipated, the one that will undoubtedly make our feelings and emotions emerge like never before. We will feel happy, exultant with joy, because being able to see the processional parades in the street again, or in my case, being able to proclaim your Holy Week, will be an unequivocal sign that the health crisis will have subsided, we will have left this pandemic behind, and we can celebrate it relatively normally.
Everything will be magnified, it will be inevitable in the face of this forced absence, it will be lived more intensely. The images will seem more beautiful to us, we will shudder when we see the door of the church open again or that of the House of Saints for the steps to parade again, the music will produce emotions that will reach the depths of our feelings, or the old town will shine with greater splendor to become the dream setting. Because talking about Cieza is talking about Easter.
