Cast of the Passion of Christ in the atrium of the parish of St. Francis of Assisi, which this year will have 60 interpreters, plus staff to assist them. The main roles are those of Jesus, Mary, Herod, Pontius Pilate, Judas, and the Priests of the Sanhedrin. Photo: Jazmín Stengel.

Jazmín Stengel.- After two years of not appearing due to the pandemic, the cast of the Chapala 2022 Stations of the Cross made its first public appearance with the re-enactment of the «Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem», in the parish of San Francisco de Asís, in the municipal capital of Chapala. 

The cast of Viacrucis Chapala 2022, was presented for the first time during ‘The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem’, in the parish of St. Francis of Assisi on Palm Sunday. Photo: Jazmín Stengel.

About 300 people attended the 1:30 pm mass on Palm Sunday to bless their palm branches during the Eucharist, where Joel Salvador Torres Arrayga, 25 years old, stood out in the role of Jesus.

Sixty people form the cast that accompanies Jesus Christ throughout the representation of the trial and his journey to the crucifixion. Joel Salvador played Jesus, Athziri Guadalupe Martínez Real was the Virgin Mary, José Roberto Michel Mendoza was Pontius Pilate and in the role of Herod, Ramiro Moreno López.

The palm branches to be blessed during Palm Sunday, mostly made of wax palm and wheat, were accompanied by laurel and rosemary. Photo: Jazmín Stengel.

Jesús Alfonso Basulto Anaya participated as Judas, while Carlos Aguayo Ramírez and Jorge Alfonso Villegas López were the priests of the Sanhedrin. The play will be presented on Good Friday, April 15, starting at 9:00 a.m. in the parish atrium. 

Parishioner during Palm Sunday service Photo: Jazmín Stengel.

The Palm Sunday celebration took place in all the masses starting at 7:00 am in the neighborhoods of Guadalupe, Tepehua, Lourdes and La Purisima, plus the parish of San Francisco de Asis, in whose precincts they were able to gather from 100 to 300 people per mass, according to one of the collaborators of the parish temple.

Outside the parish church of San Francisco de Asís, six stands from Michoacán were set up selling bouquets made of wax palms and wheat. Photo: Jazmín Stengel.

During the mass at 12:00 and 1:30 in the afternoon, in the parish of St. Francis of Asis there were more than three hundred parishioners present. 

Cast of Roman soldiers

Hundreds of palm branches, accompanied by laurel and rosemary were raised to receive God’s blessing from the priests in charge of the Eucharistic celebration, highlighting the presence of children and young people who alone or in the company of their families attended the ceremony. There were also about six stalls with wax or wheat palms made by people from Michoacán. 

Parishioner receiving the Eucharist during Palm Sunday

The type of palm is irrelevant, its spiritual meaning is based on a symbol of peace with which Jesus was received in Jerusalem. Today, the palms are blessed on Palm Sunday and placed on the altar throughout the year, then burned by the church to use their ashes during the next year’s Ash Wednesday.

Translated by Nita Rudy