San Antonio’s time-honored Easter procession, the Passion of Christ re-enactment, will chart a new path through the downtown streets this year. Due to construction-related road closures, the devotional pageant, a mainstay since the 1980s, will forego its traditional starting point at Milam Park. Instead, worshippers will congregate at Travis Park at 9:30 a.m. on Good Friday for an ecumenical prayer service, as KENS 5 reported.
Following the morning prayers, the procession will move through Jefferson Street, East Houston Street, and North Main Avenue; it culminates near the San Fernando Cathedral by noon, this marked departure from the longstanding tradition caused by current urban refurbishments is not dampening the spirit of the participants who look forward to the faithful representation of Jesus’ crucifixion that will play out in front of the Cathedral followed by a Good Friday service at 1 p.m. with Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller taking lead on the seven last words of Christ, as reported by the Express-News.
The Passion play, a vivid enactment of the trial, suffering, and death of Jesus Christ, has been an enduring religious event for the San Antonio community, drawing in massive crowds with 22,000 attendees back in 2019. Participants and spectators will also have the chance to partake in services including Holy communion, the veneration of the Cross at 3 p.m., and confessing rites at 4 p.m., with a final observance at 7 p.m. as they accompany the sorrowful mother in a vigil, reflecting the somberness and introspection that Good Friday summons among the faithful.
Coupled with its presence on the streets the Passion play will extend its reach to those unable to attend as it’s broadcast live on Catholic Television of San Antonio-CTSA Channel 15 from 10 a.m. to noon, and also available for viewing on the CTSA YouTube channel and Facebook page, allowing for a wider audience to experience the solemnity and reverence from their own homes, serving as a testament to the technological age we live in where distance becomes merely a word and not a barrier for shared experiences of faith. Anglicans to Baptists and everyone in-between are stimulated for the unique 2024 uptake of the revered tradition, as volunteers have been laboring for months to ensure the presentation aligns with the gravity it represents, per the Express-News.
