With a religious festival they celebrate Santo Cristo de La Grita

Nearly 90 thousand parishioners visited the Sanctuary of Santo Cristo de La Grita during the 414 years of the patron saint of Táchira.

Pedro Payares, from the García de Hevia municipality, was one of the thousands of parishioners who visited and prayed before the Holy Christ, “we thank God and the Holy Christ for life. We ask for health, peace for the world and Venezuela, for each of our homes, so that there is love, union, fraternity.”

It has been more than 15 years, visiting the Christ of the Serene Face every August 6, “many people come, they make a pilgrimage days in advance to reach the sanctuary and pay their promises with great faith for the favors received,” he added.

People of all ages come to La Grita, walking, by bicycle, buses, private cars, motorcycles. Joaquín Niño, from Colón, Ayacucho municipality, arrived in a transport unit contracted to transport more than 30 people.

Niño related that he was a health worker for 36 years in the capital of the Jáuregui municipality, “every time I came to La Grita to work I visited Santo Cristo, then they gave me the transfer to Colón and I still come constantly. We ask for the country to improve many things and always protect us.”

Alix Bravo arrived with her family at the sanctuary, they also traveled from the Ayacucho municipality, “we went to pray and ask for the family, the people of Venezuela, so that we are all well. Grateful to the Holy Christ for everything he gives us.”

Civil Protection Pilgrimage

Along the 8 pilgrimage routes and the 22 care points deployed by Civil Protection, nearly two thousand services were provided to the different people who walked, as highlighted by Yesnardo Canal, director of the relief entity.

“More than 1600 services have been provided at different points. The ones with the highest incidence have been muscle fatigue. Here we welcome them with open arms, this is our pilgrimage, which is to attend and give our hands of solidarity and our hearts to each of these parishioners, believers and devotees of the Catholic Church, fundamentally of Santo Cristo de La Grita.”

When asked about the estimated number of people who arrived at the Sanctuary, Canal indicated that, “90 thousand people arrived through the 8 routes and not only from the state, we also received people from Medellín, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Norte de Santander. From Mérida, Caracas, eastern Venezuela, all attended to at the different aid points.”

Popular Catholicism

The bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal, Monsignor Mario Moronta, led the main mass for the 414 years of Santo Cristo de La Grita.

During the Eucharist sermon he spoke about popular Catholicism, after years ago making his first contact with the pilgrim people in the Basilica of the Holy Spirit.

“The simple people and the vast majority of pilgrims coming from other places awaited the procession. It was for them the opportunity to contemplate, even if it was from afar, the venerated image that today is reaching 414 years old.”

The monsignor explained that the contact with ordinary people, during that moment, allowed him to discover something very special in that demonstration, the people did not come for tourist or cultural reasons, it was a simple and profound faith in the Christ that spoke in their hearts.

“More than the always important decorations of flowers and lights, I felt that the true ornament that made this tremendous manifestation of popular Catholicism unique in Venezuela important was the ornament of faith and devotion, it was not a superficial experience but a experience engraved in the hearts of believers,” described the bishop.