Last Good Friday, April 19 of this year, one of the most outstanding days of Holy Week, a procession was held through the streets of Lawrence in memory of the drama lived by Jesus Christ at the Calvary, a story written centuries ago.
We saw women kneeling on the hard asphalt of the streets at the passage of Jesus with the cross on his back and men crying as they marched after Him. The devotion lasts despite the centuries that have passed since its crucifixion.
Young people, belonging to the Parish of Saint Mary of the Assumption of Lawrence, masterfully reproduced the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus while hundreds of faithful observed in respectful silence, as if feeling in their own flesh the suffering shown by the young actor who was on the cross.
At the end of the performance we left, thinking about what we had left behind, and it came to mind what we are going to experience soon. All sources agree that Roman soldiers killed Jesus with a Roman punishment – the crucifixion – even though he was innocent of the accused.
Locally, we have the case of Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino who was found beheaded on a river bank in Water Street, on December 1, 2016. The teenager’s head was found a short distance from his body.
It is not with the intention of lacking importance or respect to the history of the crucifixion of Jesus, but because this one of Lee Manuel has to be written by us all.
Never, as far as we know, had such a thing happened in Lawrence, that a child under 15 years of age is charged with murder and, moreover, beheading another youth of his age and schoolmate.
After more than two years awaiting news about the brutal murder, last week the local newspaper reported that the trial of Mathew Borges, accused of the murder of Lee Manuel will begin shortly.
Although we were all anxious for this moment to come, we cannot imagine the pain that Lee Manuel’s grandparents have gone through, have suffered and will continue to feel, without forgetting about Matthews’ parents. They are human, too.
