The Archbishop of Toledo launches the “Contemplative Diocesan House”

The Archbishop of Toledo, Monsignor Francisco Cerro Chaves has announced the creation of what he calls “a permanent space and time for contemplation.”

This place, similar to what could be understood as a monastery or a place of contemplative life, aims to be, in the words of the Archbishop, “where all his sons and daughters become aware of the urgent call to be contemplatives in action.”

«We are preparing to erect a Diocesan Contemplative House in which this spirit is lived to offer it to the entire great diocesan family, to all the baptized. For now we do it “ad experimentum”. We will make our way step by step. We ask the Holy Spirit to make us see to give a hopeful reason for our faith and thus respond to this loving correction of the Master for our random restlessness that sometimes oozes from too much personalism. These three words: “house”, “diocesan”, “contemplative”, by themselves and interrelated with each other, express what I expect from it”, announces Cerro Chaves.

The format of the Contemplative Diocesan House

In the letter announcing the launch of this initiative, the Archbishop Primate of Spain indicates that the house will be made up “of faithful united by a desire and a diocesan service of contemplative prayer. Your daily life will be driven by adoration, praise, thanksgiving, intercession…; priests, lay people of all kinds, couples, religious men and women of active life, men and women with the desire to live that silent and loving presence of Christ in the midst of our diocesan Church».

The archbishop clarifies that “we did not found anything: it is not a new association, congregation or religious order.” “It wants to be simply a diocesan home with open doors, with a simple life in prayer and daily work, where no one feels strange,” adds Cerro Chaves.

In this house, some are expected to live in it permanently, and others on an occasional basis for a few days or weeks. “Each one will contribute according to their possibilities. It is like a retirement home, but with a definitely contemplative, family and diocesan charisma, “says the archbishop.

Regarding the location of this house, it will be the parish house of Rinconada de Tajo, belonging to the municipality of La Puebla de Montalbán (Toledo). The house is simple and humble. It currently has four rooms and two more will be enabled.

«The house has the essential spaces to start modestly. But, on the other hand, an overly crowded space would hinder the familiar rhythm that this nascent contemplative project requires. This unique place offers silence and calm, necessary for that personal and community encounter with God”, adds Francisco Cerro Chaves.

Regarding the concrete spirituality of this Diocesan House, the Archbishop of Toledo insists that “its spirituality will be what feeds our diocesan life: our history, our saints, our present, our projects; Revelation (Holy Scripture and Apostolic Tradition), the Eucharist, the liturgy of the hours, the liturgical year, our saints, our Marian devotion. It will promote living, loving and feeling our Church, at the service of the Kingdom of God, as a lamp in the middle of the world».

On the other hand, Cerro Chaves specifies that the house “wants to be contemplative. Without being a monastery or a convent, it will be a house of prayer where the exterior and interior silence that facilitates living in the conscious and loving presence of God will be sought. The idea is to meditate, pray, contemplate, live the spirit that moves the day to day of our diocesan Church».

The Archbishop’s “Dreams”

After explaining this new project in the Archdiocese of Toledo, Monsignor Francisco Cerro Chaves concludes the letter by sharing what he calls his “dreams” or how he wants this Diocesan House to function.

“We dream of a home, with an ecclesial family of simple common life, praying for our diocese, for the entire universal Church.”

“We dream of our Church in Advent, remaining vigilant with our lamps lit, witnesses awaiting the coming
of Christ”.

«We dream of filling the lamps of those who lie in the dark with their empty alcuzas. We dream of a praying family that waits awake at dawn for the arrival of the rising Sun, Christ».

«We dream of the home of Bethlehem where no one is a stranger, with that of Nazareth where we all work, with that of Betania where everyone can fit at the table, with the Easter Cenacle where the Peace of the Risen One is always breathed and where the Spirit blows and enlivens the flame of the Gospel to the ends of the earth».

“We dream of being the Good Samaritan’s inn, where we offer our wine and our oil to dry wounds, where
may the weary and burdened be comforted.”

«We dream of an open community that, like Mary of Bethany at the feet of Jesus, drinks his Words and contemplates his face; that, together with Martha, she intercedes with the Master so that so many Lazarus are resurrected ».

«We dream of our Church on the Lenten journey, pilgrimage towards Easter, light in luggage, poor, austere, free, abandoned in divine providence, chaste and faithful to the Beloved, obedient to his voice that guides us as Good Shepherd towards the House of Dad”.

“We dream of the Emmaus table where our hearts burn when listening to the Scriptures from the lips of the Risen One and where we recognize him every day when we break bread in the Eucharist.”

«We dream of contemplating and proclaiming the greatness of God, like Mary, the Virgin Mother, the first disciple among the disciples, who keeps us in the joyful experience of the permanent Pentecost of the Church».

«We dream of feeling, knowing and loving our Mother the Church more and more: the visible and the spiritual, the saint and that of sinful children,
the active and the contemplative.

«We dream that we are in the heart of the Church that beats with the power of the Spirit at the same rhythm as that of her Spouse, Christ Jesus».

«We dream that the two hearts merge to be father and mother for the one who suffers and cries. We dream of a Church-Mother who learns to die for her children together with her Spouse in order to resurrect with Him and resurrect them».

«We dream that we become aware of being and being in the Mystical Body of Christ. We dream that, being different, we are one in the Spirit».

«We dream that we watch over the unity of the Church, that we pray for the reparation of the fraternity of its scattered children».

«We dream of attracting children under the Father’s Love».

“We dream of our Church in Toledo, with the Easter Light that has been transmitted without fading for centuries, from generation to generation. We dream of our saints, of our martyrs, of their spiritual legacy, which in turn we want to pass on to
our descendants in the faith.

«We dream of a home: with its inhabitants from all walks of life looking in the same direction, with its austere and welcoming rooms and dependencies, with its schedules marked by praise to God, with its workshop and its orchard, with its open doors and its bell to the wind inviting the loving and resounding silence of Christ present in our midst».

«We dream, yes, but at the same time we know that the Kingdom of God is not a dream, that it is real, that it is close, that it is already here».