The Archbishop of Toledo, Francisco Cerro Chávez, invited all participants, this Saturday, at the opening of the pastoral course, to be “pilgrims of hope.” This appears in the pastoral letter that he delivered, under the same title, to the more than 700 participants at this eventwhere he recalls that the beginning of the course coincides with “the last months of the Year of Prayer, with which the Holy Father wanted to prepare the great universal jubilee.”
As reported by the archdiocese in a press release, the first chapter is dedicated to the meditation on the text of the evangelist Matthewin which Jesus Christ calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee. In this sense, the Archbishop of Toledo emphasizes that “while today it seems that many essential realities in life, in society, in our parishes seem to disappear, we must hold on to the fact that Christ is in the boat and that we will move forward.”
Then the pastoral letter stops at ‘Great Jubilee of Hope‘. On this subject, he recalled that “Pope Francis, after much prayer and reflection, surely wanted this jubilee year to be dedicated to healing and the renewal of Christian hope.”
The Archbishop then details the various diocesan calls to join the Great Jubilee of the year 2025. “We want there to be jubilee calls with a diocesan repercussion, a broad appeal to the various States and sectors of ecclesial life, which form a route of the different jubilee temples distributed throughout the diocesan geography.
In this sense, he explains that these will be moments in which the bishops will be “present to promote this path of hope on which the high spiritual tone of our particular Church depends, taking care of certain sectors that we consider important to bring together in the pilgrimage and celebration of the jubilee.
Among these jubilee moments that the Archdiocese of Toledo will experience and that Francisco Cerro sets out in his pastoral letter, there is the Jubilee of brotherhoods and fraternities, on January 25, in Urda; the jubilee of vocations, in the cathedral of Toledo, on February 9; and the jubilee of teenagers, on March 8, in Talavera de la Reina.
Families will also have their jubilee moment, in the temple of the primates, on March 22; Children will celebrate their jubilee on April 5thalso in the Cathedral of Toledo; those who collaborate and work, in collaboration with socio-charitable institutions, will have their moment of retreat May 24, at the sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity of Illescas; and the young people, in October 2025, will celebrate the jubilee in the Extremaduran Basilica of Guadalupe.
Finally, the Archbishop of Toledo stressed that the intention of all the Jubilee appeals is “that the entire People of God feel called to this time of conversion and Jubilee pilgrimage, seeking to bring together this broad representation of all the States and sections of the Christian life.
The opening day of the pastoral course took place this Saturday in the parish church of San Julián de Toledo and in the meeting room of the diocesan school Nuestra Señora de los Infantes”, bringing together more than 700 participants, priests, members of consecrated life and lay people of the entire Archdiocese of Toledo, which, with this day, joins the next celebration of the Jubilee 2025, in addition to preparing the convocation of the next Diocesan Synod.
Inaugural meeting
The meeting began at 10:30 in the parish church of San Julián, where, after a moment of Eucharistic adoration, the participants prayed the middle hour, which was followed by a meditation led by Don Francisco Cerro on the biblical text of the storm. calmed. Then, in the school’s meeting room, the presentation of the pastoral course took place, in which the Choir of the Six of the Primate Cathedral performed.
During the presentation of the course, the diocesan delegate for the jubilee and pro-vicar general, José Fernando González Espuela, and the delegates of tourism and pilgrimages and brotherhoods and brotherhoods, explained what the course would consist of. Jubilee 2025 and how the Archdiocese will participate.
Then the Vicar for Evangelization, the diocesan delegate for the secular apostolate and the general secretary of Caritas Diocesana offered a synthesis of reflections for the future diocesan Synod of the community discernment team.
For his part, the Episcopal Vicar of the Laity, Family and Life, accompanied by the delegates of the Family Pastoral and a consecrated virgin, explained the next National Vocations Congress that will be held in Madrid in February. All this was accompanied by the musical interventions of the Six of the Cathedral of Toledo. The icon of the Diocesan Synod, the work of Francis Robles Montesinos, was also presented.
THE Opening of the Jubilee in the Archdiocese of Toledo It will be celebrated in the Primate Cathedral, on the afternoon of December 29, the feast of the Sagrada Familia. On the other hand, the diocesan places of pilgrimage, on the occasion of the Great Jubilee, will be the Primate Cathedral, the Talavera Basilica of Nuestra Señora del Prado, the Extremadura Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Basilica of the Santísimo Cristo de la VeraCruz de Urda and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of Illescas.
