“The seduction of God” is the title of the letter that the Bishop of Malaga Antonio Dorado Soto has written to mark Pro Orantibus Day, which was celebrated in Spain on 3 June. In the Church, said the bishop, “many people” have decided to “dedicate their own life” to “seeking God’s face”: “they are the monks and nuns who live in the solitude of the cloisters”. Bishop Dorado Soto recalled what Pope Benedict XVI has said of monasteries: “these places, apparently useless, are in actual fact indispensable, as the ‘green’ lungs of a city”. To mark Pro Orantibus Day, the Bishop of Cordova Juan José Asenjo Pelegrina has also written a letter to his community, recalling St. Teresa Benedetta of the Cross (Edith Stein) and observing that “contemplatives, with their cloistered life, constant prayer, silence, mortification and community life, turn their life into an offering pleasing to God who transforms it into a spate of supernatural energy on behalf of us all”. Also marking Pro Orantibus Day, the Bishop of Jaen Ramón Del Hoyo López has written: “Monasteries are undoubtedly places of silence and meditation. They invite and teach us to pray, with the language of God”. In the diocese of Jaen there are 21 monasteries of cloistered and contemplative life. “They are – observed the bishop – living wellsprings of fresh water for the whole diocesan community” and “they continually question us about the meaning of life”.
