News from Taizé
Taizé : Preparing for Easter
As we did already last year, we will begin Holy Week by making a pilgrimage to Saint Stephen’s Source before the Eucharist on Palm Sunday morning. Before that there are still plenty of things to get ready in order to welcome the thousands of young people expected for these first very big weeks of the year. In the last few days the groups of young people present in Taizé have been giving an invaluable helping hand in putting up the tents which we’ll need in order to accommodate everyone.
In recent weeks there have still been quite a few visitors, albeit just a few hundred a week - there have been groups of young people from France, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States of America among others. A group of around fifty young Ukrainians, living in Paris, came to take part in the meetings last weekend. To welcome them we sang "Laudate Omnes Gentes" in Ukrainian during the community prayer. Finally, there was a noteworthy visit by 40 pastors from Switzerland and a speaker from Mauritania, invited by a local charity, led a workshop.
Rome: Brother Alois received by Pope Francis
After giving one of the Lenten Conferences at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last Sunday, Brother Alois has been in Rome for his annual visit. On Monday, 16 March, Pope Francis received him for a private audience. It’s the second such occasion during his pontificate. The pope was particularly attentive to the ecumenical vocation of the community and to the welcome extended to young people in Taizé. He assured brother Alois that he will be praying in communion with all those gathered in Taizé later this year, when on 16th August we will celebrate together the centenary of Brother Roger’s birth and the tenth anniversary of his death.
Brother Alois thanked the pope for his announcement last week of a Year of Mercy. He also talked about how close the words the pope used to speak about love and forgiveness reminded him of those of Brother Roger. For the pope, mercy is the heart of the Gospel.
Australia and New Zealand: Pilgrimage in the Antipodes
As the celebrations planned by the community for 2015 approach, Brother Alois led the final stage of a pilgrimage across every continents. In February he visited Australia and New Zealand, along with several other brothers of the community. One of the brothers talks about the visits: "The first day in Melbourne saw us taking part in a welcome ceremony during a meeting with Catholic pastoral workers for the Aboriginal community. Vicki leads the group and her birth lands are around Lake Mungo, a site in New South Wales which has been inhabited for over 40,000 years. […] She invited the indigenous people present to pour a little of the earth into our hands. We had to close our eyes and she prayed that the earth of the first inhabitants of this country might welcome us."
New CD: "Songs of Unity and Peace"
A new recording of songs from Taizé was released on the 16th March. Entitled "Taizé – Music of Unity and Peace", the new album is the fruit of a joint project between the community and the international label Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music, who offered to put their experience and expertise at the service of such a recording. The community accepted the project in order to make the music of Taizé accessible to a wider public. The disc consists of songs sung by a choir of young people and instrumentalists from many different countries, as well as several songs recorded during the community prayer during July 2014 and psalms and responses sung by the brothers.
The new album is available from music shops now or online on the Taizé site.
Taizé: On and around 10 May 2015
The community is extending a special invitation to those living in the greater region around Taizé (Dijon-Lyon-Moulin-Geneva) to come and celebrate 100 years since Brother Roger’s birth on Sunday 10 May. The programme is taking shape, workshops are in preparation and there will be a special programme for children and teenagers. Details of the programme will be published on the website.
Elsewhere young people are invited to recall the memory of Brother Roger and to put into practice his call to follow Christ by organising a prayer there where they live and finding a practical way of demonstrating solidarity with others. You can find a suggested order of service for a prayer which could take place in March or April in order to get ready for this event.
Prayers and acts of solidarity are being organised in many places. Several of these have been published on the website->http://www.taize.fr/en_article17740.html]. If you wish to announce other celebrations on this page, please send the place and date toinfo2015 taize.fr.
Commented Bible Passage: Becoming a Neighbour
The question the man asks Jesus is very direct: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” We could translate this: what could I do to be really alive, so that my life is not a life for death, but a life for life, a life for ever? Jesus’ reply calls upon the abilities of this man, who is an expert in the law, in other words a specialist in Scripture: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” The man answers by associating two Bible passages.
Prayer
God of all loving, you are always with us and in us. Filled with your hope we can be close to those who suffer. May your peace come to all and may your breath of goodness carry us forward.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento