Perspectives on TaizéDear brother, what are you asking for?
The mercy of God and the community of my brothers.
May God complete in you what he has begun.
Brother, you trust in God’s mercy: remember that the Lord Christ comes to help your humble faith; committing himself with you, he fulfils for you his promise: truly, there is no one who has left everything because of Christ and the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much at present - brothers and sisters and mothers and children - and persecutions too, and in the age to come eternal life.
This is a way contrary to all human reason but, like Abraham, you can only advance along it by faith, not by sight, sure that whoever gives their life for Christ’s sake will find it.
From now on, walk in the steps of Christ. Do not be anxious about tomorrow. First seek God’s Kingdom and its justice. Surrender yourself, give yourself, and good measure, pressed down, shaken together, brimming over, will be poured out for you.
Whether you wake or sleep, night and day, the seed springs up and grows, you do not know how.
Never let your inner life make you look sad. Anoint your head and wash your face, so that only your Father who is in secret knows what your heart intends.
Stay simple and full of joy, the joy of the merciful, and the joy of brotherly love.
Be vigilant. If you have to rebuke a brother, keep it between the two of you. Be concerned to establish communion with your neighbour.
Be open about yourself, remembering that you have a brother whose charge it is to listen to you. Understand him, so that he can fulfil his ministry with joy.
The Lord Christ, in his compassion and his love for you, has chosen you to be in the Church a sign of brotherly love. It is his will that with your brothers you live the parable of community.
So, refusing to look back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, never fear to rise to meet the dawn, praising, blessing and singing Christ your Lord.
Receive me, Lord Christ, and I will live; may my expectation be a source of joy.
Dear brother, it is Christ who calls you and to him that you are now going to respond.
Will you, for love of Christ, consecrate yourself to him with all your being?
I will.
Will you henceforth fulfil your call from God within our community, in communion with your brothers?
I will.
Will you live with your brothers in community of material and spiritual goods; this is utter openness of heart?
I will.
Will you, in order to be more available to serve with your brothers, and in order to give yourself in undivided love to Christ, remain in celibacy?
I will.
Will you, so that we may be of one heart and one mind and so that our unity may be fully achieved, adopt the orientations of the community expressed by the servant of communion, bearing in mind that he is only a poor man of the Gospel?
I will.
Will you, always discerning Christ in your brothers, watch over them in good days and bad, in suffering and in joy?
I will.
In consequence, because of Christ and the Gospel, you are henceforth a brother of our community.
May this ring be the sign of our faithfulness in the Lord.