Taizé in January
Like every year, following the European meeting in Poznań, the rhythm of the meetings in Taizé was slower than usual. For the brothers, this is above all the time for the yearly council of the community: five days of prayer, sharing and reflection. During the final prayer of the council, Brother Alois asked for the reading of the message received from Richard, a young person in Haiti who was a volunteer in Taizé in 2006.
Taking advantage of this calm period, the volunteers had a week of reflection centred on the Bible texts linked to the “Letter from China”. For the Week of prayer for the unity of Christians, leaders of different Christian denominations, as well as friends from the region, came to Taizé for a time of prayer together.
Among those who came were groups from Belgium, the Czech Republic, and from Poland, including fifty priests from Szczecin. There were also young people from the USA, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, Scandinavia, as well as two pastors from Korea and two bishops from Argentina. At mid January, several hundred leaders of the Scouts of France organised their “faith assembly” at Taizé.
Finally, for the Feast of the Presentation, two discreet turtle doves were placed in the choir of the church, just beside the icon representing the meeting of Simeon with the child Jesus (Luke 2, 22-35).
Scouts and guides of France at Taizé
Pierre-Yves (France)
“The Scouts and Guides of France held their faith assembly on January 16-17 at Taizé. It was a very powerful moment for our movement, a weekend in which faith was really at the heart of every encounter, of every moment we spent together. The faith of adults and the faith of young people – it is often easy to distinguish them – were in communion on the hill. For the first time the turnout was very high, more than 600 participants, three times the number in 2008. For the first time, many young people came (over 150 of them) to the assembly, which is usually a little dusty and does not hold much interest for them. For the first time, many Scout leaders came to this hill so familiar to young people, and discovered this motive-force of the faith of young French people today. For the first time, fellowship between generations – often desired but not so often experienced – was experienced in the movement. For the first time, and hopefully not the last!”