Daily Meditations by Brother Matthew

Welcome to all of you who have come from throughout Europe and from still further away to join us for four days of prayer and sharing here in Paris and in the surrounding region.

I would like to express our joy at the presence of a thousand young Ukrainians who have come to spend these days with us. You are for us a sign of the hope of peace that we all carry in our hearts. « Ми з вами » (me zvami) – “we are with you!”

You already arrived yesterday and you were welcomed by families in a local community. On behalf of my brothers, I would like to thank all the families that opened their doors to you.This welcome is a powerful sign that comes straight from the heart of the Gospel: offering and receiving a simple hospitality, without conditions, reflects something of God’s love. It includes the joy of coming together and of feeling part of the household.

When Jesus asked those who wanted to follow him, “What are you seeking?” They answered, “Where do you live?” They then went to Jesus and spent the day with him. He asks each one of us: “What are you seeking?” Keep that question in your hearts these days to let a reply arise in you.

This evening we are praying in several churches of the city of Paris and in the cathedrals of Creteil, Evry, Nanterre and St. Denis. Tomorrow morning you will continue the program in your local communities before coming to Paris for midday prayer as you did today. After the afternoon workshops, we will all be together for evening prayer in the Accor-Arena of Paris-Bercy.

How good it is to be all together as brothers and sisters! These last few days we have been spread out throughout Paris and the surrounding region, welcomed for prayer in churches of different confessions. Now we can pray in the same place, a visible sign of our unity in Christ in all our diversity.

I just returned from Ukraine a few days ago. I spent Christmas there. One of my brothers and I were welcomed by Christians who are doing all they can to listen to and to remain alongside those who are suffering from the war. In this way they are providing a concrete support to those whose houses have been destroyed by helping them to recreate a home. We prayed on the tombs of people who gave their lives to defend the freedom of their land.

When Christians struggle to be at the service of others, are they not becoming creators of a more just world, the reflection of the love God has for each person, leaven in the dough? And in this way the church becomes a place where all can feel at home.

The gospel reading we have just heard speaks of God’s house. At the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry Saint John places this scene in which Jesus casts out the merchants and overturns the tables of the money-changers in the Temple.

Jesus makes a whip out of some cords: we never see Jesus acting like this anywhere else. What does it mean? A fight against the injustice of an economic system? An act to restore the sacred space of his Father’s house? Later on, his friends will interpret his act in the light of a verse from Psalm 69 and they will understand that he acted out of love for the house that belongs to God.

When Jesus announces his death and resurrection—“destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up”—he opens up a further horizon. On the road back to Galilee, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman and we realize that by his resurrection, he offers us a communion in the Spirit where we can worship God as we are and wherever we are.

When we pray together with others, we become God’s house—the sanctuary is built wherever we meet in Christ’s name—and we can feel at home there. This communion is also a road of healing and of life to the full that leads us towards the Father’s house.

Tomorrow at the midday prayer, you will hear how, even until his last breath, Jesus kept on creating a house for those he loved, for all humanity.

In Ukraine, as I said, I saw houses destroyed, but a life that is constantly reborn, that refuses to be suppressed. Our European house, rebuilt after the wounds of the Second World War, can seem to be in ruins once again, but will we be ready to commit ourselves alongside courageous women and men who are giving everything for it to be reborn? The values dear to us are still present. How can they open up our horizon so that we can look further and work for a European house where all can feel at home?

And this through simple gestures: meeting, talking together, and listening to each other even without understanding everything about the other person, where praying together is not possible. In this way, we discover what is already given, a reality where justice is very much present, but often hidden from our eyes.

For many years now, our Taizé Community had been undertaking a pilgrimage of trust. From time to time this pilgrimage becomes visible, as it has now during our European meeting in Paris, but also in the village of Taizé with weekly gatherings of young people where we will be very happy to welcome you.

In this way we can encourage one another in our daily journey of faith, and let Christ ask us over and over again the question “What are you seeking?” that prepares us to face the challenges that we will encounter wherever we are.

But where will our next European meeting take place?

It will be held:

in a country with 9296 lakes

where a Slavic language is spoken

in a city marked by the encounter between four different cultures: Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish

which has two very good football teams

with a name that is not easy to pronounce

The next European meeting will be held in the city of Łódź in Poland!

These past few days you have been listening to Jesus who asks each of us, “What are you seeking?” What reply has arisen from your depths in prayer, in sharing and reflection together, and in the solitude of silence?

May what you have received accompany you in the coming weeks and months following our European meeting. In this way you will continue and deepen the road begun here in Paris and the surrounding region.

Journeying together with others in our chaplaincies and parishes can be a great support and goes along with a personal journey. Are we ready to enter more and more into the mystery of the Body of Christ, his church, where we can only be one all together? And how can we listen to the desires of those who feel they are far from trust in God?

In our answers to the question of Jesus, it seems to me that there is one that is probably common to all of us. In the Letter for 2026, I wrote: “We long for peace – inner peace and peace in this world which God loves so much. ‘Begin the work of peace within yourself, so that, once you are at peace, you can bring peace to others,’” said Saint Ambrose of Milan.

Inner peace, world peace: we are all thirsting for this. And yet Saint Ambrose tells us that this peace must first of all be welcomed into ourselves. How can we do this when everything around us tells us that peace is far away and even seems not to exist?

This evening, we listened to the Gospel that speaks to us of the meeting between Mary of Magdala and Jesus after his resurrection. The friends of Jesus were distressed after his death and were afraid of persecution. Early on the morning of the first day of the week, Mary went to the tomb of Jesus. She was very sad: the stone that closed the entrance had been removed and the body of Jesus was no longer there.

A meeting with messengers from God, who asked her about her tears, preceded the coming of Jesus. He too asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” but he added, “Who are you seeking?” Not realizing who he was, Mary questioned him in her turn, thinking he was the gardener.

But when Jesus called Mary by her name, she recognized him and a personal relationship was restored. Surprise and joy overwhelmed her. Jesus did not want her to possess or cling to him, but to live his life for others. He sent her as the apostle to the apostles to proclaim the good news that God had raised him from the dead. The communion between Jesus and his Father was thus open to the women and men who love him.

Peace returned to Mary in this relationship with the risen Christ. The “What are you seeking?” at the beginning of John’s gospel became “Who are you seeking?” And a little later, the first words of Jesus to his friends, still imprisoned in their fear, would be: “Peace be with you.”

Even if, like Mary of Magdala, we do not recognize Christ, as the Risen One he remains alongside us. When we are afraid, he comes close and offers us his peace. And he entrusts us all a mission: not just to keep this peace for ourselves, but to continue his work of reconciliation, to become pilgrims of peace.

Will we be among those who do all we can to live Christ’s peace for others? In this way a hope will be reborn on our European continent and in the world.

In Ukraine, at Lviv, Ternopil and Zaporizhia, I met a great many courageous people who wept but who, often on account of their faith, got up like Mary of Magdala to bring to others the good news that life is stronger than death. They are living signs that the light we are celebrating these days of Christmas is really and truly shining in the darkness, and that the darkness has been unable to extinguish it.

I would like to ask Sofiia from Ukraine to say a few words to us.

"We are a group of 1,000 Ukrainians who have come from different parts of Ukraine, including Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and many others. We came to Paris above all to join other young people in approaching the newborn Jesus and gathering together in prayer. For us, it is also a precious opportunity to speak about the real Ukraine, to share our culture, and to witness to the truth about the war. We are here for unity. We are here to show that we stand strong. It is very important for us not to be rejected or forgotten. We need openness, a willingness to hear the truth, and space for unity. Thanks to all of you, we feel seen and heard; your support helps us cling to the light of faith."

Our European meeting is coming to an end. I want to express once more our gratefulness to the families and the local churches who have welcomed us so warmly. After the next song, we will receive the blessing from the different church leaders present. But this evening in your places of welcome, at 11pm you will enter the New Year by praying for peace.

I don’t want to make any great declarations, but simply invite you to pray for peace in our European societies, so that they may be welcoming for all, and for Ukraine, a witness to the struggle for freedom and that resists by its hope for a just peace, for Palestine (let us not forget the forsaken of Gaza) and Israel, for Myanmar and all the countries where war is being waged. Let us also pray for all the women and men who are seeking justice under oppressive regimes.