Sunday 4 April 2021 | Taizé, Church of Reconciliation Welcome to all of you present in Taizé on this Easter day. It is good that we can be together, united in prayer, at a time when a new period of travel restrictions in France is beginning as a result of the pandemic. I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to those who are following us this morning via internet, in different countries (...)
Wednesday 28 October | Taizé, Church of Reconciliation Since last week, you have been many in Taizé from different regions of France during the All Saints’ Day holidays. We brothers are happy to welcome you - all the more so in this very difficult health crisis we are going through. I would also like to thank the adults who are accompanying you and who have prepared this stay with you so well: (...)
It is a great joy for us brothers to see you gathered here in our Church of Reconciliation. You know, because of the pandemic, we had to close the welcome in Taizé in mid-March and we were very sad about that. We cannot imagine our community life without hospitality. But this period of lockdown also allowed us to live a kind of community sabbatical and to think about the essentials. In a way, (...)
Sunday 12 April 2020 | Taizé With grim news besetting us every day, we ask God to come to the help of our humanity, tested not only by the havoc of the coronavirus, but also by so much other suffering. We entrust to God all who have fallen ill, their loved ones and those who care for them. We are imploring God. But let us be careful not to withdraw into our anguish by simply waiting for this (...)
Tuesday February 25, 2020 | Taizé, Church of Reconciliation It is a great joy for us brothers to see so many of you gathered here this week. Already, during the past two weeks, the French have come in large numbers to the hill. And now more than 2000 of you have come from Portugal and others from elsewhere. Welcome, everyone! This morning we heard a very powerful story, which comes from the (...)
Tuesday October 22 | Taizé, Church Reconciliation Just over a month ago, with more than 2,000 thousand young people from Africa and beyond, we were gathered for a youth meeting in South Africa, in Cape Town. It was a great joy for me to return to that great country that showed the world, 25 years ago, the strength of the non-violent protest against apartheid. However, it must also be said that (...)
Thursday August 29, 2019 | TaizéTonight, I would like to pay special tribute to the many speakers during this week of reflection. We are very grateful that our reflection has been nourished by the contributions of so many experts and friends. These days, we are in particular communion with the young people gathered in Tlemcen in Algeria. They are spending a week there similar to the program of (...)
Thursday August 1st | Taizé, Church of Reconciliation Three times a day, we come together in this Church of Reconciliation. Together we go to the sources of faith. You already know that for us brothers, this week is marked by the death of our Brother Jacques, on the night of Monday to Tuesday. We will hold with all of you the farewell celebration on Saturday at noon. Brother Jacques lived a (...)
Thursday July 25 | Taizé, Church of Réconciliation This evening I would like to greet particularly those of us who come from two countries well represented this week in Taizé: Lebanon, where we had had a beautiful stage of the pilgrimage of trust at the end of March, and Hong Kong, with which many links of friendship unite us. As you probably know, if we can welcome so many of you in Taizé, it (...)
Thursday July 11 | Taizé, Church of Reconciliation In this first big week of the summer, it is a great joy to see so many of you here. You have come from all over Europe, especially from Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, but I would also like to greet especially the young people from other continents, from many countries of the world. Some of you will stay in Taizé for the whole summer as (...)
Thursday 13 June 2019 | Taizé, Church of Reconciliation This week began with the celebration last Sunday of Pentecost, a feast that is closely linked to the joy of Easter. In fact, Pentecost marks as it were the accomplishment of the Easter Season: Jesus has overcome death. He is alive in God’s presence. Suffering, hatred, and violence have not had the last word. By this feast of Pentecost, we (...)
Saturday April 20 | Taizé, Church of Reconciliation Last night, it was around the cross of Jesus that we gathered. Why had he, who had done no harm to anyone, been put to death with such cruelty? No explanation is enough to really answer this question. And throughout the history of humanity, there are so many innocent victims of human violence! Jesus loved to the end; he did not condemn (...)
Tuesday March 5 | Church of ReconciliationIt is a great joy for us brothers to see so many of you here this week. Already during the past two weeks, many French people came to the hill, but beforehand, during the winter, there were few pilgrims. Some weeks, the volunteers were even more numerous than the young visitors. And now, there are 2000 of you from Portugal and still others from (...)
Thursday August 23 | Taizé, Church of ReconciliationThese days in Taizé are special, with this program of workshops and round-tables made possible by the presence of so many guest speakers involved in various areas. The wide range of topics, the depth of the exchanges and the participation of all of you make this week a beautiful event of this summer on the hill. For my part, I returned from (...)
Thursday July 12 | Taizé, Church of ReconciliationThis week in Taizé is very international. This diversity is present at every moment of our life: in common prayer with readings in many languages, for the communication in small sharing-groups or work-teams and, first and foremost, through the personal encounters that we can all have. A bit later, a child will read the list of all the countries (...)
Saturday, March 31 [9] What brings us together these days? Is it an idea, a doctrine, a system of thought? No, it’s a person, Jesus. And, throughout this week, we have accompanied him during the last moments of his life, until the end. At the end of this week, we remain with a question: this man, who did no harm to anyone, who on the contrary had done good to so many poor people, why did (...)
Thursday August 31We have a beautiful summer behind us. The day before yesterday evening a few young people from Lebanon came to say goodbye. And I wondered: do they know how valuable their stay of three months with us was? They bring us closer to the Middle East and transmit their thirst for peace. Several young Arab Christians are still here. We like to sing with them in Arabic our song (...)
Thursday August 10 We are in the midst of a beautiful summer and I would like to express my admiration this evening to those who stay for a long time on the hill, the volunteers who are here for a year and those who help out for a few weeks. Through their commitment they support the meetings so much. Among them are some 120 young people from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. (...)
August Thursday 17Tonight we have been praying for the victims of the attack in Barcelona. The presence of young people from this region makes us even closer to those who have directly experienced these events. After this meeting, we will sing El Senyor, in Catalan language, with in particular these words: “No tinc por! Do not be afraid!” It has been over fifty years that generations of young (...)
For most of you, the stay here in Taizé only lasts a week. For us brothers, for the sisters, for the young volunteers, this week is in the middle of the summer meetings on the hill; we are half way through this beautiful summer. For us it is a great joy to welcome you and to be together with so many people week after week. If there is a nice atmosphere of joy on the hill, we do not forget that (...)
July Thursday 27It is a joy for us brothers to welcome you all on the hill. From China, Korea or Australia to North and South America, from Finland to South Africa, including the Arab countries, we are together in a beautiful diversity. This communion lived in the concrete situation of our days is a precious gift that is given to us all. It stimulates the hope that solidarity can be (...)
Last week and this week mark in Taizé the beginning of a beautiful summer. Many young people come to pray, to search for a source for their lives. We, the brothers, with the sisters and volunteers who spend time on the hill, are happy to welcome you. You have seen in the proposals made for 2017 that, with all those who succeed each other here week after week, we would like to open new paths of (...)
We are very numerous this weekend on the hill of Taizé. At this same moment, some brothers are in the United States, in St Louis, for a meeting for young Americans. We would like to greet the participants of this weekend meeting, which is being held in a city marked by recent serious tensions between different communities, but where there are also people seeking peace and reconcilation. The (...)
Thursday April 20, 2017These days we tirelessly sing: “Christ is risen”. To understand this central reality of our faith, we lack words. So singing together the resurrection of Jesus helps us to put our trust in a mystery that is beyond us. What is this mystery? Because Christ is risen, he is present to each and every one of us, he loves every person unconditionally, and this love will last (...)
Wednesday 13 April 2017 [14] With you this week, as with all those who will come to Taizé throughout this year, we would like to seek how to open new paths of hope, around us and in the world. It is true that we are in a world where many know despair. There are many reasons for this. There is violence, continuing wars, the recent attacks in Egypt and Sweden. This Holy Week allows us to (...)
Thursday 4 August 2016On Monday I returned from Poland. With some brothers we took part in World Youth Day in Krakow. At the same time, one of our brothers participated in the gathering of young French Protestants which was in Brittany. In Poland, during the week before WYD, the brothers were at Auschwitz, near Krakow, and led prayer with young people who visited the concentration camp of (...)
Thursday 14 July 2016Three times a day we gather in this church that bears the name Church of Reconciliation. On entering we are all invited to commit ourselves to reconciliation. But what does this word mean? Probably for all of us, the word reconciliation evokes conflicts and divisions that challenge us and that we would like to solve. But we must first take another step. It is welcoming (...)
Thursday 19 May 2016This whole week we are celebrating Pentecost. That is the culmination of Easter. Jesus conquered death. He is alive with God. Suffering, disease, hatred and violence are not the last word. What are we celebrating in this feast of Pentecost? Before his death, Jesus made a mysterious announcement; he said to his disciples, I will send you an Other who will help you, he will (...)
Saturday 7 May 2016These days we are celebrating the Ascension, Christ’s return to heaven; we are extending the Easter feast at the heart of our faith. Jesus conquered death. He is living with God. Suffering, disease, hatred and violence do not have the last word. Through this feast we celebrate our hope. For us too, like Jesus, in every situation in which we find ourselves, God can open a way (...)
Saturday 26 March 2016With this evening’s prayer we enter into the night of Easter. We prepare to celebrate tomorrow the resurrection of Jesus, this great mystery that we never understand completely but that can transform our lives. After the violent death of Jesus, the disciples locked themselves in out of fear. They felt this death as the end of their hope and as the failure of their (...)
Thursday 20 August 2015This year, as you all know, is an anniversary year for Taizé. Some of you already arrived Sunday and were able to participate in the prayer that we celebrated in memory of Brother Roger. August 16 was the anniversary of his death, ten years ago. And today, August 20, is another anniversary. Just 75 years ago today, Brother Roger arrived for the first time in this small (...)
Thursday 13 August 2015Brothers will go to live in Cuba On Sunday, we will remember Brother Roger. It will be the anniversary of his death. And we will also recall his 100th birthday and the 75th anniversary of his arrival at Taizé. He left us as a legacy one of his major concerns: peace, sharing, solidarity among human beings. He spoke of “struggle and contemplation”; he knew that God’s (...)
Thursday 30 July 2015Throughout this summer we are recalling Brother Roger—his birth a hundred years ago, his arrival in Taizé 75 years ago and his death ten years ago. If, while the world war was raging, he founded a community, that is because he was convinced that Christians should be reconciled in order to be together a ferment of peace in the human family. He did not want to remain (...)
Saturday 16 May 2015Each time we leave Taizé, we always remain amazed, we brothers, when we return, to find the church so full, as it is these days of the feast of the Ascension. Several of my brothers and I were in Rome this week where the general assembly of Caritas International was meeting, with delegates from 138 countries across the world. They had asked us to prepare a prayer every day (...)
Saturday 4 April 2015 All this Holy Week, the prayers have brought us closer to Jesus. We have watched him take the path of suffering and death. Holy Saturday—today—has placed us in the silence of God that Jesus knew and shared with so many men and women who feel they are abandoned by God. And here we are tonight on the eve of the resurrection of Jesus. He conquered death. How? By his love, (...)
Thursday 21 August 2014 One of the things that characterizes our meetings throughout the summer here in Taizé is that we come from different Churches. Living together for a few days, God enables us to anticipate unity and to welcome one another in our diversity. The search for unity among Christians does not just concern theologians and Church leaders. More than ever, in order to advance towards unity, all of us, each of us can make a commitment to "live as people who are reconciled" in our daily existence. Living as people who are (...)
Thursday 14 August 2014Week after week it is a joy to be so many on the hill and to sing to God in prayer. Christ unites us in a great diversity. The unity that we are given to live is an image of what we hope for all humanity. These days, we are close to the young adult meeting that is taking place now at Tlemcen in Algeria. Every day they have the same prayers as we do and the same (...)
Saturday 31 May 2014Many of us brothers have just returned from various visits we made this spring. Some went to Ukraine, another to Russia. In serious conflict that is taking place at this time, there is in both countries women and men who want peace. I myself, with other brothers, was in Mexico for a beautiful gathering of 2000 young people from different countries. In particular, we had a prayer vigil in the sanctuary of the Virgin of Guadalupe, where several thousand people from the city joined us. Taizé brothers will also leave for (...)
Saturday 19 April 2014This Holy Week, which will culminate tomorrow morning in the celebration of Easter, enables us to live days of intensity. Having come here from so many different countries, we experience a communion beyond the borders of languages and denominations. Tomorrow we shall greet each other, as Christians do all across the world, with these words: “Christ is risen – He is risen (...)
The summer is coming to an end. And many of you are going back to school or work. For us, the brothers of the community, the end of summer means that many of us will leave the hill for some time. Tomorrow, two brothers leave for Africa. You know that in November we will have our third international meeting of young adults in Africa—in Kigali, Rwanda. Then there will be the European meeting in Rome. In both places, brothers along with sisters of St. Andrew and a team of young volunteers will soon be there to support the preparation. These (...)
Thursday 9 August 2012This week we are celebrating a special anniversary. Fifty years ago, on August 6, 1962, the church in which we are gathered was inaugurated. You may know that it is called the “Church of Reconciliation.” Our brother Denis, who is an architect, designed it and young Germans from “Aktion Sühnezeichen,” an organization created for reconciliation after the World War, assumed the work of building it. Over the years, this church has been altered and extended because Brother Roger was constantly preoccupied by this desire: that (...)
