"i am really interested in what people really mean when they say 'God'"
"lets talk about this later," said stephan, the german washing up at the sink, for the church bells had already begun ringing.
rita, the german mother who did her knitting during the morning discussions, said that she was filled with something at taizé which had to keep her going till her next visit because she couldn't find it anywhere else.
it is a feeling, an awareness, God, that everything is insuperaby good. it is an overwhelming wave of Peace, the perception of goodness, the perception of beauty - Love - it is a recognition of the value of, God it is Hope and Faith and Charity and Love, it is a feeling and a perception, an attitude, an affirmation, begot by such words as:
In manus tuas pater, commendo spiritum meum
or:
Mon ame se repose en paix sur Dieu seul: de lui vient mon salut. Oui, sur Dieu seul mon ame se repose, se repose en paix
or simply:
Toi, tu nous aime, source de vie
or:
O toi, l'au-dela de tout, quel esprit peut te saisir? Tous les etres te celebrent, le désir de tous aspire vers toi
sung by everyone sitting in the church either side of the central isle where the monks in white robes sit; the voices of all rise in unison, humble-hearted voices, sincere, full of tenderness and hope, accompanied by the simple melody of a harpsichord. it feels awesome. it is a feeling. God, what is it?
another taizé song offers this:
The kingdom of God is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Come Lord, and open in us, the gates of your kingdom
ma che bello!
however, in the underground crypt in the early morning catholic mass, my principal thoughts were: "but what are the thoughts of he who reverently, spectacularly holds aloft the holy host? he who is draped in those robes, he who repeats those words because those are the words that have to be said, what are his real thoughts and feelings? what is he experiencing in this moment?" i can see that hitting upon a good ritual then following it again and again may give a feeling of security to the worshipper, but give me the simplicity of the taizé service, the silence, the simple melody of the harpsichord and the super simple focus on the super positive superthemes of our lives.
brother norbert wrote back and said that even though i was "only" 28 years old, i have experienced a lot of things in my life. he hoped that i understood that the diversity of countries, cultures, churches is already very big and they need to keep a common age among volunteers. As well, they like to give a priority to young people who begin their faith journey, who are about to make important decisions in their life.
i came round to appreciating their focus on the young. i watched the video about the founder Brother Roger and appreciated that from the outset taizé has been conceived as a place for the young.
long live the young!
off to pastures new
the group of belgian high school students made a lot of noise in the dormitories. one night they all sat in a circle and one of them dashed into the middle to pick up the spoon as soon as they recognised the song played by luigi and gabriel on the guitar. luigi and gabriel, the young italians who took a photo of us all together smiling in the sun on their polaroid camera, which they soon signed and gave to me, telling me to give them a call if i ever came near their village near torino. the photo which i was admiring in the street in cluny on the day i left when lo and behold! they drove past and we all sat in the square and they played stairway to heaven while the sun sank. we talked about italy and travelling and europe, and the international goodness of taizé. wide-eyed they were at me saying that i would go in to the woods over there and look for a place to sleep seeing as night was now coming on. i could see that such solitary sleeping in the woods could be seen as not so much fun from a standpoint of social conviviality. i told them of the joy of solitude; the return to the source that is meditation, the beauty of being with the trees and falling asleep with the stars above. in the end i did in fact spend an evening of human conviviality because when i walked into the boulangerie, asking if they could fill my water bottle, marie said:
"tu est en voyage? tu fais du couchsurfing?"
i said: "oui, de temps en temps. cette nuit par contre je pense que vais dormir dans les bois"
"dans les bois? ben, tu peux dormir chez moi si tu veux, il n'y a pas de souci.
c'est comme tu veux"
"ben, comme j'ai dit, dormir dans les bois est ce que pensais faire, mais ton offert d'hospitalité commence a me sembler une bonne option."
an offer of spontaneous hospitality.
a night of meeting her partner nicolas and his circle of friends in the bar, then going out to a restaurant, then admiring her spectacular photos on her laptop of the year she spent working as a chef in new zealand. spectacular, new zealand is a place where the air is pure and the water is pure and the plants grow to their full sparkling best. even the rocks seem to radiate with extra special verve. everyone who has been there says that.
quite impressive really: a stranger walks into your life and twenty seconds later you invite them back to your house. "intuition," marie later explained, "i always trust my intuition."
"lets talk about this later," said stephan, the german washing up at the sink, for the church bells had already begun ringing.
rita, the german mother who did her knitting during the morning discussions, said that she was filled with something at taizé which had to keep her going till her next visit because she couldn't find it anywhere else.
it is a feeling, an awareness, God, that everything is insuperaby good. it is an overwhelming wave of Peace, the perception of goodness, the perception of beauty - Love - it is a recognition of the value of, God it is Hope and Faith and Charity and Love, it is a feeling and a perception, an attitude, an affirmation, begot by such words as:
In manus tuas pater, commendo spiritum meum
or:
Mon ame se repose en paix sur Dieu seul: de lui vient mon salut. Oui, sur Dieu seul mon ame se repose, se repose en paix
or simply:
Toi, tu nous aime, source de vie
or:
O toi, l'au-dela de tout, quel esprit peut te saisir? Tous les etres te celebrent, le désir de tous aspire vers toi
sung by everyone sitting in the church either side of the central isle where the monks in white robes sit; the voices of all rise in unison, humble-hearted voices, sincere, full of tenderness and hope, accompanied by the simple melody of a harpsichord. it feels awesome. it is a feeling. God, what is it?
another taizé song offers this:
The kingdom of God is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Come Lord, and open in us, the gates of your kingdom
ma che bello!
however, in the underground crypt in the early morning catholic mass, my principal thoughts were: "but what are the thoughts of he who reverently, spectacularly holds aloft the holy host? he who is draped in those robes, he who repeats those words because those are the words that have to be said, what are his real thoughts and feelings? what is he experiencing in this moment?" i can see that hitting upon a good ritual then following it again and again may give a feeling of security to the worshipper, but give me the simplicity of the taizé service, the silence, the simple melody of the harpsichord and the super simple focus on the super positive superthemes of our lives.
brother norbert wrote back and said that even though i was "only" 28 years old, i have experienced a lot of things in my life. he hoped that i understood that the diversity of countries, cultures, churches is already very big and they need to keep a common age among volunteers. As well, they like to give a priority to young people who begin their faith journey, who are about to make important decisions in their life.
i came round to appreciating their focus on the young. i watched the video about the founder Brother Roger and appreciated that from the outset taizé has been conceived as a place for the young.
long live the young!
off to pastures new
the group of belgian high school students made a lot of noise in the dormitories. one night they all sat in a circle and one of them dashed into the middle to pick up the spoon as soon as they recognised the song played by luigi and gabriel on the guitar. luigi and gabriel, the young italians who took a photo of us all together smiling in the sun on their polaroid camera, which they soon signed and gave to me, telling me to give them a call if i ever came near their village near torino. the photo which i was admiring in the street in cluny on the day i left when lo and behold! they drove past and we all sat in the square and they played stairway to heaven while the sun sank. we talked about italy and travelling and europe, and the international goodness of taizé. wide-eyed they were at me saying that i would go in to the woods over there and look for a place to sleep seeing as night was now coming on. i could see that such solitary sleeping in the woods could be seen as not so much fun from a standpoint of social conviviality. i told them of the joy of solitude; the return to the source that is meditation, the beauty of being with the trees and falling asleep with the stars above. in the end i did in fact spend an evening of human conviviality because when i walked into the boulangerie, asking if they could fill my water bottle, marie said:
"tu est en voyage? tu fais du couchsurfing?"
i said: "oui, de temps en temps. cette nuit par contre je pense que vais dormir dans les bois"
"dans les bois? ben, tu peux dormir chez moi si tu veux, il n'y a pas de souci.
c'est comme tu veux"
"ben, comme j'ai dit, dormir dans les bois est ce que pensais faire, mais ton offert d'hospitalité commence a me sembler une bonne option."
an offer of spontaneous hospitality.
a night of meeting her partner nicolas and his circle of friends in the bar, then going out to a restaurant, then admiring her spectacular photos on her laptop of the year she spent working as a chef in new zealand. spectacular, new zealand is a place where the air is pure and the water is pure and the plants grow to their full sparkling best. even the rocks seem to radiate with extra special verve. everyone who has been there says that.
quite impressive really: a stranger walks into your life and twenty seconds later you invite them back to your house. "intuition," marie later explained, "i always trust my intuition."
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