Tag: Taizé

Music Monday: Stay here with me

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I can’t believe that in all the time I’ve been doing Music Mondays, I haven’t shared a single Taizé chant. In case you haven’t heard of Taizé before, it is an ecumenical monastery in central France founded by the now deceased Brother Roger. A style of chant grew up around Taizé which has now been adopted throughout the world.

In the video below you will see some of the stained glass from the monastery’s main building, the Church of Reconciliation. The audio comes from the chant, “Stay with me”, a meditation on the Garden of Gethsemane.

A little post-election reassurance

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Feeling perturbed and frustrated following the election result this week? There’s certainly a lot of aggravation appearing on Facebook at the moment. I think it’s time to reflect on the prayer of St. Teresa of Avila:

Spanish English
Nada te turbe;
nada te espante;
todo se pasa;
Dios no se muda,
la paciencia todo lo alcanza.
Quien a Dios tiene, nada le falta.
Solo Dios basta.		 May nothing disturb you.
May nothing astonish you.
Everything passes.
God does not go away.
Patience can attain anything.
He who has God within, does not lack anything.
God is enough!

 

“Nada Te Turbe” Taizé Chant

"Blessed are the peacemakers…"

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Next week is the anniversary of the death of Brother Roger of Taizé in France. If you have never heard of this man then you have really been missing out…

Although he lived much of his life in France, Brother Roger was originally from Switzerland, the son of a Protestant Pastor.  In 1940, after studying Reformed Theology in Strasbourg and Lausanne, Roger felt God calling him to go to Taizé, a small town south of Paris.  For two years he lived a life of prayer and helped those fleeing from the Germans into unoccupied France.

Founding of a community

After being forced to leave Taizé, Roger returned in 1944 where he began to found a group of men living together in community.  This eventually flowered into the ecumenical monastic community which forever after would be associated with the name “Taizé”.  The focus of this community is prayer, silence, peace, social justice and reconciliation.  Brother Roger wrote many books on these topics.

Monks in the “Church of Reconciliation”

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