Following the calm of the month of September, the month of October has seen the numbers increasing once again. In spite of the autumn cold, one week saw 2000 young Germans on the hill. Before the French vacations at All Saints, there have been people from Russia, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The auxiliary bishop of Zurich came with a group from Switzerland, and the auxiliary bishop of Dhaka, Bangladesh, came for three days.
Brothers are coming back from journeys in Europe and even further afield; one of them attended the enthronement of the new Patriarch Irenaeus in Serbia. Two young people have arrived from Haiti and will stay for several weeks.
To mark the 70 years of Taizé and the 5th anniversary of Brother Roger’s death, a short extract from unpublished video interviews with Brother Roger goes on line each month of 2010. For October: “Wounded innocence”.
“In 2010, many countries in Latin America are celebrating 200 years of independence from Spain. It has been a momentous occasion. The break with nearly two centuries of colonial rule meant that, for the first time, Latin America was free to decide where it wanted to go, what kind of society it wanted to construct in the future. It is against this historical backdrop that we celebrated this year’s National Independence Day. Like other Chileans, we made the most of the 4-day holiday. On the 18th September, Chile commemorated the declaration of its independence which laid the foundations of the modern state.… At the heart of this year’s celebrations was the story of the 33 miners trapped in the partially demolished mineshaft in Copiapó.”
Preparation for the meeting in Santiago continues in many parts of South America. Following visits to Argentina and Bolivia, young volunteers will be going to Peru and Uruguay. In Central America, it is the “icon of friendship” that brings the young people together around Christ and sends them to Chile to continue in a world that is ever more fraternal.
From 8 to 12 December 2010: Meeting in Santiago
People in Rotterdam are getting ready to welcome the thousands of young adults from all over Europe and beyond when they arrive in the city for the European Meeting to be held from 28 December 2010 to 1 January 2011.
Suzanne is doing her journalism internship at the communication department of the meeting. She writes: “It’s fun. Great fun, even. It’s fun to see a different volunteer depart for a host parish every few hours. It’s fun to experience a Taizé prayer in Holland with "real" brothers, in the afternoon at 17:30 in the Paradijskerk. And above all, it’s fun to be so close to the activity, and to be able to contribute to this amazing event. Because despite all those little different cubicles, divided by wooden panels, we’re all working together. On the way to the same goal!”
In September, when the pilgrimage of trust meeting in Oslo and Trondheim ended, one of the brothers who had taken part in the meeting continued his journey, from Norway to Finland. He writes, “Autumn came early to the north this year, so when I began my journey in mid September, setting out from Kirkenes / Kirkkoniemi (Norway) the leaves had already fallen. The first stop was to visit the small St Georg’s Orthodox Chapel in Neiden, built in 1565 by the first missionaries to Lapland from the east. On the last Sunday in August an outdoor liturgy and blessing of the waters is still celebrated here today. We visited the little school (10 students and three teachers).… The old people from the region had also been invited for lunch, so together with the children we sang in the three languages used in the region: Finnish, Sami, and Norwegian (plus Latin & English, for Laudate omnes gentes!).…”
One of the brothers writes: “The Sunday Mass at the cathedral was very
festive. It was the 7th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of the Bishop of
Ulaanbaatar and the young people and lay people were fully involved. The bishop
arrived in 1992, as a young Filipino missionary, with two companions, in this
country where there was no longer a Christian presence.
A visit to faraway
parishes had been organised. Leaving Ulaanbaatar is already quite an experience;
the city is spreading more and more, since half the country’s population
lives in the capital. Last year’s terrible winter shook the whole country: 8
million animals perished in the cold. 30 per cent of the population is nomadic
and they lost their only means of livelihood. The only solution for them was to
head for the city, where they might find work. In the capital a religious order
looks after street children; others have opened centres for students.”
This summer, nearly a thousand young adults from Ukraine visited Taizé. In turn, several brothers visited Ukraine in September-October.
“There was a whole series of visits: from Kiev to Sebastopol, from Kharkiv to Ivano-Frankivsk, meetings in larger centres and in small villages made it possible to understand “from within” the life of Ukrainian Christians.… The brothers were welcomed warmly everywhere they went, with prayers with the songs of Taizé; they took part in beautiful liturgies, and enjoyed meetings and moments of sharing with students. There were meetings too with other travellers during the long train journeys, or with elderly women, the “matushkas”, who often maintain a discrete and faithful presence in the churches.”
Can one believe in God in the modern world? A new book by Brother Alois
reflects on the feasts of the Christian year, showing how they can support the
risk of trusting in God. The chapters of the book were first published as a
series of meditations in the daily newspaper “La Croix”. Illustrated in colour.
Title: “Oser croire” (“Dare to believe”), Les Presses de Taizé, ISBN:
9782850403071
French and German editions have been published simultaneously;
other languages are to follow. Details, with links to the
distributors.
Holy Spirit, you open our eyes to the wonder of your love. And still more, even when within us there is no feeling of your presence, you say again to each of us: “Do not be afraid, I am here; trust is at hand”.