It seems that we are just now catching the rhythm here, and it’s already time to leave tomorrow. We have so enjoyed the beauty of this place, the beauty of the people we’ve met, and the beauty of the space that Taizé has helped us carve out for God.
This is unlike any other place we have been. There is no division here among denominations (actually, this rarely even comes up in conversations), and there are such sweet connections about growing in faith with people from all around the world.
In addition to this being an ecumenical monastery in gorgeous countryside, it’s part family camp (for those who came with younger kids), part youth retreat (as tons of youth groups are here from around Europe), part Woodstock (many of the youth bring tents to stay in for overflow accommodations, guitars abound, and there was even a talent show for the youth before dinner that everyone could attend), part global village (we have met folks from Kenya, Columbia, Guatemala, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal), and part Sound of Music (the singing as part of the prayers is central to this community, and some folks who come here are incredible singers who somehow make the rest of us sound good).
While there are so many magical things about this place (such as the service here on Friday nights where people can line up to gather round the cross to pray and the candlelight service we will get to attend tonight as a mini-Easter celebration each week), it also functions with a lot of organized chaos (how would it not with thousands of people that descend on this place each week in the summer?). And the food is comically difficult (our first meal we had was a scoop of potatoes, green beans, peas, and carrots mixed in a mayonnaise dressing, and the meat option for the pasta dish one night was a scoop of noodles with red sauce with a piece of lunch meat laid on top of it), but there is also something that we also have come to love about the simplicity of the red cups, big spoons, trays, and large bowls we use at each meal with something that tastes a lot like love here.
This quote below from Thomas Merton describes the wonder of many monasteries (and especially a place here like Taizé): “By making a vow of stability the monk renounces the vain hope of wandering off to find a ‘perfect monastery.’ This implies a deep act of faith: the recognition that it does not much matter where we are or whom we live with. …Stability becomes difficult for a person whose monastic ideal contains some note, some element of the extraordinary. All monasteries are more or less ordinary.… Its ordinariness is one of its greatest blessings.”
No comments:
Post a Comment