• >
  • Community >
  • Some Recent News >
  • Brother Alois at the Synod of Bishops in Rome
  English
  • Community
  • At the Wellspring of Faith
  • Coming to Taizé
  • Around the World


 
  • Some Recent News
  • Visit of Patriarch Bartholomew to Taizé
    • Two video clips of common prayer
    • Visit of Patriarch Bartholomew to Taizé: Words of Welcome by Brother Alois
    • Speech during the Common Prayer
    • The Key Moments in Photos
  • Vocation and History
    • A bit of history: The Beginnings
    • A lifelong commitment
    • About Taizé: The Community Today
    • Brother François (1929-2018)
    • Brother Thomas (1939-2019)
    • A pilgrimage of trust on earth
    • Brother Alois, Prior of Taizé
  • Brother Roger, Founder of Taizé
    • 12 May 1915 – 16 August 2005: Homage to Brother Roger
    • Why Brother Roger died
    • A way of reconciliation
      • Benedict XVI speaks of Brother Roger: “An ecumenism lived spiritually”
      • Interview with Brother Alois: Something that was without precedent
      • Mgr Daucourt, Bishop of Nanterre: Ecumenism is first of all an exchange of gifts
      • Déclaration by the French Protestant Federation: Let us respect the memory of Brother Roger
    • Photos of Brother Roger
    • Video: Brother Roger: A key word from my youth
  • Other people on Taizé
    • John Paul II: One passes through Taizé as one passes close to a spring of water
    • Paul Ricœur: “Liberating the core of goodness”
    • Olivier Clément: "Trust will have the last word"
    • Celebration of Taizé’s 70th Anniversary
      • Celebration of the 70th anniversary of Taizé - Messages received
  • Brothers living in other places
    • The brothers in Kenya
      • The brothers in Kenya
      • Back in Nairobi
      • Meetings and retreats in Nairobi
        • Meetings and retreats in Nairobi: program for 2017
        • Meetings and retreats in Nairobi: program for 2013
        • August 2012 : "Looking by ourselves and sharing"
        • April 2012: Three international retreats
        • Meetings in Nairobi : December 2011
        • Meetings in Nairobi: August 2011
        • Meetings in Nairobi: April 2011
        • Meetings at Nairobi: December 2010
        • Meetings at Nairobi: August 2010
        • Retreat at Nairobi: April 2010
    • The brothers in Senegal
      • The brothers in Senegal
      • A fraternité in Dakar
      • Sénégal: Young people from the villages around Taizé visiting Dakar
      • Lets go and see ak benn!
      • "Ak benn"
      • Voluntary drains clean-up in Grand-Yoff!
      • Griots at the Taizé house in Dakar
      • Refugees in Dakar
      • Locked and barred?
      • The children in Dakar are also accompanying COP21
    • The brothers in Bangladesh
      • The brothers in Bangladesh
      • Estema, the “assembly” at Tongi
      • The station children’s club
      • Rajshahi – following the meeting in Kolkata
      • Learning for life: The stipend program schools in Mymensingh
      • "Singing as we go"
      • Islam in Bangladesh
      • As Christmas draws near
      • Sing to the tune of a new life
      • Floods in August 2007
      • Visits in Nepal
      • On Christmas Day: a great gust of joy
      • Bangladesh: Festival for street children in Dhaka
      • Meeting in Mymensingh, June 2012
      • October 2012 : News of the brothers in Bangladesh
      • Bangladesh: A clown in Dhaka’s main railway station
    • The brothers in Korea
      • The brothers in Korea
      • A Life of waiting
      • A visit to the North
      • In Seoul: some hours of prayer and silence
    • The brothers in Brazil
      • The brothers in Brazil
      • A week of prayer for Christian Unity at Alagoinhas
      • Apprenticeships: Thirsting for a future: journeys on paths unknown
      • Brazil, October 2015: Pilgrimage of Trust in Salvador
      • The "brincadeira"
      • The brincadeira: “It is never too late to learn!”
      • The seeing and talking hands club
      • The "Emmaus" children
      • “Jornada da Confiança” at Vitoria da Conquista
      • An evening in the neighbourhood
      • Three months in Haiti
  • The Brothers’ Work
    • Books, CDs, DVDs
    • Download recordings and printable music
    • The ceramic adventure
    • “Circle Colours”
    • New Publications
    • Acts of the two colloquia held at Taizé in 2015
    • A new film: Moments in the Life of Brother Roger
    • New CD: «LAUDAMUS TE»
    • Buy Online
  • Solidarity: Operation Hope
    • An action of solidarity in North Korea
    • Portraits of Some Projects
  • Anniversaries 2015: Towards a new solidarity
    • From 1940 to 2015…
    • Prayers and Acts of Solidarity across the world
    • Many Church Leaders and Representatives of Other Religions at Taizé
    • Gathering for a New Solidarity: Workshops in Taizé
    • 16 August 2015: Messages Received from Religious Leaders
    • Meditations on Joy, Simplicity and Mercy
    • Gathering for a New Solidarity: Photos
    • Taizé: 10 May: Festive and collected atmosphere for the centenary of Brother Roger’s birth
    • Summer 2015: ARTtogether : Exhibition and Hands-On Workshops at Taizé
    • The icon of mercy
    • Gathering for a New Solidarity: Echoes from the week
    • Gathering for a New Solidarity: Workshops at Taizé
 

Brother Alois at the Synod of Bishops in Rome

Since October 3rd, the synod of bishops brings together in Rome, with Pope Francis, bishops from across the world, experts, young people, and delegates from different Churches around the topic “Young people, the faith and vocational discernment.” Brother Alois is taking part in the assembly as a “special guest.”

Praying with the songs of Taizé

Two prayers with the songs of Taizé, open to all, will be proposed in Rome, in connection with the synod, during the month of October – more information on the Taizé website in Italian.


Brother Alois’ intervention at the synod

Responding to the spiritual thirst of the young and to their search for communion

Articles 68 and 69 of the Instrumentum Laboris express the desire for a “more relational” Church, capable of “welcoming without judging in advance”, a “close and friendly” Church.

My brothers and I are often surprised to hear young people we welcome in Taizé say that they feel “at home” there, and we wonder why. It may be that, to be truly themselves, they need to feel useful, to see their creativity encouraged, to receive responsibilities.

Then their spiritual thirst awakens and it is important to go patiently, together with them, to the sources of faith. They know that they are welcomed by a community, first in the common prayer where all participate actively, by singing, listening to a brief biblical reading, a long moment of silence. And often they deepen a personal relationship with Christ.

We make sure that the liturgical signs avoid formalism, but are beautiful and simple. For example, we see how deeply young people participate, every Friday night, in a prayer around the cross, to lay down before Christ what is too heavy for them.

We say to ourselves: like Christ, let us listen to them with our hearts, reminding ourselves that he is already at work in their lives – and let us respect the sanctuary of their conscience. Those who listen must be accompanied themselves. There is a lack of accompaniers in the Church: could a ministry of listening be entrusted not only to priests, men and women religious, but also to lay people, men and women?

In Taizé, young people also discover that the Church is communion. Without creating an organized movement, we always send the young people back to their parishes and the places where they live. So many of them like to pray together with others of different faiths. They understand, if only implicitly, the call of Christ to be reconciled without delay.

We have recently experienced such a communion at an Asian young adult meeting in Hong Kong, a stage in our pilgrimage of trust. Of the young participants, 700 came from mainland China – it was the joy of the Holy Spirit.

I would now like to make a concrete proposal. Often, the words used and the manner of speaking are obstacles that prevent many young people from hearing what the Church says. Could not the final document be accompanied by a short letter, written in a simple style, addressed to a young person looking for meaning in his or her life?

I would like to summarize what I just said with a few words from Brother Roger, the founder of our community:

“When the Church listens, heals, reconciles, she becomes what she is at her most luminous, a communion of love, of compassion, of consolation, a clear reflection of the Risen Christ. Never distant, never on the defensive, freed from all harshness, she can radiate the humble trusting of faith into our human hearts.”

Last updated: 7 October 2018

Daily Bible Reading

Wed, 20 February
James writes: Be patient; do not lose heart, for the Lord’s coming will be soon.
James 5:7-11
more...

For the Diary

22 - 26 March, Lebanon:
International Ecumenical Youth Meeting in Beirut
25 - 29 September, South Africa:
Next African stage of the Pilgrimage of Trust
 Search events

Podcasts

2019-02-13 : Alleluia 11 + Psalm 145 /Psalm 25/ Señor, que florezca/ Prayer by Brother Alois /Laudate Dominum
IMG/mp3/taize_podcast_2019-02-13.mp3
13 February 2019
2019-02-06 : Alleluia 16 + Psalm 119 /Jn 14,1-12 / Veni Sancte Spiritus/ Prayer by Brother Alois /Stante se Soli
IMG/mp3/taize_podcast_2019-02-06.mp3
6 February 2019
more...

New CD: «LAUDAMUS TE»


Community

  • Some Recent News
  • Visit of Patriarch Bartholomew to Taizé
  • Vocation and History
  • Brother Roger, Founder of Taizé
  • Other people on Taizé
  • Brothers living in other places
  • The Brothers’ Work
  • Solidarity: Operation Hope
  • Anniversaries 2015: Towards a new solidarity

At the Wellspring of Faith

  • Prayer
  • Songs
  • Meditations and Reflections

Coming to Taizé

  • Youth Meetings
  • Specific information for 2019
  • Travel to Taizé
  • UK School & College Weeks
  • UK University Weeks
  • Testimonies by young adults
  • Multimedia
  • Some Recent News

Around the World

  • Small Provisional Communities
  • Meeting in Cape Town
  • Africa
  • Americas
  • Asia Pacific
  • Europe
  • Middle East

Copyright © Ateliers et Presses de Taizé

This website

[ top | Sitemap | Home]

  • Contact
  • News by email
  • Times of prayers at Taizé