In a few days the European Meeting for young adults will begin in Valencia, Spain. The host parishes have in recent days found the last families needed to house all the pilgrims. Copies of the program, printed in twenty languages, and the special city map for the meeting, were delivered to the preparation center and distributed this weekend to the 200 parishes and communities. Across Europe, thousands of young people will set out just after Christmas. For the young people registered for the meeting the final information has been put online.
From 26 December, more pages will be updated to allow everyone to participate fully in the European meeting or follow it from a distance:
In recent weeks, in addition to the seven young people from Sudan, three others from Sudan and one from Afghanistan have arrived in Taizé, so that the total of those who have come to Taizé after passing through the “Calais jungle” is now eleven. In addition to the community, members of the Taizé village council and the local rural council of the Cluny area have been supporting them, as well as other local associations and individuals. In Taizé, Orsi has been closely involved with them from the very start. She writes: “On the morning of November 14, when they heard the news about what had happened in Paris they felt horrible. Their first reaction was: ‘We are so sorry. Please, believe us, this is not Islam.’ They repeated this constantly. Then they asked us if we wouldn’t mind if they prayed for the victims and their families. Of course we didn’t mind, so they did. And then we cried together.”
Two brothers have been in the Middle East since September. Here are a few echoes of their visits to refugees in Jordan: “After six weeks in Lebanon and two weeks in Egypt, we arrived in Amman, Jordan. One of the first things we did here was to visit the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. This visit allowed us to better understand the situation of the refugees in the country. As in Lebanon, most of Jordan’s refugees are from Syria. In Jordan, there are currently 630,000 registered refugees from Syria. Added to this are 60,000 refugees from Iraq and 7,000 from Sudan, Somalia and other countries.”
Before Christmas, Brother Alois joined the brothers in Lebanon and they led an evening of prayer on Friday, 18 December in Badaro, Beirut.
In Paris and across the world, during “COP21”, prayers have been held for the protection of the Creation. The brothers living in Dakar organised activities linked to the environment with the children frequenting the fraternity: “when, week after week during our outings, we collected all kinds of objects found in nature in order to find a meaning for them, nobody would have imagined that we could create a beautiful exhibition with them: “Make, make again, make alive again.” The exhibition was installed in Kër Taizé itself, and has been much visited by schoolchildren, students, visitors of all ages and cultures. Our surprise and joy was to hear from their mouths very positive words and repeatedly: “You are fully participating in COP 21!”
A “jornada da confiança”, as the meetings of the Pilgrimage of Trust are called in Brazil, took place from 9 to 12 October in Salvador in the parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Lapinha. Nearly five hundred young adults from the different towns of Bahia took part, with some coming from further away, and even two from Bolivia.
A few weeks ago, Brother Denis returned from the fraternity in Nairobi, Kenya, for treatment in hospital in Lyon. It was discovered there that he was suffering from an irreversible brain tumour. He then came to Taizé on 10 November. In the night of Friday to Saturday 28 November, on the eve of Advent, he entered into the life of eternity during his sleep.
Just over 50 years ago, Brother Denis, who was an architect, designed the Church of the Reconciliation in Taizé. Other buildings for which he drew the plans include the church of St Joseph the Worker in the shanty town of Kangemi, in Nairobi, visited by Pope Francis during his Apostolic Visit in Africa.
During 2015, Brother Denis created tree bark icons depicting a Way of the Gospel at St Stephen’s Spring, presented on a page of our website, and a temporary exhibition of his artwork was shown in Taizé over the past few months.
Zacchaeus is eager to see Jesus but is unable to do so because of the crowd so he runs ahead of everyone and climbs a tree, like a child, to watch him pass by. When Jesus reaches the place, he stops suddenly and, looking up at Zacchaeus, calls him by name: “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” Perhaps Jesus, as he approached, had asked people in the crowd just who this man in the tree was. It is beautiful in any case to imagine Zacchaeus sitting there on the branch as the joy erupts on his face and he hurries down to receive Jesus. (...)
Among the recent publications in various languages, we would like to mention the fifth volume (in French) of Brother Roger’s collected writings. This volume contains “Ta fête soit sans fin” (1971) and “Lutte et contemplation” (1973). The pages from his journal originally included in the two books have now been enriched with other texts, interviews, letters to young people, and previously unpublished extracts from the annual council meetings of the community.
God of goodness, at Christmas we remember that you sent Jesus into the world to bear witness to your infinite mercy. The violence of the world was unleashed against him, but it could not overcome your love. Stay close, today, to the countless victims of human violence; may faces expressing compassion be for them reflections of your presence. Show us how we can contribute without delay, both near at hand and far away, to the shining forth of your peace amidst humanity and in the whole creation.