From 0f8e41043aadd6bd606c7b3001c9fce0f5747535 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?UTF-8?q?Nicol=C3=A1s=20Ortega=20Froysa?= Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2021 20:02:38 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?New=20article=20on=20my=20experience=20at=20Tai?= =?UTF-8?q?z=C3=A9.?= MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit --- .../0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.cfg | 5 + .../0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.html | 357 ++++++++++++++++++ style.css | 4 + 3 files changed, 366 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blog/posts/0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.cfg create mode 100644 blog/posts/0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.html diff --git a/blog/posts/0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.cfg b/blog/posts/0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.cfg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3db34f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.cfg @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +filename = 2021-08-24-taize-experience-and-liturgy.html +title = Taizé: Experience & Liturgy +description = After recently having spent a week in the Taizé Community in France, I wanted to write an article about my experience, as well as noting what I was able to reverse engineer about the liturgy they follow for their prayers. +created = 2021-08-24 +updated = 2021-08-24 diff --git a/blog/posts/0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.html b/blog/posts/0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9449461 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/posts/0142-taize:-experience-and-liturgy.html @@ -0,0 +1,357 @@ +

I have recently spent a week in Taizé,[1] an +ecumenical Christian community in France. It's not the kind of prayer I'm used +to, but nonetheless it was a good overall experience. I figured I may as well +share what I had experienced - the good and the bad - as well as what I had +managed to reverse engineer of the liturgy of their prayers, and some of what I +had managed to learn from asking one of the brothers from the community.

+ +

The Music

+

I must admit that I wasn't expecting the music to be as solemn and beautiful +as it was. It truly created a great environment for prayer and contemplation, as +well as a communal spirit in song & prayer.[2] +When you enter into the church, there are papers with the songs they will be +singing during the prayers, and there are electric signs on the sides of the +church which indicate (the number of) the song which they'll be singing. These +papers also have the score.

+ +

Many folks like to sing along, as the songs are short and repetitive, making +them easy to learn (if you can read the language they're in). Especially those +who have been to Taizé before have learned to sing the song with multiple +voices, making the experience much more majestic and beautiful.

+ +

Now, as for myself, I'm not really able to concentrate on praying while +singing. I end up getting distracted with singing in tune and my breathing that +I cannot concentrate on the words I'm singing. In this regard I did feel a +somewhat uncomfortable pressure to sing along; almost as though if you didn't +sing along there was something wrong with you. Yet even without singing along, +the music is something absolutely beautiful, and it helped me to enter into a +spirit of prayer, and reflect upon the readings of each prayer.

+ +

Camping

+

Camping is something I've always loved. The connection to nature and the +struggle to accomplish even menial daily tasks are at the heart of the camping +experience for me. And at Taizé I had the opportunity to combine this with a +life of prayer, and a spirit of mortification. In fact, the spirit of +mortification was so present during our stay, that among those in our group, +whenever we would complain about an inconvenience we were facing, we would +half-jokingly say that we were offering it for: the conversion of China, the +conversion of Germany, or the prohibition of pornography.

+ +

In particular, I was blessed to be able to find God in the sounds and sights +of His creation. Listening to the birds, the wind, the water, the sound of the +gravel and grass beneath my feet; seeing the green hills, the cattle, and the +storms. For a short while I took to calling these sounds "God's Symphony", but +once my friends misunderstood this to mean excretion, the term became +unusable.

+ +

Volunteer Work

+

Staying in Taizé is extremely cheap. We paid a total of 50€ per person for a +whole week, camping in tents on Taizé grounds, with access to all their +facilities & activities, as well as eating four (rather good) meals per day. +Where's the catch? It's run almost entirely off volunteer work. The only income +the community has is from their souvenir shop, primarily the pottery made by the +brothers, which they charge only what they need in order to cover expenses. +Other than that, all other work at the camp is run by the visitors: cooking, +cleaning, washing, etc. The work you are assigned depends primarily on which age +group you are in. Some of my younger friends had to cook, others had to wash +dishes. In my case, as I fell into a different age group, work was optional, but +we decided to volunteer anyways.

+ +

In my case, the work was holding "Silence Signs" outside of the church, +starting 30 minutes before the prayers began, until the bells calling people to +prayer stopped ringing. Actually a rather simple job, although if you're taking +it seriously, it's not as easy as you may think - though I don't want to say I +worked more or harder than those who were in the kitchen or cleaning - as in +order to give example you should also remain silent during the entirety of those +30 minutes. Something which may be easy for some, but harder for others.

+ +

Regardless of what job we were all assigned, I believe this helped us to put +into practice the old Benedictine phrase: ora et labora (pray and work). +Everyone's job, no matter how menial, played a fundamental role in the proper +functioning of the community - except perhaps mine. It created a very monastic +environment, and I believe it helped structure our time while we were there so +that it wasn't simply a leisurely camping trip, but a way of living out a truly +Christian community life.

+ +

Silence

+

I'm extremely fond of prayer in silence, for as St. John of the Cross once +wrote: "God's first language is silence." Perhaps some of the most fruitful +experiences of prayer in my life have been while praying in silence at a +perpetual adoration chapel in Seville. I think this is because silence is +neutral. When you play music, or read Scripture, you predetermine to an extent +the kind of interaction you want to have with God. And this can be good and +helpful under many circumstances. But when we are silence is when we truly give +God the reigns of our time in prayer to bring to light that which He wants to +show us. Maybe He wants to humble us, and so He shows us our faults; maybe He +wants to bring us joy, so He comforts us; maybe He wants to celebrate with us, +so He rejoices with us. And I was glad to discover how in Taizé, silence is +sacred.

+ +

Apart from during the prayers themselves, silence and peace are very present +in the life of the community. In the introduction we were given, the brother who +was speaking to us made a point of emphasizing the importance of silence in and +out of the church, and especially during the later hours of the day.

+ +

During the prayers, in particular, silence gave the space necessary to +reflect on the passages of Scripture which had been read almost immediately +prior. This is something which, lamentably, is not as present even in most +reverent Catholic Masses, where ideally there should be a long moment of silence +after both the Homily and Holy Communion.

+ +

Silence in Taizé is something that I truly valued, and is among the most +beautiful aspects of life in the community.

+ +

The Schedule

+

Staying in Taizé we had to follow a schedule, and punctuality was very +important. In the schedule below the activities marked in bold were obligatory. +As for the volunteer work, that depended on which job you had. I'll also be +adding the time for the Catholic Daily Mass, since that's what I attended.

+ +

Monday - Saturday

+ + +

Sunday

+ + +

Daily Catholic Mass

+

It was a treat to be able to attend the Mass on a daily basis once again. +Ever since the churches in Seville switched to their summer schedules, I've +found it extremely difficult to attend Mass on a daily basis, even more so in +August. So to be able to receive the Eucharist every day that week was truly a +gift; and as it was celebrated in the morning, it helped to fuel the rest of my +day.

+ +

I will admit, however, that one thing that bothered me about the Mass, given +the international context, was with regards to the readings. The entire first +segment of the Mass is dedicated to Scripture, and therefore I believe it's +important that all attendees have equal access to the daily readings. Yet the +readings were always read in a different language, not necessarily understood by +all attending. This would not have been much of a problem had they provided the +daily readings in multiple languages on a sheet of paper, as they do with other +activities (e.g. the Bible reflections), but this was not the case. I also +believe that it would've been more fair had the readings been proclaimed in +Latin, which is the universal language of the Church. But that's not as +important.

+ +

Sunday Mass

+

I place Sunday Mass in particular as a separate section because it was +celebrated differently from the Daily Mass - or from any other Catholic Mass in +the Ordinary Form, for that matter.

+ +

I will say first that, despite how oddly it is celebrated, it is truly a +Catholic Mass. They celebrate it, however, in their own style (as the Ordinary +Form permits). There is a valid consecration, and therefore we do receive the +true Body & Blood of Jesus Christ.

+ +

The structure they follow is more or less the same, with some additional +hymns here & there, and with some additions to make the Mass similar to +their daily prayers. If I remember correctly, the readings were also proclaimed +in two languages (French and English).

+ +

I was disappointed, however, in how they skipped the epistle reading for that +Sunday, which was Ephesians 5:21-32. I speculate it is likely due to its +controversial meaning. If this is the reason, then I would find this to be +greatly disappointing, as just like the rest of the readings, and the entirety +of the Bible, it is divinely inspired. To hide such things does not inspire +trust or confidence, but rather skepticism and a questioning of their true +intentions.

+ +

The Workshops

+

I must admit that I was a little disappointed with the workshops, but that +probably has more to do with my expectations than with the general quality of +the workshops themselves. That is, I was expecting the workshops to be hands-on +activities (e.g. pottery, woodworking, iconography), but instead they were +presentation on different topics.

+ +

The topics were primarily international issues and cultures, +environmentalism, and spirituality. I only ended up attending one workshop, so I +don't consider my experience to be representative of all the others. I also +believe that there were less workshops than normal due to the situation with the +pandemic, and therefore in other years there may have been a greater variety of +topics.

+ +

The one workshop that I did attend, however, was quite terrible. It was about +women in the Bible and in the Church. From the name alone I already wasn't +expecting much, and was prepared for some heretical views, but somehow it +managed to be way worse than I thought. I had already expected they'd try to +promote a female priesthood,[3] and I more or less +guessed they'd complain about some depiction of women in the Old Testament - in +this case, they decided to pick on the beautiful story of Ruth - but what I +wasn't expecting was that they'd make use of Servant of God Dorothy Day, to +promote their own political agenda and justify abortion and divorce, by omitting +her later condemnation of these evils after her conversion to the Catholic +Faith.[4] It is likely that the two women +presenting continued to spew such things after this point, but I had already +left.

+ +

I do not write this last paragraph to make it seem that all the workshops at +Taizé are this aweful, or that this is the general position of the brothers who +lead the Taizé community. It is an isolated experience. However, I do believe +that this is motive enough for the brothers to develop a filtering process that +would prevent this sort of presentation, if they do not have one already.

+ +

Bible Reflection

+

Every day (except Sunday) we had Bible reflection at in the morning. They had +divided us into age groups in order to make it more cohesive, so during the +discussion it would be easier to relate to others.

+ +

Before starting, we had to pick up a paper that had the reading for the day, +as well as some questions for small-group discussion. Then one of the brothers +would give an introduction to the passage which was about a hour long. After +that, we would split up into our small groups of about seven people, and go over +the passage as well as answer the questions.

+ +

I must admit that, at least personally, I don't think I was prepared for +this. Generally I'm used to group readings of the Bible being an intellectual +exercise. In this regard, I believe that I wasn't going about the Bible +reflection in the right way, which is probably what lead to my mediocre +experience. It instead felt more like I was getting to know the other members of +my group, than exploring the spiritual depth of the passage with them and their +unique experiences. In this regard, I wish that I had had a little more guidance +as to how to go about the small groups. In retrospect, it may have been better +to avoid the questions altogether and work directly on the text, as I have +experienced with Lectio Divina.

+ +

The Liturgy

+

I'm generally a person who needs a lot of structure. In fact, when I first +started attending Catholic Mass, I carried a small notebook with me in which I +had written down the ordinary for the Mass, with all the prayers in it, so I +could follow along with the structure. So it is to no surprise that in Taizé I +did the exact same thing. I did, however, have to reverse engineer the +structure, as they did not provide any kind of rubric.

+ +

Below are the structures of the three different prayers celebrated throughout +the day: morning, noon, and evening. To an extent, it would seem very inspired +by the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours.[5]

+ +

Morning Prayer

+
    +
  1. Introductory Hymn
    2. +
  2. Psalm
    3. +
  3. Old Testament Reading
    4. +
  4. Morning Hymn
    5. +
  5. Segment of the Reading
    6. +
  6. Hymn
    7. +
  7. Silence
    8. +
  8. Petitions (Kyrie)
    9. +
  9. Our Father
    10. +
  10. Hymn I (Preparation of the Blessed Bread)
    11. +
  11. Hymn II (Communion)
    12. +
  12. Hymn III
    13. +
  13. Hymn IV
    14. +
  14. Hymn V (exit)
    15. +
+ +

Noon Prayer

+
    +
  1. Introductory Hymn
    2. +
  2. Short Reading
    3. +
  3. Hymn
    4. +
  4. Silence
    5. +
  5. Prayer
    6. +
  6. Hymn I
    7. +
  7. Hymn II
    8. +
  8. Hymn III (exit)
    9. +
+ +

Evening Prayer

+
    +
  1. Introductory Hymn
    2. +
  2. Hallelujah
    3. +
  3. New Testament Reading
    4. +
  4. Evening Hymn
    5. +
  5. Segment of the Reading
    6. +
  6. Hymn
    7. +
  7. Silence
    8. +
  8. Petitions (Kyrie)
    9. +
  9. Hymn
    10. +
  10. Prayer
    11. +
  11. Hymn I
    12. +
  12. Hymn II
    13. +
  13. Hymn III (exit)
    14. +
+ +

Regarding this structure, I will note a few things. First of all, regarding +the selection of the readings and hymns, I asked a brother from the community +and he said that the readings are selected for an entire year, and the readings +for each day can be found on their website.[6] The +hymns, however, are selected based upon the origin of the visitors to the +community for each given week - as well as the language in which most of the +prayers, as well as the Mass, are said in. As for where it says "(exit)", this +does not mean it is the end of the session, but rather that at this point it is +normal for people to leave. Generally they continue to sing more hymns +afterwards - especially with evening prayer.

+ +

On Friday and Saturday, the evening prayer is slightly different, as they +celebrate an adoration of the Cross on Friday (in commemoration of the +Crucifixion), and a candle vigil on Saturday (in waiting of the Resurrection). +Since I only got to experience these once, I was not able to write down their +structure, but I believe it was pretty similar to the normal evening prayer.

+ +

Conclusion

+

My week in Taizé was a mixed experience, and for the most part a very new +experience. It showed me new ways to enrich my relationship with God, and also +helped me to discover God in my love for the outdoors. At the same time, there +were parts which I had difficulty with, or that were even scandalizing, +disturbing the peace of an otherwise beautiful experience. I was able to share +moments of prayer, song, and overall joy with my friends who had come with me; +and was able to strengthen my relationship with them. As such, in spite of the +problems it may have, I hope to visit Taizé again some day with the +foreknowledge I have now.

+ +

References

+
    +
  1. + + Taizé Official Website + +
    2. +
  2. + + "Taizé - Laudate Omnes Gentes" on YouTube + +
    3. +
  3. + + "Call No Woman Father" from Catholic Answers + +
    4. +
  4. + + "Dorothy Day" § Social Activism on Wikipedia + +
    5. +
  5. + + "Liturgy of the Hours" from Wikipedia + +
    6. +
  6. + + Bible readings for each day - Taizé + +
    7. + +
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