As I write today it is raining and the leaves are turning colours; fall has arrived!! I hope you had a lovely summer. Our youth group had a wonderful pilgrimage to Taizé (France) that was life changing in many ways.
Taizé was established during World War II, by Brother Roger, who sought to create a place that was safe and welcoming to pilgrims no matter what their religion. He frequently housed those who were fleeing from Nazi’s and those who found themselves homeless after the war. Over the years Taizé became a pilgrimage destination for young people, and through the grace of God and Brother Roger’s vision, it became a place of dialogue for people from around Europe who had once been at war with one another.
The main emphasis at Taizé is peace. There are approximately eighty brothers who live at Taizé, and young people are invited to come and live for 7 days at a time to experience the life with the brothers.
Jesus Christ also sought and continues to seek peace in our world. So often this ideal is lost on many of us as we see war after war occur. However, at Taizé we were reminded that peace exists by each and every one of us taking the first step towards peace in our individual lives. How do we do that? Well, Jesus commands in the Gospel of Matthew when asked how often we should forgive: “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”
It is only through forgiveness that we can begin to journey towards the inner peace that is expressed in outer peace.