It is ten years since Brother Roger, founder of the Taize community, was murdered at evening prayer on August 16^th 2005. His sudden death shocked not only his immediate community but a far wider circle of people who had come to faith and an appreciation of prayer through his influence.

 Born in Switzerland in the early months of the first world war, his father was a protestant minister and so that was the Christian culture that nurtured his early years.

 In 1940, now 25 years of age, he left Switzerland and cycled to Taize in the Macon district of a divided France . Taize was in Vichy France , that southern area of the country not directly occupied by Germany . There, with his sister, they purchased a house and began caring for both Jews and Christians seeking refuge from the occupier to the North.

 They were forced to leave when it was realised that the Gestapo had become aware of their activities. After the liberation, he returned to Taize and established a community, the seed-bed of what Taize is today.

What a jewel Taize has become in the midst of secular Europe , a place of ecumenical life lived in a simple manner. It has attracted, and continues to attract, thousands each year who come to understand the Christian faith, not through books, but through the lived experience of sharing the prayer and meditation of the monks who have gathered there. And so many of those visitors are young men and women whose spiritual hunger is being satisfied. A report in the New York Times, published two days after his death noted that:

‘Part of his appeal may have been his dislike of formal preaching, while encouraging a spiritual quest as a common endeavor. During a Taizé gathering in Paris in 1995, he spoke to more than 100,000 young people who were sitting or lying on the floor of an exhibition hall, amid backpacks and a sea of candles. "We have come here to search," he said, "or to go on searching through silence and prayer, to get in touch with our inner life. Christ always said, Do not worry, give yourself."’

Beyond Taize, through words and music, we have been able to share in an understanding of the Lord that has touched many in a profound and meaningful way. A selection of Taize music and chants can be found at:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRrYRORosgo&list=PLAFC3BF61F242A1C6

 Light has long been a symbol used at Taize, with large numbers of candles giving banks of radiant light to those sharing in the meditation. Many of the frames in this clip give a vivid impression of prayer at Taize.

Brother Roger devoted his life to ecumenism in a lived way. He was a man formed by his early protestant upbringing. In 1980, during a European Meeting in Rome , speaking in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome , in the presence of John Paul II he said:

‘I have found my own identity as a Christian by reconciling within myself the faith of my origins with the mystery of the Catholic faith, without breaking fellowship with anyone.’

His reception of the Eucharistic Christ is well documented. It was a natural continuation of his personal search for a Christian unity where the intention and understanding over-rides rules, seeking a deeper faith that is life-giving.

According to Cardinal Walter Kasper this was accomplished as though there was a tacit understanding between Brother Roger and the Catholic Church "crossing certain confessional" and canonical barriers through what Brother Roger called a gradual enrichment of his faith with the foundations of the Catholic Church including "the ministry of unity exercised by the bishop of Rome ."

The forthcoming Synod would do well to be reminded of his example.

In remembering his life we too should follow his practice of meditative prayer.

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