So as we head into the Third Sunday of Lent we begin the Scrutinies. Over the next three weeks the Elect (those who will be baptized) will take this time to carefully look inside themselves to see what needs to be changed. But this introspection time is not just for them…it is for all of us!
We began on Ash Wednesday by being reminded that Lent is a time when we are called to repent! Repent: to turn ourselves around and live differently….to live as Christ called us to live.
In 1940 Frère Roger wondered what it really meant to live a life like that. To live a life according to the scriptures. Swiss by birth, he wondered how he could fulfill his vision in the war stricken country of France. A year later Roger settled in a small desolate village called Taizé. Soon others came from Switzerland to join him in this Christ-centered community which was a sanctuary to countless war refugees.
By the 1970’s followers from various Christian backgrounds joined the community causing them to build a larger church just outside of Taizé. By this time the role of the community was to reach out around the world, through prayer and song and to show others how to ‘repent’….how to turn around and live differently.
And one of their greatest gifts to all of us? Music! Designed to be easily learned and sung in many languages, their music emphasizes simple phrases and lines from Psalms or other scripture which are repeated.
So find four minutes to think of how your life needs to be different…and click to listen to this gift from the community at Taizé!
1 comment:
Beautiful. We do Taize evening prayer at my parish during liturgical seasons - the music is a gift that draws community, builds up the Body in so many ways and that calls forth a kind of prayer, otherwise unexpressed.
Prayers for all catechumen and all elect this season, prayers for all.
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