Since I visited Taize in 1982, it has remained for me a place of reconciliation and a symbol of reconciliation. Early in 1998, I was eager to hear Brother Ghislain from the Taize community in France being interviewed by David Busch on radio.

David said that one of the aspects of Taize that he found very attractive was the silence and an emphasis on quiet reflection, rather than doing things. He asked why the silence was important for Taize worship. Brother Ghislain responded as follows:

'To listen, to have a space where slowly, slowly we welcome God's love...As one of the songs says, do not listen to my doubts and my darkness, but let us welcome God's love.

The long silence helps us to accept our doubts, our own thoughts, and to listen to God.Who always will say Be not afraid. Do you know that in the Bible there are 365 times the words Be not afraid. It is as if God every morning tells us, Be not afraid. We need time. The repetition is not merely a style, but when you repeat the same words they can penetrate your heart and then we start to listen. All the words of the songs of Taize are taken from the Bible. In fact, we are listening to the word of God. But we don't say to the people who come what they are to think and what they are to do. We don't want to interfere in what is happening between the person and God. What is important is that they find that they have been created in the likeness of God, they they love who they are and they find in the Word of God the nourishment, the joy, to be the child of God.'

David Busch went on to ask about the ethic that flows from Taize - an emphasis on peace and reconciliation. 'Why are those things so important?' he asked. Brother Ghislain continued:

'Well, Christ asked us to be one. If we want to communicate Christ, His Body is to be one. It became a passion for us to express the oneness of the Christian family...But not just to be happy together...The society, the world, what we call the human family, needs signs of unity. Peace is a kind of condition to find unity. The word reconciliation, yes, is what we are looking for, but reconciliation in many places seems impossible, sometimes even in our own life, in our own heart. But if day after day we welcome the trust that God offers to us, and we share that trust with others, maybe reconciliation will come one day.

Trust is more humble. Reconciliation...I don't dare use the word. If you go to Sri Lanka, to Ireland, to Korea, people have been wounded. The word has been misused by people, as you know. Trust, yes. We can speak about trust.'

May it be a passion for us, too, to make space for, and to nurture, the oneness of the human family.

- SISTER MARY BRENNAN rscj

(Advisor representing the Society of the Sacred Heart and consultant to the Study Committee)