Taizé for December: Advent Anticipation
We gather in December around an Advent Wreath in anticipation of the Incarnation, of God entering the world and our lives. Rays of light from the wreath’s candles encircle us and those we love.
Our prayer will be from Psalm 95: “For you O Lord, my soul in stillness waits. Truly my hope is in you.”
Download a program for the service here: Taize Service Worship Aid for December 2, 2021
The event will be live-streamed for our many friends who cannot be with us physically.
What is Taizé?
Taizé prayer is practiced throughout the world. It is a meditative candle-lit form of community prayer that includes simple chants sung repeatedly, silence and prayers of praise and intercession. In prayer, we enter the silence, stilling the mind, opening the heart, surrendering to the action of the Spirit ever molding us into the image of Christ. The candles used in the service symbolize the presence of the risen Christ, who conquered darkness and sin and offers new life to all humankind.
Taizé Prayer comes from an ecumenical, monastic community in France and has spread to numerous spots around the world.
From the depths of the human condition, a secret aspiration rises up. Today many are thirsting for the essential reality: an inner life, signs of the Invisible. Nothing is more conducive to communion with the living God than meditative common prayer. When the mystery of God becomes tangible through the simple beauty of symbols, when it is not smothered by too many words, then a common prayer awakens us to heaven’s joy on earth.
All the videos of our Taize prayer services are available here.
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By Fr. Garry Richmeier, C.PP.S.
Using threats, shame and guilt to gain another’s cooperation is expedient but ineffective over the long-run. On the other hand, inviting someone to join us in a common work or goal, respects the other, is more constructive and more often results in substantive and long-lasting change.