STONEVILLE — Through the light of 100 candles and the harmony of 100 voices, the darkness was pierced with unity and love during the annual Taizé-style interfaith worship service Dec. 3 at St. Francis Springs Prayer Center.
Taizé is a globally recognized ecumenical movement of reconciliation, which started after World War II in Taizé, France, by Brother Roger Schütz, a Protestant. Taizé Prayer is a Christian evening prayer that was recognized by then-Pope John Paul II. The distinctive prayer style features repetitive chants, group prayer and long periods of silence calling the faithful to focus deeply on Christ’s presence around us and within us. The Taizé worship at the prayer center is no exception.
“They are not just hymns and not just songs. They are prayers that are easily learned,” instructed Sally Morris, former music director of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro, who has led
St. Francis Springs’ prayer service at since it began 20 years ago. “You can repeat them until they are so familiar you can feel them entering your entire being.”
“You may notice that we may all breathe together, and we may all suddenly get louder or softer,” she said. “We are one voice in these solemn prayers.”
In the absence of words, the unified, repetitive hymns of praise, meditation and silence guided guests to welcome in Advent through the simple beat.
Taizé was brought to the prayer center by its founder Father Louis Canino, O.F.M. St. Paul choir member and Taizé bassist Efren Renteria remembers those beginnings.
“Father Louie wanted to do something different. He wanted to put songs and prayer together. He mentioned the Taizé community, and we’ve been doing it ever since,” Renteria said. “I like doing it at Advent because it resets you. We can teach them easily, and the concept is once they get singing, they start putting the paper down and let the words show up.”
Father Bob Menard, O.F.M., friar in residence and spiritual director at St. Francis Springs, started the night by blessing hundreds of tea light candles and Christians as they entered the dark chapel holding their tiny flames.
He said, “May we offer up this night to light up the darkness in our world, a world that continues to get darker.”
One by one, each person slowly entered the chapel, chanting the short hymn of praise they practiced moments prior. They carried their candles beneath the Franciscan Cross floating above the altar and beside the newly lit Christmas tree, gently placing their small light with all the others on a candelabra.
Then the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices continued together, intoning the soft, repetitive choral, “The Lord is my light, my light and salvation, in God I trust,” which was accentuated through the sounds of the harp, flute, organ, bass and guitar.
Just like the prayer center itself, Taizé seeks to offer meaningful, unified prayer in a common place regardless of language or denominational boundaries.
Thousands of pilgrims travel to the Taizé monastic community each year, where brothers of the community and visiting pilgrims of the Catholic and Protestant faiths live together in harmony. A few of these pilgrims were present in the small chapel, voyaging to France after years of practice at the annual solemn meditation to visit the inception of it all.
The movement spread globally, receiving greater strength through the acceptance of then-Pope John Paul II, who propelled its popularity during World Youth Day Taizé prayer spaces.
Pope John Paul II explained, "One passes through Taizé as one passes close to a spring of water. The traveler stops, quenches his thirst, and continues on his way."
Cynthia Garrison is one such traveler, and St. Francis Springs Prayer Center is her spring. She is a Catholic from Hillsborough who visits frequently for the peace she finds on the grounds and the ecumenical dialogue she has come to love served alongside the community meals.
“It is a lovely way to worship in an ecumenical way and to be still in God’s love, a beautiful combination of actively waiting for the Lord this Advent,” Garrison said. “Lifting our voices together in a community with so many you may be meeting for the first time or friends you made at St. Francis Prayer Center in years past is a beautiful reminder of our unity as children of God.”
— Lisa M. Geraci
