Because He Lives!

Nada te turbe - Taize - Let nothing disturb you

 

Nada te turbe, nada te espante,
quien a dios tiene nada le falta
Nada te turbe, nada te espante
solo Dios basta

Nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you,
  God who lacks nothing
  Nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you
  God alone is sufficient

Laudate Dominum - Reflections from Taize

“Christ is risen!” That is the very heart of the Christian message.

The stories of Easter tell us how those who were previously most deeply committed to following Jesus discover that he remains present beyond death and that he entrusts to them a huge, new responsibility.

The following free echoes of a few of the witnesses of the Passion and Resurrection are an invitation to let that moment of history come into our own lives and shed its light there.

“Folly to the human mind,” the Resurrection declares that God opens a path through our world. God enables us to know him by means of a communion with him. I can only believe in God, but believing keeps me alive.

Taize - Surrexit Christus

Advent 2014 - Confitemini Domino

 

The quieting, mystical experience of Taizé prayer

Imagine the scene. Silence. Church lights dim. On the altar table and the floor and steps around it, dozens of candles flicker, some atop pillars of pink and purple, the Advent colors.

In pews, 50 or 100 or maybe hundreds of worshippers hold their own candles, long and slim, then light each others’ one by one until the church is alive with even more candlelight. They chant together, slowly repeating a single line over and over as they rise and carry candles toward the altar, adding their own flames to the ones already burning.

Returning to pews, worshippers then sit in silence just beholding this magical scene: hundreds of small flames on and around the altar like a sunburst in shadowy darkness. There is no other light. There is no sound save the occasional cough. And nothing moves, save the flames, which dance.

This is a Taizé prayer service.

Continue reading.

Domine, Domine, Dona nobis pacem

15th October - St Teresa of Avila

Source: Wikipedia

Saint Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, (March 28, 1515 – October 4, 1582) was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be, along with John of the Cross, a founder of the Discalced Carmelites.

Read more about this saint here.

Let nothing disturb thee;
Let nothing dismay thee:
All thing pass;
God never changes.
Patience attains
All that it strives for.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.

Lenten Reflections (No. 15) - Adoramus te O Christe (Taize)

We adore you, Jesus Christ, and we bless your Holy Name, truly your cross and passion bring us life and healing.

Lenten Reflection (No. 13) - Jesus remember me

Lenten Reflection (No. 5) - Crucem tuam

Crucem tuam adoramus Domine, resurrectionem tuam laudamus Domine. Laudamus et glorificamus. resurrectionem tuam laudamus Domine.
Nous adorons ta croix, Seigneur. Nous louons ta resurrection. / We adore your cross, Lord. We praise your resurrection. / Dein Kreuz, Herr, verehren wir. Deine Auferstehung preisen wir.

Lenten Musical Reflections (No. 1) - Nada te turbe - Nothing can trouble (Taize)

To begin the Lenten season with a moment of reflection from Taize inspired by St Teresa of Avila.