Advent waiting

A brother brings into my room a reproduction of one of the most ancient pictures in the catacombs:  a man praying with both hands raised.  This gesture comes down to us from the dawn of time, from humankind's first beginnings.  A symbol of expectant waiting.  Looking at it, I tell myself:  like every Christian, you are first and foremost a man who waits expectantly, and prayer is one of the clearest symbols of this.

Br. Roger of Taize

Br. Roger's Prayer

In all things peace of heart, joy, simplicity, and mercy.

Br. Roger of Taize

The Witness of Prayer

Very often a man or a woman who dared to pray alone in a church has been, by their perseverance, a living appeal to others.  It only takes one for many to be drawn along in the end.

Br. Roger of Taize

A Child's Prayer

 "...lead us not to temptation, and deliver me an email." We've got some work to do!

this was a friend's Facebook status as she described her child's recitation of the Our Father.  Too good not to share!

Simple Prayer

When the mystery of God become tangible through the simple beauty of symbols, when it is not smothered by too many words, then prayer with others... awakens us to heaven's joy on earth.

Br. Roger of Taize

Prayer and Life

“Strange it is that when people experience emptiness in prayer, they assume the main problem must be that they have not yet found the right book or the right technique – oriental or occidental. Scripture says nothing about method at prayer, but it does say a great deal about true poverty. The main problem in developing a deep prayer life is by far the failure to live the radicality of the Gospel, hour by hour and day by day.”

Thomas Dubay, S.M.

Community and Conversion

“The monks have come to know that their community is constituted by their commitment to conversion. And they know that conversion is turning from themselves to their brethren in community; and to Christ in prayer; and to God in Christ.”
John Main, O.S.B.

To pray
Is to know how to stand still
And to dwell upon a word.

Abraham Joshua Heschel 1907-1972