By P. Daniel ( www.infonature.org )

TAIZE OFFICIAL WEB SITE: www.taize.fr

These are the memories of my trip to a small village in France… a village called Taizé. To me this village is a very special place because it feels like no other in the world. And why it is a special place? It’s because it has a very kind and comfortable human atmosphere, which transmits something wonderful into the soul of every visitor that has an open spirit for such feelings. It’s only possible to know exactly what I mean, and to feel such emotions when you are “living” in Taizé, and participating in the community itself…

How was this trip made possible?

Around the month of March, I heard news about the trip (a peregrination to Taizé) from a long time friend, which told me about it. And the more I was hearing about this trip he was doing himself as well, the more interested I was getting. As time went by I started to have more details about the trip, and soon I became very interested in going together with my friend and as well with a group of around 40 or 50 people in just one bus. Around June I went to one of the meetings that the group would do to get to know each other better, and to talk about the trip and it’s preparations. The meetings were made in a church were most people were from. Most of the people in the group knew each other, so they were comfortable within the meeting, since most people were familiar to them. I only knew about 4 people in the whole group. Some of the ones I knew, I knew for 2 years already. But since the first meeting that I felt the group was really a nice one and I almost immediately started to make new friendships. During the meetings we also talked about Jesus, life, spirituality, and a few more things that are relevant to the peregrination. We had about 3 months to prepare for the trip, and when I say to prepare, I meant it both in a material and as well spiritual way. I have to say that the preparations in general, were rather good. When the time arrived for departure, everyone was ready with the entire luggage.

The day of the departure…

In 17 of August, at around 4 PM, the people of the group was starting to arrive to the church, and putting all of their bags into a room designated to it. I arrived at 18.00 hours (6 PM), and like everyone else I went to put my bags into the appropriated room, and took a bag filled with food in order to share for the last “dinner” in community, that we would be having before the departure in the bus, and after the church mass. At 7 PM we went to the mass and one hour later we started eating what everyone brought to share. One hour later after 9 PM we started loading the bus with the entire luggage, and started entering the bus. At total, the group was composed of 44 people. Around 22.00 hours (10 PM) in that night, the bus left the local behind the church while all the friends/family of the people in the group were waving to us, and then the bus headed to outside Lisbon, while I believe, that everyone in the group were feeling many different emotions, some even of sadness for leaving, but also, at the same time for joy and excitement for going to such a special place and to be able to visit other places and meet new people and cultures.

The trip through Portugal – Spain - France…

Few minutes later we reached the highway that would lead us far away from Lisbon, on route into Spain. During the first hours of the trip, there was a lot of “confusion” and excitement inside the bus, because people were restless and unable to stay still, due to the way each person felt, to the excitement, but as well due to the several activities promoted on board the bus, for example, the “secret friend” game. The first activity was to “introduce each other” to the group. Afterwards we started playing games and mingle with others. Almost everyone had energy to “party”, and have fun for that night, we only started to try to sleep (since having a real rest inside a bus is near the impossible) very late in the night time.

We arrived the Spanish border hours later deep within the dawn. In that night, it was very hard for me to fall asleep in my chair, so for several times I went to the front of the bus close to the driver and talked with him, but what I was doing was mainly watching the road and the scenery in front of me, since I was in a very low level in the front, and very close to the front windshield, I was almost close to the road, just a few centimetres above the road level, and it was really fun to be there and being able to watch the road and vehicles passing by so closely and at high speed, and this way being able to have a wider view of the scenery in general. During the whole night I only “rested” for 2 hours, and my colleagues in the group noticed it very well… while we were crossing Spain we stopped about 3 or 4 times in Service Stations. The first time we stopped in a Service Station in Spain, made the only employer of the Station suspicious and kind of “afraid” of our group, since he would not let more then 3 people inside the shop at the same time, and there was security cameras all over. But after some insistence toward him, he allowed us to go inside so we would not take longer then it was necessary. For me it was really nice to be able to step a foot on Spanish soil once more, since last time I did that was a few years ago. And I was really in the mood to visit other places outside Portugal. But the best was reserved for France. For Lourdes, Taizé and Paris.

When the Sun was starting to rise, we were reaching one of the places that I consider being one of the most beautiful places on Earth… the Pyrenees. I have crossed those mountains several times and I really loved watching the amazing scenery that was introduced to me. The type of scenery that would touch any sensitive soul, lover of nature. The Pyrenees is like a mixture of the Appalachian and the Rocky Mountains, which are located in the USA. It has the best of both. So obviously that even if I was feeling sleepy, I had to make myself to stay awaked to be able to watch the natural beauty of the mountains. It was not easy but surely it was rewarding.
Just before we reached the Spanish/French border, we stopped to eat, but just an hour or two after, we crossed the border on route to Lourdes that was still very far away.

Arriving to Lourdes…

We were still crossing the Pyrenees, from the city of Bayonne (France) to the southeast of the Pyrenees, where Lourdes is situated. Lourdes is a “religious” city, in some ways it’s very similar to Fátima (Portugal), where the Virgin Mary showed up several times. These two cities in different states are very well known due to the Virgin Mary apparitions. Thus, making them very religious cities.

As we were arriving to the surroundings of Lourdes, we started to contemplate the beautiful landscape of the area… it was really a sight for sore eyes. The mountains and the rest of the environment around made Lourdes an extremely beautiful place, to visit, and to live. As we were entering the area, almost everyone in the bus would open their eyes wide, and look out trough the window, enjoying the landscape… Lourdes is a small size city, with many small streets… at first glance some areas of the city even seamed to have “mazes”. Of course for a foreign that never visited the city, it would be somewhat confusing walking around in the first time. But we did not had problems in our group and managed to visit the most important places in about 6 hours.

When the bus finally stopped, we starting to walk to a small park close to the bus and sit down to have a picnic. Minutes later, after everyone recharged energies, we left in smaller groups and finally started the visit at Lourdes. Some of the places we visited were the main cathedral, church(s), the “cave” where it’s said the Virgin Mary showed up several times… in that “cave” there were long queues of people, wanting to touch the “cave” walls. Also, there were nearby water fonts, where it’s said that the water coming from deep within the mountains gives healing abilities to the person who drinks it. There are many cases of “unexplained” miracles due to the water (?). After we visited the “cave”, we directed ourselves to a new type of church, which was constructed beneath the soil and had the size of a small football stadium. It was the first time I saw that type of underground churches.

Later that afternoon, when it was almost dark, we went to a mass before returning to the bus and leaving Lourdes. The church where we were at was brand new, which obviously had modern architecture traces. Inside it was very wide and thousands of people could fit inside and pray. During that night there were a few thousand people inside but the overwhelming majority were composed of young people. As soon as the mass started, it was proven that this mass was like no other. The formal, normal mass ceremonies that happen everyday at every church were replaced by a new, modern version of masses. This new version was more liberal, and had more chanting. The best way I can describe this mass, was to talk about the movie of Whoopie Goldberg, when she went to a church to hide from the Mafia, and revolucionated the local church masses by introducing different, more modern chantings.

The success of this new modern version of a mass was so big in Lourdes, that the thousands of young people that were in the church, were enthusiastically cheering, chanting together… you could clearly see the joy that existed in everyone’s hearts, it was contagious… and later on, even when the priests were leaving the ceremony, many youngsters went to the “stage” and continued the chantings for quite a while. Some groups even showed the flags of their countries/states, for there were youngsters of all nationalities in the church. It was an amazing thing to see, an amazing thing to feel. Only the ones who were in the mass would know for sure what I mean when I write this words, it is a sensation that is “difficult” to describe by words… you can only know the true power of those feelings, by being there and to feel it yourself.

After the mass was over, we had to return to the bus and get ready to leave. This was the first day where we were able to stop for some time, and visit around. And for the first day it was already excellent in all levels. So it seemed that the trip that was only in the start was very promising… and in fact it was.
We left Lourdes at Saturday, day 18 of august, at around 22.00 hours (10 PM)… and our trip to Taizé was still long.

Arriving in Lyon and Cluny…

We still had more then 12 hours of road ahead, and after such a long and wonderful, but yet, tiring day at Lourdes, many were fatigued and in need of resting. Unfortunately, like I previously said, resting well in a bus, is virtually impossible. And since many people did not had rested well the previous night, this night promised to be somewhat harder due to the lack ness of appropriated places to rest. And it would be even worst to me, because I did not even slept in the first night in the bus. But I was so tired that I knew for sure I would fall asleep during the night. So later in the night, after we had our usual games, and after the prayer, the bus lights were turned off and everyone would try to make their best to feel comfortable and to try to sleep and rest as much as possible.

Even if I did slept a few hours during the dawn, it was not enough to rest my body and soul. Since I would wake up every now and then, and to fall asleep again was hard. During the night time the bus travelled from Lourdes to Toulouse (a city I knew well enough), then going southeast, passing nearby cities like Marseilles, Montpellier and other cities. Unfortunately we could not stop in any of those cities due to the lack of time. So we just passed by.

As the Sun was rising in the morning, we were reaching the French Alps, which houses some of the highest chain mountains in Europe… at the distance I could see very high mountains during a very long extension of the landscape. It was really beautiful to watch. I am sad due to the fact that I did not took any photos of the landscape in that area, and maybe more sad because we did not visited the French Alps since it has some of the most beautiful landscapes of that type. Looking to the sky I could as well see smoke trails provoked by fighters from the French Air Force. Many of those fighters were for sure Mirage 2000, since this fact was later comproved at Taizé. It became clear that we were “close” to a major Air Force base. But what drawn my attention was the scenery where we were inserted, since watching the Alps while the Sun is rising, and watching that wonderful reddish colour in the sky, would soften even a “hard heart”.

We were still heading towards Lyon, which is quite a big city. We would stop there for around 30/40 minutes before returning on our route toward Cluny (which is a medium size village close to a much smaller village that is Taizé), and then directly to Taizé. As we were approaching Lyon, the French Alps stayed behind… and when we were entering Lyon, we noticed what seem to be a big, but yet, nice city. And also we were watching a big river going trough the middle of the city, and as well the famous TGV (Train de Grande Vitesse) trains. This are trains capable of reaching very high speeds of around 400 Km per hour (more then 250 Miles per hour) or more. We all left the bus and walked around a bit into a bridge that was crossing the river, and also very close to the railroads that gives passage to the TGV’s. In here I also did not had the right time to take photos, unfortunately. Minutes later we had to return to the bus and resume the voyage. By now we were close to Taizé, Since from Lyon until Taizé it’s around 120 Km. One of the co-ordinators of the trip said that we would take about one hour to reach Cluny, where we would stop for lunch, and then from Cluny to Taizé it would take 15 minutes more.

As we reached Cluny, we stopped for about 1.30 H, for lunch and to do some sight seeing on the village, since it was a very beautiful place with many historical houses and monuments, including ruins of the roman empire. Afterwards we went to a restaurant owned by a Portuguese family. And it was the first time in 2 days that we had a real meal for a change, since along the entire trip we mostly ate sandwiches and other minor food. So just because of that we were very satisfied to be able to eat “real food”. We were so hungry that nothing was left aside. Afterwards we had to walk to the local were the bus was stationed and to once more get ready to move on to the final destination… Taizé.

Arriving in Taizé…

Everyone in the group was very excited to finally reaching our destiny. The co-ordinators were talking to the group advising on the procedures once upon arrival.
As we were getting closer and closer, we were able to see a very small village on a hill… and finally we understood we were seeing Taizé… The group went wild and started to get their bags ready for disembark.

The bus goes trough the small road of the village, and right behind the village we could see a camp filled with thousands of people. Many buses are loading people with their baggage, that are about to leave, and many other buses that are unloading as well. Sunday is the day when the majority of the people leave or arrive Taizé. Since most people at the camp stay for one week. Few minutes later, the doors of the bus open and I could finally set foot on Taizé for the first time in my life, a very exciting moment.

The group gathered around the bus and started to unload the luggage and taking them close to the church while we were waiting for the “welcome commission”. Which would be a Portuguese Brother Priest (I think David was his name) that would organise and lead our group into the appropriated phases of the arrival. For the majority of the group of 44 people that were with me, it was as well the first time they were in Taizé, so everything was new to them. Only a few people knew “exactly” what would happen.

A week in Taizé…

The first things that happen to every group that arrived would be to have a first meeting with the Brothers that lived in Taizé, to explain and co-ordinate the final issues about the life in the camp. Such things would be related to the food we would eat during the week, the volunteer work that everyone was invited (not forced) to do, the places we would be installed, that could be in communitarian tents or barracks, the several prayers along the day at the local church, and a few other things that would come along the week. Also explaining that Taizé was a spiritual place where people (especially young people), of all religions (ecumenical), all colours, all countries, would gather and spend a communitarian life together sharing their personal life, spiritual experiences with others, while taking the chance to meditate about their life’s and what they wish to change and do for themselves, other people, and the world in general. Taizé does in fact affects people in a good way, it possesses a special environment that sensitive people can immediately catch “on the air”.

After the first meeting the group gathered close to the place were our bus was, and set their tents (who ever carried their own) in the nearby tent field, where it housed the communitarian tents number 20 and 21. At first almost all the group were in that area, but as the days went by most people went into other areas of the camp.

In Sunday, I was deploying my possessions in the tent number 21, which were for the boys of the group, while the girls of the group were in the tent number 20. The ones that had to set their own tents to be able to sleep inside at night, had a harsh time to put it up and to be ready to use. Some people took hours.

After we had things more or less ready we started walking around the camp for a bit. Exploring the place that would literally become “our home” for the following days. One area of the camp of Taizé consists in a very large area filled with very huge blue communitarian tents, each one designated to house dozens of people.

There is also another area that has barracks to sleep, which are similar like having “your” own room. In terms of comfort is much better then the tents, but it takes off the adventure sensation. There are two areas with barracks, one area that have older installations with one-floor bedrooms, and another area, that have a two floor bedrooms and that were constructed few years ago.

In another part of the camp, there is a special place for older people like parents and grandparents to rest, they obviously have better accommodations and as well king size beds for the couples.

Other structures in Taizé consist in a big church that is more or less located in the middle of the camp, close to the canteen. In there you make long queues to get your part of the lunch and dinner, and close by sit down in big white tents that were especially set for such purpose. There are as well many bathrooms and showers along the camp, so in those departments we did not had problems. There were enough infrastructures to ensure enough quality of life without putting in cause the health and general well being of the people that lived in the camp. It was a simple life, but as well, a nice life.

In Taizé there was also a big and beautiful garden with a lake, called the Garden of Silence, where people could go to be among nature, and to take a chance to rest and meditate, since it is forbidden to make noise while in the garden. So the people could focus more on what they were doing, and by doing so, to feel it more deeply.
In the first day, which was Sunday, we were not able to do much because it was the day of the arrival as obvious. Mostly of what we did in that day was to go on a meeting, get our lunch tickets and later in the afternoon to go to the canteen and eat. The first time was a surprise because we did not knew what would expect us, what type of food we would eat, how much, and how long it would take until we managed to get our part of the food. There were several big queue lines, but once the cook’s open the way to deliver it, it went pretty fast and only took few minutes until we were served. Then the group and me gathered beneath the big white tent that was placed on purpose for such, and started eating our meal while mingling with each other. For the surprise of most people, the food quality was not so bad has we initially thought it could be, in most cases it was good enough. Obviously that some people were not used to eat such food and complaint, in some cases they weren’t able to eat much at all.

After dinner, it was time to go to the church and pray. As we entered the church we could see a few thousands people inside, sitting down on the floor of the church. Our group stayed a bit close to one of the south doors… and few minutes later the priests officially started the mass… and as it started, we could hear everyone singing the spiritual music’s of Taizé, and as I first heard it, I was amazed by the beauty of it. Later on in Lisbon I would be able to hear those music’s once more on CD, but the impact is so much bigger when you are actually inside the action, as it sounds like a celestial music, it would be like hearing angels singing in unison. It was marvellous and it awaken and brought a lot of feelings inside of each person soul. It felt like, in that church, everyone was really united… no matter what race, religion, or what country they were. In that church, we were all humans, brothers that deserved an equal share of respect and love.

Many people would sing the songs that were written in a book that the Church could borrow. The masses last around one hour and 15 minutes. In certain cases, especially during the weekend, it can last two hours or more. It is during the weekend that certain masses are celebrated as a form of “so long” to all the people that would be leaving in the following Sunday.
After the mass, the group and me went to the tents to fix the rest of the baggage to get ready to sleep. It would be our first night in Taizé. Unfortunately some people in our group did not had everything ready by then, so they lost some extra time fixing everything. Also, that made it impossible for many men of our group to be able to get together in the same tent as originally predicted, so in the big tent destined for the men of the group (tent 21), only me and other 3 stayed inside, while the others were relocated to other areas and the rest slept in their own tents close by to me (tent 21). In our tent there were many Italians, and 3 people from Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Russia). Those 3 people behaved fairly well, but the Italians inside the tent were completely different. They were nice people but behaved very “wild and crazy” sometimes. In fact during the whole stay in Taizé I could see that the Italians were even “crazier” then the Portuguese. It was the Latin blood in our veins that made the Italians and the Portuguese the wildest groups in the camp.

We found out that there were around 800 Italians, and also around 300 Portuguese. The Polish were as always, also present in a big number, probably around the 1000. These 3 nationalities were probably the biggest present in the camp. Amazingly there were very few numbers of French and Spanish people, being, due to obvious facts, a very surprising factor.
So, while me and my other 3 group colleagues were getting ready to sleep, we would be listening to the Italians next aside to us talking (and doing their jokes)… and one thing that I “learned” about them and many of the other Italians around the camp, is that the majority of them don’t speak any other language other then Italian, and the ones that know some English, know very little of it. Another interesting fact is that their accent was very hard to understand. I understand Italian well enough, but their accent was nearly impossible to decipher. I know that at least some of them were from the Naples area, and others from other areas in the north, as I believe. So, from most of the people in the camp, from what I could see the Italians were some of the ones more “illiterate” in what languages are concerned. I could still communicate with some of them (the ones that knew basic English), but it was even so a basic communication. Aside this issue, almost everyone else of other nationalities in the camp, or either knew English (the predominant language), or French (as obvious, the “mother language” of Taizé). So most speaking languages were English, Polish, Italian, French and Portuguese.

A bit later in the evening of Sunday, we tried to sleep for the night at around the 23.00 hours (11 PM), It was the first time after more then two days, that we could sleep for real. When I woke up in the morning, I felt very relaxed and rested, even if we were sleeping in the ground with our sleeping bags. But at least there was a much better possibility to have a more balanced rest.
We started to get ready for breakfast, and as soon we were dressed we moved to the canteen, the place where we would always get all the meals of the day. We would normally always eat our meals together with “all” the group, as it’s obvious.

This was the dawn of a new day, the really first day where we would start our journey in Taizé. The journey to our inner self’s, to our self research toward our own spirituality. Even if Taizé is a very spiritual place, filled with special people, where it is possible to trust almost everyone, there are still people that go to Taizé, not to take the chance to make a spiritual trip, but as a vacation in the literal sense of the word, and as well, in the “search of a partner” to date and to have fun with… in the most variety of ways… So these people are mostly concerned about other matters other then the main issue, the spiritual one.

After we finished eating breakfast, we went in our way to church… to be within that amazing place, feeling the emotions, the spirituality, love and union that was in the air… Basically, the mass consisted in chantings for about 30 minutes, and then there was a 10 or 15 minutes reflection, when people would just be still and meditate or pray… and finally to end the mass there would be another 15 minutes of chantings.
Then before the morning would be over each one of us would have to go to another meeting. The purpose of this meeting would be to create Discussion Groups with people from different countries. Groups where we would meet every morning of the week and then discuss things about religion, Jesus teachings, love, spirituality, and much more. The meetings with the co-ordinators, to form and advice the groups would normally happen inside the church. That was the place where meetings would normally occur, with the exception of many Workshops designed to discuss many different issues, that also happen inside the church, but as well in other rooms in the church area.
So I went to the N1 room of the Church, and in that “room” there was a large number of young people. Many different nations, many different cultures and languages in the same room.

The feeling was great to have such opportunity to be able to meet such different people from all over Europe, from all over the World. The co-ordinator started the introduction, and then many minutes later we started forming our group… and in my group I stayed with 3 English, 2 Polish girls, 1 Slovenian girl, and 2 other Portuguese men. The way our group was formed was interesting since it would have to be people that were born in March.
After our first hello, we went outside to a small garden and started introducing each other, so each one of us could have a clue of who the others were, and how they were.
It was really fascinating to meet people from so many different places. And I found that my Discussion Group was composed of really nice people.

Even if we were kind of shy in the beginning, I felt lucky to be with them. But yes, Taizé really had a very large number of very decent people that were really seeking something inside them with the help of the Taizé community.
We talked for almost 2 hours, and right after we ended the discussion of the day, we directed ourselves into the church for the prayer right before lunch. As always the prayer was beautiful, and less then one hour and a half later, we were again in the queue line to collect the energies in the form of food, that we needed for the rest of the day.

In Monday it was raining, just like the day before. But in the incoming days things would change radically, instead of rain we would all experience a very hot weather, which would seem to feel hotter due to the altitude of the area. The altitude made Taizé a great place for a good and very fast tan, as I found out later on when after I played football for one hour, with so many different people, in the end of the game I saw my skin to look much more red, turning slowly into brown, and it hurted a bit. I am not sure of what was the altitude of Taizé, but it could be somewhere around one thousand meters above sea level. The first two days, we found a very significant amount of rain and a bit of cold, but the rest of the days were as I said previously, very hot, reaching temperatures around the 25º and 32º degrees.

This words about the weather conditions can make a person think that we seem to be talking more about tourism rather then a spiritual trip, but unfortunately, as I said before, for a significant number of people in Taizé, their trip to that small village was purely a tourism trip. And as I found out later on during my stay in Taizé, I could see that there were other reasons why few other people would travel to Taizé… It seems that some people enjoy being in Taizé in order to lure people of the opposite gender, so they can start having a “romantic relationship”, and this is especially true when it concerns girls from Eastern European Countries. Why this? Well, those who wish to find their “soul mate” this way, are people that feel despaired about the social-economic situation of their country, and wish to move to another country (especially to states within the European Union) to try to improve their life status… and how they do this? They simply search for a “soul mate” from other country, then try to seduce them, and then probably see if there is a possibility to marry the chosen person so they can easily get a special visa that would allow them to live in another country without restrictions in time and economy. Obviously that for they to more easily achieve this objective, many if not the majority of them would have to impersonate to be someone that they are really not in order to adapt themselves to the situation accordingly to the personality of the “target”, so they can have better chances of success. But as easily as they “use” other people, the selected “targets”, which are normally males, also use them. I had the chance to see young man lurking stealthily under the night time, trying to reach other tents/cabins, to go meet young girls, and to try to have “fun” with them. As I saw it happening, it was mostly composed of Italian males trying to find a girl to have “fun” with, and mostly Polish girls trying to find their “soul mate”. Unfortunately this “agenda” a few people had corrupted the true spirit of Taizé, which is for each one of us to meditate, search and find the potential Love, Peace, Compassion, Tolerance we possess deeply within, by living in a community that shares everything and does not depends on money or other “social-economic problems”.

Even worst, was what I found later on my stay, when I heard about minor incidents caused by arrogant people who wanted to cause trouble. Sad to say that even if the overwhelming majority of the people in Taizé were of good heart, and had good intentions, the same cant be said about exceptional cases of ”black sheep’s”, who, or either wanted to take advantage of the good faith of the people by stealing, or to cause trouble. So I have to say that, during the week, among 6.000 people, about 4 or 5 were expelled from the camp and unable to return again.
Its very easy for bad intentioned people to steal things from others, because the tents don’t have locks as obvious, and the cabins that have locks, aren’t locked. No one carries keys to close Taizé buildings doors except the ones that are in charge of that. People who are especially designated to only close room doors during prayers, because it’s when its more easy to sneak into the rooms and look into other people things. Even so, for a experimented thief, its still extremely easy to steal objects, but almost no one in the camp has such thing in mind, and the fact that I haven’t heard about any situation like that, proves this.
The fact that the doors are open, proves that there is an amazing faith and trust toward everyone that goes to Taizé. It was one of the things that impressed me the most. While in a City, or in a “normal life style” people always worry about their objects, their values and find ways to protect them, in Taizé people there have a great environment of trust and respect for one another. In some ways, it remind me of the times I would pass my vacations on my Grandparents village many years ago… a small village situated deep within the mountains in the north of Portugal, where people would greet everyone, even people they would not know, and as well people many times left the doors of their own houses unlocked. Unfortunately that seems to be changing with time, seems that criminality is increasing.

So, most days in the village were more or less the same, all days we had 3 prayers, we would eat lunch and dinner, and also have breakfast and a snack during the afternoon. As I said, the food of Taizé is not as good as home food, but it’s understandable due to the large number of people that were “living” in the camp. But even so the food was still pretty tasty, and sometimes was indeed a good meal, especially when you don’t have anything else to eat. Besides this, we also had the morning meeting for the Discussion Group, and during the afternoon I had the volunteer work to do. During the night we would go to the Oyak, which is the “social night club” of the camp, and before bed time I would sit close to the tents and watch the beautiful night sky with its millions of stars, watching the Milky Way, and also see the lights of the French Air Force fighters that would cross the skies many times a night… it was just amazing to admire such beauty in the sky, to be among nature and to be able to share and feel that special atmosphere of Taizé and its people.

In Taizé I had the chance to meet special people, and some of them become my friends. One of the best examples was when I met an Indian/Native American Apache in the village. The way it happen was strange and at the same time funny. In the middle of the week I was walking close to the church, performing some small tasks, and as I walked by I immediately saw some one that drawn my attention. It was a young male of around 25 years, which seemed to be from very far, from outside Europe. From the traditional clothes he was wearing and from the way he looked like, I immediately assumed he was Native American… I felt an urge to approach him and ask him where he was from, but I let it be and kept going. Few minutes later I crossed the same path and I saw him once again, but this time my curiosity was too much so I went to ask him where he was from… In English, I asked him “Excuse me, can you tell me what country are you from?”, and then he looked at me for a few seconds and replied back, in Portuguese “I am from the same place as you, Portugal”… So I got astonished by the fact he knew Portuguese and by the fact he lived in Portugal. He knew I was Portuguese because of the sayings in my clothes. And when I asked him who he was exactly, and why he was living in Portugal, he told me that he was part Indian (from India) and part Native American (Apache). Also told me that his mother that was Apache came from the USA, and also that his father, travelled quite a lot around the world when he was just a baby, and one day his mother decided to stay in Portugal. As we spent more time talking I realised that we had a lot in common, because he was a Nature lover, an activist, and other things that I identified myself with, so we became friends, and then I meet his girlfriend and other friends that he knew. We still see each other after we returned to Lisbon.

There were obviously other times that I interact with other people, from other countries. Besides my discussion group I also had the chance to meet people from Poland, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal… mostly that is.
Some times I would just hear people speaking some language, and because I was curious about talking to people from English, French and Spanish languages, I would sometimes just go to the group of people speaking that language and just say something to initiate a conversation. A conversation that normally started with a usual “Hi, where are you from?”… probably the most used sentence in Taizé.
One of the things that I feel sorry for, was the lack of meeting people from France and Spain. For some strange reason in the start of the week there were very few people from those two states, but as the week went by things changed a bit and I had the chance to talk to people from those two states. One of the times it happen was when I was in the queue line for lunch, and close by I could hear French youngsters talking, then as I wanted to talk and practise my French, I tried to communicate with them and after a while I brought a few French to my Bus group (and this was not the first time I drawn some people over to my group). I spent the whole afternoon talking with them and to my surprise, they told me that my French was pretty good for a rookie. But even if I had lived months in France years ago, I still felt like my French skills had too much to wish. But I wanted to learn, and mingling among French would surely help.

A curious thing that happen then, was during the afternoon while we were talking in a small garden in the village, and we heard a very strong roar coming from the blue skies, and to our surprise we saw a few French Mirage 2000 Fighters crossing the skies, but the amazing thing was that they were passing exactly above the village, and just about 150 meters from us, flying very low… The roar of the sound of the engines was too much to bear, and to me it seemed that they did that on purpose, to surprise people and attract their attentions. But I could not help the feeling that they wanted to joke with the people in the village. Even so I think it was an interesting experience… but I bet it was a better experience for the pilots who just wanted a few laughs.

We in the village were constituted of very fun people, with a great sense of humour. Especially the Italians and Portuguese… as I said above, we are Latin’s with very “hot blood”. Of course some of the “jokes” weren’t exactly nice, but most were really funny and innocent. I still remember when we (myself and my group) and other people (normally Italians) were on the “court yard” playing… some of our plays included doing the “shadow” during dinner time. This consisted in following one or two people around the camp without them knowing, and imitating their gestures. And it would be much funnier if the “shadow line” behind the “target” were consisted of a large number of people. Sometimes the queue line would be so big, and the situation would get so funny, that almost everyone around would stop and see the scene, and would not be able to hide a smile, because it was impossible to not show even if a simple smile. Some people would even take pictures or film the event.

This was some of the plays that were started by the Portuguese of my group, another play was made by the Italians, that in some of the days, would grab a bowl or a cup, and fill it with water, and then chase others of their groups, or who ever desired to joined in, and throw them water… a water fight is the right name for this play. Under such a hot weather, it was surely nice to play with water, but as well the reverse of the medal was the wasting of the water, a precious natural resource.
In fact the sun was so hot that I got tanned very fast and all the time I was in Taizé, I wished to be in a pool of fresh clean water.

In Taizé, the Portuguese people would have a code to easily identify each other in the surrounding area… Who ever whished to find their group, or find other Portuguese groups, would yell “Oh Elsa”… and who ever was Portuguese would identify the sentence and would reply back with the same words. This was just a clever, easy way to find other people of the same language, when there is a huge mixture of different cultures and languages in the same space.

As we reached the weekend, it was clear to me that our week in Taizé was almost over, and I knew I had to take the best of each moment and enjoy it to the fullest (Carpe Diem). One of the things I did was to buy souvenirs in the local shop of the Taizé Community. The souvenirs consisted in necklaces with the symbol of Taizé, which was a Dove (symbol of peace), and a few beautiful post cards.
During Friday and Saturday, after I done my volunteer work, I had planned to go travel around the Taizé village and see some nearby Woods and another village that was more then 1 Km away from the camp. When I went to the village I went alone because I did not found my group colleagues to go with me on a walk, but when I went to the Woods I had the chance to go with almost half of the people from my group. Both the village and woods had an enormous beauty, and I took some nice photos of the locations.

At the same time I was visiting the surroundings of the camp, I was under a mixture of feelings, was feeling happy, but at the same time very sad to know that, I would be leaving soon, without knowing when I would be able to come back, yes because I already had passionate wishes to return someday. Now I was feeling the opposite of the feelings I was feeling in the time of the departure while in Lisbon, in some ways “happy” to be returning home, and in other ways, very sad to be leaving such a wonderful place. But even so I knew I gained a lot from going to Taizé.
It was only later on, when I returned to Lisbon, that I really realised the full impact of my stay in Taizé, and then I could clearly see that while I was in the village, I discovered all my potential feelings/emotions that seem to be “hidden”, and by doing so, I act accordingly to those feelings that were awaken. What I mean with this is that I was showing people how I really was in my “whole” potential, how I really feel, without the interferences of Modern Life, which are: the daily stress, the daily routine, monotony, “lack of spiritual freedom”, being in a noisy and polluted environment and lacking contact with nature… and so many other disadvantages.

But during my Taizé experience, something wonderful happen to me, without realising it I left all of those Modern Life complications “outside the door”, as I was stepping inside the village… the best I can describe what happen to me, was a release of my soul, which in short words, means that my spirit was invaded by a overwhelming feeling of peace, tranquillity and harmony. It was like I was reborn from my own ashes, as a phoenix… in some ways, a new me was born, a me I was clearly/truly seeing for the first time in my life, even knowing that it was there deep inside me all this time, but that due to the local human environment, was only now allowed to resurface and flourish to it’s full extent. This “new me” allowed me to really appreciate all the gifts Taizé had to offer… gifts composed of a simple life, of simple things. And there is an old saying: “The best things in life are the simple ones”. And for sure Taizé proves this saying at its best. Because it shows you that you don’t need much material things to be happy, since you have everything inside of your soul if you look carefully, and then you can survive and be happy with only the necessary, which in Taizé is consisted mainly in food and a place to sleep. There is not much more then that. But it’s plenty enough. Again, people there learn and can be surprised knowing that in fact the true happiness does not comes from the superficial and material things… for interesting is how we can see the same things in a different way after being in a place like that, a little place closer to heaven in Earth.

Saturday arrived, and this was now the last full day of my stay in Taizé, since Sunday was the time to pack things and to get ready to leave Taizé. It was also one of my busiest days, because I tried to do everything I could in a short space of free time. If we participated in all of the events in the camp, we realise that the free time we have every day could go from 2 or 3 hours, to 5 or 6 at most. So most people were always busy with activities.

When night was falling into the village, the whole community started to prepare for an important mass, one that would include the burning of candlelights, which were the symbol of several things. It was like a farewell mass to the people leaving in the following day. This mass lasted for about 2 hours, and was in many ways even more beautiful then the ones before. Close to the end of the mass, people would light up the candles inside the church, and each of the thousands of people would have candlelight’s in their hands, a few minutes later, each person would leave the church quietly, going in the direction of a wall close to the church, and we would all put out candle along the wall and make a wish, a wish of something we would feel important, each wish would stay secretlyhidden in each person soul. I suppose each candle symbolized a person, a soul in change, and the hope for a better tomorrow. As I was seeing and participating in such an emotional event, I could not hold myself, and my tears started to run trough my face… I cried in that night, because there were too many feelings inside of me. And some of those feelings were similar to “loosing” something important, by going away… but I was not really loosing something, I had just gained something, which I could use in my present and future life.

After the mass we went to our beds and tried to have a good rest on our last night in the camp. When we woke up, we immediately started preparing our luggage so we could depart at lunch time. Before the bus arrived, we still had some time to go to our last breakfast and mass during the morning time, afterwards we saw our bus already waiting in the park and began to carry all the luggage towards the bus… we started to tell goodbye to our new friends from other nationalities, and entered the bus as the engine started working. It was a sad moment, and I am not sure what most people of my group felted, but once more I was very sad to leave such… special place… and once more I let some tears drop… and as I was looking back to the village and seeing it “vanish” away behind the hills and trees, I asked myself if someday I would ever be able to return… I wonder… will I?

I could be leaving Taizé, but the Spirit of Taizé would always travel with me, burning like a flame inside my soul,
a flame that can never be extinguished.

…Then we went in the direction of Paris, the City of Lights and the City of Lovers… the most visited city in the world. We were able to see most of the city in just two days and a half by walking most of the time, including the Euro Disney. After we left Paris we went in the direction of Spain, passing by Bourdeus, and slept the night in the Pyrenees, in a region close to Pau, a city in the French side of the “Basque Country”. It was a very nice place to be, and the accommodations were good. In the dawn we left France and crossed the Spanish area of the “Basque Country”… and reached Portugal and Lisbon late in the night time…

And this is the end of my adventure in France… for now that is...

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Concluding?

I think, that from what I have spoken over here, some people could see this small village of Taizé, as a “communist village”, because many of the things I have described, can seem similar to a communist lifestyle. But Jesus Christ was also called a communist for some things that he taught, but I can assure that this is not about communism, but about building a “paradise on earth”, by changing mentalities and costumes, using the right ways, the right tools, tools those that are free from the selfish corruption of money, greed and power… because this “paradise” is builded on trust, on love, on giving, on sharing, on compassion, on tolerance, regardless of how much heterogeneous the community is. And THAT is all the beauty of it. Why wait for the Heaven when you can try to build one right now.
One of the objectives of Taizé is to “guide” people, and allow them to have their own time to meditate and to think about their own lives, about how they can change and what they can do for the world, and to show you that building a community of love and peace, anywhere in the world is possible, as long as the Spirit of Taizé survives in each person soul.

Taizé is not just the place itself, it’s the people… It’s the learning, change and building of a new Spirit, a Spirit based in a harmonious communion with Mankind and Nature.

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Quotes to remember:

• "One drop of water falls into a lake that contains millions of other water drops, but even one tiny drop hitting a lake can build waves big enough to flow and hit all the other drops around - So one drop is enough to make a change into the state of things, it is enough to make a difference"
  --P. Daniel

• "Coward is not the one who cries out of love, but the one who does not loves with the fear of crying."
  --Unknown author

• “The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it."
  --Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

• Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.
  --Thomas Edison

• I do not see a delegation for the four-footed. I see no seat for the eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior, but we are after all a mere part of the Creation.
  --Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation, addressing the United Nations assembly, as quoted by The Sacred Depths of Nature

• We do not inherit the earth from our fathers. We borrow it from our children.
  --David Bower

• The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth… We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
  --Chief Seattle, 1854

• How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
  --George Washington Carver

• The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.
  -- Benjamin Disraeli

• When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
  --Helen Keller

• Go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you'll see farther. It doesn't depend on size, or a cow would catch a rabbit.
  --Pennsylvania German proverb

• It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
  --Ursula K. LeGuin

• "The major role of the teacher is to light fires of interest,not deliver a certain amount of material. Students are co-producers of their education."
  --Curt Teinmann, Baldrige Award Program Director

• The great obstacle is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge.
  --Daniel Boorstin

• If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
  --Abraham Maslow

• Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.
  --Marie Curie

• To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
  --Henri Bergson

• We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.
  --Alexander Solzhenitsyn

• Si l'on ne sait pas ce que l'on cherche, l'on ne comprends pas ce que l'on trouve.
  [If one does not know what one is looking for, one does not know what one has found.]
  --Claude Bernard

• Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
  --Margaret Mead