My Thoughts 26/02/2022
Many years ago I embarked on a road trip to Taize in France with my classmate Michael Evans and friend Michael O Dea. Taize which was a small, isolated village just north of Cluny, the site of a historically influential Christian monastic foundation, was chosen by 1940 by Brother Roger Schütz to start his ecumenical Christian religious community. It has been the centre of pilgrimage for thousands of young people who come for a week to pray, work and worship together and reflect on the Word of God.
Memories of our visit came flooding back to me today as I celebrated Mass for the Benedictine Community in Minster. In the Benedictine Calendar today is the feast Saints Robert, Alberic and Stephen of Cîteaux. Citeaux is about an hour and fifteen minutes drive north from Taize. St Robert arrived from Cluny with 21 monks including Saints Alberic and an Englishman Stephan Harding and they started the Cistercian Order which was an attempt to return to the primitive observance of the Rule of St Benedict, making it a solidly cenobitic renewal. The Cistercian monasteries were built in remote places so the monks could be alone with Christ, wrestling with themselves as they wrestled with nature, but they were also generous in their service of the Church.
By the beginning of the 16th century, the abbey was a strong community of about 200 members. The abbey was badly hit by the French Wars of Religion, the abbey then slowly declined for the next century. In 1698, the abbey only had 72 professed monks. In 1791, during the French Revolution the abbey was seized and sold by the government. In 1898, the remains of the abbey were bought back and repopulated by Trappists. Today according to their website the community numbered 15 brothers. The oldest was 98 years old, the youngest was 40.
Our gospel reading today is the parable of the sower. The seed is the word of God. The modern day Trappists at Citeaux live a solitary life that enables them to open their hearts receive the Word. The young people travel to Taize each year to encounter the word and let it take root in their hearts.
