What is Taize

Taize is an ecumenical monastery community in France that was founded in the 1940's during WWII as a place for worship, prayer and community for all Christian denominations and as a place of refuge for Jews during the Nazi regime.  The community strives for communion among all Christian denominations, reconciliation of all Christians, and of all of humanity.  People of all languages and denominations made pilgrimages to Taize for prayer retreats.

The Music

The goal of Taize music is directed toward prayer.  The music of Taize grew out of a need to provide meaningful and prayerful music accessible to all visitors of the monastery.  Repetitive songs and the use of different languages and simple elements of real musical quality combine to promote the inner unity of the person and genuine prayerful expression.  The repetitive structures of short musical phrases with singable melodic units make Taize musically accessible to all people, while the use of different languages, particularly Latin, makes the language neutral for all involved.

The Silence

Taize services usually include a long period of silence (around ten minutes).  The words of Brother Roger of Taize sum up the importance of silence in prayer, "Although God never stops trying to communicate with us, God never wants to impose anything.  Often, God's voice is heard in a whisper, in a breath of silence.  Remaining in silence in God's presence, open to the Holy Spirit, is already prayer... If, with a childliketrust we let Christ pray silently within us, then one day we shall discover that the depths of our being are inhabited by a Holy Presence."