Refreshment comes in many forms

Taizé tea is something that I wouldn’t drink in England – it is very sweet and is drunk cold, mid-afternoon when the sun is really hot, and it is really refreshing. It wouldn’t suit my normal life, but it doesn’t have to.

There is something very refreshing about holidays – being somewhere else and doing things differently. Taizé has a big emphasis on prayer and being available to God, but in common with many holidays some of the refreshment is in being out of step with normal life. Spending time with different people, eating different food, praying in different ways can all lend themselves to changing and renewing our tired thoughts.

I don’t think I would want to live like that; it is very ordered and personally I would miss the chaos, but for a time it is great. The previous Pope visited once, and he said to the thousands of young people there;

‘One passes through Taizé as one passes close to a spring of water. The traveller stops, quenches his thirst and continues on his way. The brothers of the community, you know, do not want to keep you. They want, in prayer and silence, to enable you to drink the living water promised by Christ, to know his joy, to discern his presence, to respond to his call, then to set out again to witness to his love and to serve your brothers and sisters in your parishes, your schools, your universities, and in all your places of work.’

That seems a desirable outcome for a holiday!