Every Saturday evening, a Protestant Eucharist is celebrated in the old Romanesque church of Taizé. I presided over it on 6 September. In my homily, I drew a parallel between what we can experience in Taizé and the parable of the lost sheep. With the three central verbs of this parable, as in others in chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel: to lose, to find and to celebrate.
To lose
The parable begins with a loss: a sheep is missing. This is not just the story of a lost animal, it is the story of each one of us.
In Taizé, we sometimes come with questions, doubts, wounds. Some feel a little lost in their lives: in their faith, in their relationships, in their choices for the future. This is part of the journey.
But Jesus’ message is clear: no one is forgotten. Even if you feel lost, Christ calls you by name. He never tires of walking in search of you. His voice is gentle and strong at the same time: it simply says, ‘You matter to me.’
Finding
On a pilgrimage, you find your way thanks to a shell, a yellow arrow, a signpost. In Taizé, the signs are of a different kind: a word from the Gospel heard during prayer in the church, a time of silence that opens the heart, a brother or sister who welcomes a question, or even another person who reaches out a hand or lends an attentive ear.
God places these signs on our path to help us regain confidence. ‘Confidence’ is an important word in Taizé, where it is often said that ‘the best in us is built through simple confidence’.
And the most beautiful thing is that it is not we who ‘find God’: it is He who finds us. Like the sheep on the shepherd’s shoulders, we can let ourselves be carried. To find again is to experience mercy, to discover that we are not walking alone.
Celebrate
When the sheep is found, the shepherd calls his friends to celebrate. Because joy cannot be kept to oneself.
Here in Taizé, the celebration takes a particular form: it is not loud music or flashing lights, but a deep joy that springs forth in prayer, in repeated songs, in sharing among people from all walks of life.
This joy is not only individual: it is communal. At Pentecost, the apostles and other disciples of Jesus did experience the Holy Spirit as a community. This joy tells us that God brings us together, beyond our languages, our countries, our differences.
Becoming shepherds for one another
Finally, this parable also teaches us this: we are called to be shepherds for one another. In Taizé, this can mean spending time with someone who is alone, listening to someone who doesn’t dare to speak, slowing down to walk at the pace of the most tired, offering a simple gesture of friendship.
Brother Roger, the founder of Taizé, said on this subject that the Holy Spirit gives everyone the gift of being a shepherd for others: ‘To love Christ is to receive from him a share, greater or lesser, in his pastoral gift. God entrusts one or more people to each of us. This pastoral gift, however small, is a source from which to draw inspiration to transmit Christ and enable him to complete his pilgrimage throughout the human family.’[1]
On Easter Monday this year, while walking with about fifty young people on the road to Emmaus, near Jerusalem, when I was exhausted on a climb, a young man slowed down to walk with me. I understood that day that the true pilgrim is the one who walks at the pace of the slowest.
Perhaps that is the secret of encouragement: not running alone, but moving forward together, at the pace of the brother or sister who needs to be carried.
Conclusion
Dear friends, let us remember these three words: lose oneself, find oneself, celebrate.
Lose oneself – it happens to all of us.
Finding oneself – this is the gift of Christ who carries us.
Celebrating – this is the joy of God overflowing in the community.
[1] Frère Roger, Fleurissent les déserts du cœur, Presses de Taizé, 1982, p. 118