On 28th May, Elke and Rosette committed themselves for life to the congregation of the Sisters of Saint Andrew.
The celebration was filled with joy. We were joined by the Brothers of Taizé and our friends from Ameugny and Taizé, celebrating at the same time the anniversary of 50 years of our presence on the hill.
In 1965, Mère Claire, the General Superior,
and her assistant Mère Marie-Tarcisius
had been to Taizé, and had come back saying:
“Taizé is becoming crucial for catholicity.”
On Brother Rogers insistence – “You must come back!
We need the Sisters of Saint Andrew,
and the Sisters of Saint Andrew need us!”
– the sisters arrived temporarily,
for three months, in the summer of 1966.
In September 1966, Mère Claire
and Mère Marie-Tarcisius met with Cardinal Bea,
who told them :
“Everything that you can do with the separated brethren, do it.”
“Selling post cards for unity, that’s something we can do,”
Mère Marie-Tarcisius replied.
Today, we can look at the journey we have been on together
with gratitude and thanksgiving.
“Looking back on these 50 years of life on the hill alongside you, we can see that you, the Brothers of Taizé, have entered into our history, revealing and carrying, without knowing it, a new way of seeing Christ, which has come to renew us from the inside.
The face of Christ shown to us by your witness is:
- the universal Christ, brother of all, poor and humble of heart;
- the Christ of the Beatitudes;
- the Christ, leaven of peace and reconciliation;
- the Christ without borders, the Christ, inner Master of every life.
The grace which you brought took us first of all to our source: welcoming pilgrims marked our most distant origins.
This same grace moved our borders This opening up has certainly rooted up more deeply in the universal heart of the Church. It has had repercussions on the whole apostolic body we form: everywhere, in very different contexts, our sisters receive the grace of loving the Church, one and plural.
This grace of Christ which you have brought has certainly helped to simplify us. It has been, and continues to be today, a “blessing”.”
(Sr. Agnès Granier, General Superior)