Taize, (pronounced "Ta-ZAY") is an ecumenical monastic community in France. Founded by Brother Roger in 1940, after the defeat of France, it was born out of a vision to create a space for people to find God in the midst of brokenness. Each year over 100,000 young people from around the world journey to Taize for meditation, sharing and communal work. Today, the Taize Community is composed of more than 100 brothers, from Catholic and Protestant traditions.
Instead of formal preaching, the Taize Community employs a simple prayer style that invites participants to rediscover an inner peace and meaning of life with Christ at the center. Taize Prayer is meditative in character. The space is candlelit. The service includes simple, repetitive chants, reading from Scripture, intercessions, and periods of reflective silence.
Brother Roger writes: “From the depths of the human condition a secret aspiration rises up. Caught in the anonymous rhythms of schedules and timetables, men and women of today are implicitly thirsting for an essential reality, for an inner life. Nothing is more conducive to communion with the living God than a meditative common prayer with, as its high point, singing that never ends and that continues in the silence of one’s heart when one is alone again."