If ever I doubted I was far from America, Saturday’s night’s service of light would have made it abundantly clear. As we entered the sanctuary, we were given a tall, thin, white candle. At the midpoint of the service, I was suddenly aware that young children— as young as four, and others, including a 10-year old with Down’s Syndrome— were now processing from the far back on the sanctuary carrying lit flames, without any adult supervision. They fanned to either side and touched their flames to the unlit wicks of the Brother’s candles; the brothers in turn lit the candles of the worshippers nearest them, and they the one nearest them, and so on and so on, until every flame in the space was lit— 5000 candles or more— all held in the hands of strangers in an enclosed space with no easy exits. There isn’t a fire marshall in America that would let something like this go on. At our church we’re not even allowed to burn the old Palm Sunday crosses in a dish to make the next year’s ashes for Ash Wednesday. But here we were, aflame and trusting and full of the light of Christ. 
It was a remarkable night for another reason, as well. Because on this night, on the eve of Pentecost, a beautiful 24-year old German was taking his lifelong vows to the community at Taize. We watched him enter with Brother Alois. We listened as he heard these words:
Brother, you trust in God’s mercy: remember that the Lord Christ comes to help your humble faith; committing himself with you, he fulfills for you his promise; truly, there is no one who has left everything because of Christ and the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much at present— brother and sisters and mothers and children — and persecutions too, and in the age to come, eternal life.
This is a way contrary to all human reason but, like Abraham, you can only advance along it by faith, not by sight, sure that whoever gives their life for Christ’s sake will find it.
From now on, walk in the steps of Christ. Do not be anxious about tomorrow. First, seek God’s Kingdom and its justice. Surrender yourself, give yourself, and good measure, pressed down, shaken together, brimming over, will be poured out for you.
Whether you wake or sleep, night and day, the seed springs up and grows, you do not know how.
Never let your inner life make you look sad. Anoint your head and wash your face, so that only your Father who is in secret knows what your heart intends.
Stay simple and full of joy, the joy of the merciful, and the joy of brotherly love.
Be vigilant. If you have to rebuke a brother, keep it between the two of you. Be concerned to establish communion with your neighbour.
Be open about yourself, remembering that you have a brother whose charge it is to listen to you. Understand him, so that he can fulfill his ministry with joy.
The Lord Christ, in his compassion and his love for you, has chosen you to be in the Church, a sign of brotherly love. It is his will that with your brothers you live the parable of community.
So, refusing to look back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, never fear to rise to meet the dawn, praising, blessing and singing Christ your Lord.
The young German Brother-to-be then went on to say I will to the vows of the community, which included poverty and chastity. These are two things that make monastic life incomprehensible to most people, but they make sense to me. We all know that money changes everything (I’ve written about it here), even the smallest amount of material difference between people can create animosity, distance. This is why Taize allows no contributions. No personal gifts or inheritances may be received by the Brothers. They live off of what they earn through the sale of ceramics, music, art and books, and trust that God will bless the community through another day. The celibacy vow is another one that stuns most outsiders, particularly men, but when you hear the way the vow is written, it is easy to understand: “Will you, in order to be more available to serve with your brothers, and in order to give yourself in undivided love to Christ, remain in celibacy?” Relationships consume our time, energy, and spirits. In Taize, they seek to give all of that to Christ.
On the way out, we found ourselves walking alongside several American girls from Pennsylvania who we had met earlier in the week. We asked what they thought of the young man taking the vows. “Omigosh, he was so cute, I can’t believe he’s going to live here his whole life.” To which her friend added, “I can’t even commit to a major for entire year, how can he possibly know what he wants forever?”
But seeing him in the space, and all the next day— seeing the Brothers who were him twenty, thirty, fifty years before— I had no doubts he had heard his Call.
Heather Choate Davis 