A Path of Hope

This title brings together two short books that the founder of the Taize Community had completed just before his violent death in August 2005, with the unfinished letter to young people that he was preparing at the time. In the first part, with his characteristic mix of delicacy and force, Brother Roger reflects on some of the events and people that influenced his life and calling, and on some of the steps taken at Taize over the years to create signs of reconciliation amidst the divisions of humanity. Never far from the surface is the suggestion that the reader too can perhaps discern in his or her own life a glimmer of God's call, of a happiness offered. This is followed by his own choice of prayers, composed for the daily services at Taize, each of them just a few words to express a search for God. Finally the 'unfinished letter', which insists repeatedly on God's love for each person, contains a challenge of disconcerting simplicity, calling on the reader to live in a 'kind-heartedness that is constantly renewed'.