known by her name.

i love taizé. love, love. two different visits, in opposite seasons -- summer and winter -- have shaped me. tremendously. in following the updates from taizé sites around the world, i came across this beautiful portrait of community. read it. soak it in. such truth about humanity! and sharing life! may we too live in such a way... wherever home may be.

One of the brothers living in Bangladesh writes:

"When we as brothers welcome others, we welcome a great diversity of people. Little by little, we have learned to understand that we are not welcoming "the poor", "the disabled", or "a beggar"; we are welcoming persons. We are not welcoming "a station boy", but someone, and he is happy when we call him by his name. A woman who comes often, who can hardly walk, and who begs, is not "a beggar". She is "Mrs so and so". She is happy when she is known by her name.

And when we eat together - it is often at the midday meal that we welcome - each person introduces himself or herself. Sometimes there are thirty of forty of us, and we pass the plates, and one or two decide how much to put on the plates. And when everyone has their plate in front of them, sitting on the floor (we eat with our fingers), those who do not belong to the fraternity or to the group of young adults who live with us, introduce themselves, and give their names. Little by little we have discovered that these moments when each person says their name are moments of joy, moments that are quite different from times when we do something for others, or when we speak. It is someone who says, "I am so and so", and we are sitting here together."

we are sitting here together.
thanks be to G-d.
joy indeed!