We Exist, Officially

It's official!  The Taize community in Aschaffenburg, Germany, exists, and we are even on the map.

Amandine (Belgium), Franziska (Germany), Johanna (Germany), Lena (Germany) and I will share five weeks of prayer, volunteer work, and relaxation, with an apartment owned by the archdiocesan youth ministry as our home base.  But why? 

Well, it's kind of hard to explain because, in reality, and we have no goal in mind, and no metric to gauge the "success" of our time together.  We will not return home any richer, any more recognized or respected, or with a certificate of achievement in hand. Nonetheless, though I haven't taken a poll, I think all of us believe that there is something transformative about people coming together not only to pray, but to compromise, lend a helping hand, and provide mutual support. These are the kinds of things that healthy families also do, but in our small community, there are no blood ties to bind us together.  

In addition, the frequency of our communal prayer (morning, afternoon, and evening) makes us very much a religious community, and yet we have no prioress, we take no vows, and we will not continue living together past the end of March.  In other words, we are rather unique, at least when it comes to community living.  :)

Still, we are not alone.  Indeed, other young adults who have spent time in Taize have also committed themselves to forming similar communities and other churches outside of Germany have committed to hosting these communities.  And so, I guess it's fair to say that we are actually a part of something a bigger than our group of five.  

Today was a stereotypical first day: we got to know each other; we went grocery shopping; we toured the town; I learned that the cupboard door is wider than what I'm used to home and that it will hit me in the head if I'm not careful.  If the cupboard door doesn't knock me out, I should have more news to report soon!