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Sunday, October 2 2011

Taizé

During my holidays in august, I spent three days in a small village called Taizé, not far from my parents' farm. This is not only a village, but also a place to rest and pray. Not a sacred place, but somewhere you can go to take a break with habits, leave stressed life behind, all problems... Leave it for a while, and focus on your relationship to God.

I always felt good in this place. I already came several times, but it was for only one day, each time. This year I spent three whole days there, and it made a real difference; I could appreciate even more the break with my everyday life... With exam to prepare, stress at work... The calm of the church gave me what I needed to balance.

Pray. Sing. Repeat. Sing again. Silence. Feel God so close in this silence. Ask the good questions. Let the answers come. Slowly. Finally understand[1]. And sing again. Going out of the church, have a look at the watch and realize that I stayed there during more than two hours... as it seemed like a few minutes.

And last but not least... Got a new cross-bird ! ;)

croix_taize_20111001.JPG

Notes

[1] maybe...

Thursday, August 25 2011

To be or not to be ?

In indian society, I probably wouldn't exist... I keep thinking this, each time I hear that people should marry somebody "from same caste, same region, same religion". Here in France, this rule was also right until a few decades. Even if not so clearly expressed, it was how the society was built.

Same caste ? Even if there is no caste in France, you can find some differences from the social environment, which can be very strong... My father was from countryside, from a farmers' family ; my mother grew up in a rich family from a quite big town...

Same region ? In India, it seems that "region" goes with "language"... This is a very rich culture, with more than twenty spoken languages. We don't have this in France. Of course, you can find some people from Brittany or Alsace, who can speak their own regional idiom. But there is only one official language, and all people speak french, at least.

Nevertheless, my parents came from different regions : my father from Burgundy, where there are again some farms cattling cows ; and my mother from a rich suburb of Paris...

Same religion ? In Hinduism as in Christianism, there are different ways to follow religion. Here in France, most of christians are catholics. But few of them are protestants (around 2%). And so were my parents : one catholic, one protestant...

Thus, as you can see, nothing would give them to get together. It was a bit difficult, and in the family we always have some pressure on some subjects... Culture is even different from one family to the other...

But we are there. Me, my sister and brothers are now some kind of a mix... No problem about "caste" or region, as we all moved for our studies and work. But for religion, as we received education from both our parents, we are living our complex faith, just between two communities... Sometimes it's very rich, because we share two different cultures, two ways of thinking ; sometimes it's more difficult, because we are considered nor in one community nor in the other...

Friday, August 12 2011

Mass

It's a strange feeling. On a sunday morning, being back after a week away. Back to 'my' church... But with this special feeling... Maybe it's because of holidays ? Maybe because of people who are not the same as usual ? Because of the way to sing and have joy in the celebration ? I don't know... Like something "it's good to be back" !

And during the mass, I was thinking "I should explain this on blog... but how ?"... I would like to share you all the feelings, all the special moments which occur during the celebration...

Like the songs we have on each important time... And the chill I feel when I sing with others, and with my whole heart. Even if I don't know the language[1], I know the meaning, and I feel it strong.

Like somes gestures made by children... Maybe they don't have 'faith' yet, as we can call it, but a special and very kind way to understand some symbols, feel that what's happening does worth. They are like naive models, and sometimes it can be good for us to observe them and foloow their way... Become simple, honnest, true...

Like the priest's talk about the Bible... It's often told with good sense of humor, even for very serious topics, and it gives us some ways to think about... For one minute, one hour, or sometimes one week !

Like silence after quite strong times... To keep focus on what we just heard, saw, felt... Go in self heart and enforce the faith... Or just pray, a few more minutes...

Like this very great moment, when we believe that Holy Spirit is coming to transform bread and wine in Body and Blood of Christ... The entire mystery of the mass is in these few minutes, and you can really experience the force then in the church...

I feel so lucky to have this, and believe in my God, and have the chance to live this each week ! :)

Notes

[1] in fact, as a religion's student, I know it, but I already felt the same with songs in german... for example