A Week in Taize, France

by Michelle
( France)

I went on a pilgrimage to the small French town of Taize in France when I was 15 years old. In Taize, there’s a wonderful religious commune run by a sect of monks. I took the trip with my church’s youth club.

We all set off one summer’s day by coach to take the long drive to the eastern mountains of France. The coach journey would be a long one – about 10 hours – but we were so excited it didn’t matter. There were about 20 women and girls who made the pilgrimage, led by our pastor, Father David.

Once we got to Taize, the weather was boiling hot. We were all staying in tents and the monks encouraged us to attend church services at least four times a day – a lot for your average 15 year old. But attend church we did – there was such a wonderful atmosphere about the place it really didn’t seem like hard work. We met so many interesting people from such a wide range of backgrounds and countries – the United States, South America, India and China to name but a few. The food was pretty basic but we didn’t care – we weren’t there for gourmet cooking!

I think after the week’s pilgrimage we all really felt such a heightened spirituality and focus towards God. It was a truly marvelous experience and one which I would recommend to women (and men) everywhere. I will treasure the memory of my French pilgrimage for the rest of my life.