CHAPTER 5: DYNAMICS OF COMMON LIFE AND COMMON EUCHARIST 165 ... no, I wouldn't use this word better or less good, because what I told you in the last time about something organic, you know, what is so important for our community. It's not putting pieces together somehow, but to grow together. Zusammenwachsen, sagen die Deutsche... to grow into one, and, and... so the history of the community is a process of growth... uh... ... and, is it better to be a five-years-old child, or to be ten years old, or a teenager or be adult, or to be wise old man, I think these categories they do not fit... And so... I, I wouldn't have a qualification of this kind, but....393 This understanding of the process of the community corresponds with a quote from Brother TC about the exchange of gifts, as discussed in section 4.4: any notion of competition is absent.394 Of course, the community revises its practice in order to adjust to changing circumstances, but this is not perceived as a process from worse to better. In line with Brother Roger’s principle of the dynamics of the provisional (as discussed in section 3.2), any evolution of community life and practice is viewed as an attempt to match the ongoing ecumenical process. Brother TA gives insight into his own process of growth and illustrates what this ‘growth’ can look like. Time and again he uses the term ‘growth’ in the same way Brother TB uses ‘zusammenwachsen,’ expressing how he grew into the community life and Taizé’s Eucharistic practice. He indicates that he finds it difficult to articulate this process, yet he tries to anyway. As mentioned earlier, he did not have a particular appreciation for the Holy Supper as celebrated in his Protestant congregation in The Netherlands.395 During his first visits to Taizé, he was not aware of the Eucharist celebrations in the early mornings and on Sundays. Themorning Eucharist is not a ‘mandatory’ part of the daily routine for Taizé’s guests, and TA always left on Saturdays rather than (as recommended by the community) on Sundays or Mondays. Looking back, he recalls that he did not receive Communion during the morning prayer at first. However, he did partake of the Eucharist later when he returned as a volunteer. In TA’s understanding, active participation and partaking of the Eucharist was key to his integration in the community and fundamental for his ecumenical process. Some longer excerpts from his interview show this dynamic and TA’s own interpretation: 393 TB-2,12. 394 Cf. TC-2,6d. 395 TA-1,10.
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