174 PART TWO: AN EMPIRICAL ACCOUNT not only acknowledge the responsibility of the individual conscience with regard to the brothers, but extends it to the guests of the community. TA expresses great trust in the temporary community that the guests form amongst each other, in which similar processes take place. Not only is it quite impossible in the context of Taizé to control systematically who partakes of the Eucharist, but, for TA, this would also be undesirable. For him, it is the responsibility to inform the guests of what happens in Taizé and of the meaning of the Eucharist, and to provide opportunities for the guests to discuss these matters with the brothers and amongst each other. He adds: Because of the specific situation in Taizé, it comes down to the conscience of people, you know {laughs}. Um, that all we can do is to be honest about what we believe (…). that we must be clear that we’ll always have to think, well, do we provide sufficient information? Um… … but that it comes down to the conscience of people and that this has to do with the way in which we live together, like I told you from the start. That it is not a question of, well, we will take two days first, indeed, to get to the bottom of the matter, no, we just start something, we just start to live together and we will find out where things go from there, I mean, that sounds rather cynical, but um… … … but it is possible only because we profoundly believe that, that, despite, despite {laughs} everything we do here, as brothers, that the Holy Spirit is active, for that matter.414 Again, in the end, all trust is based on the hope and faith that God acts in and through the community. This hope provides space for the community’s alternative ecumenical process and Eucharistic practice. 5.5 SYNTHESIS The monastics of Taizé and Bose clearly express a double understanding of the relationship between their monastic common life and the Eucharist. On the one hand, a shared life logically culminates in a shared Eucharist. On the other hand, the Eucharistic mystery has been the motivation to engage in that common life from the outset. As such, the Eucharist serves both as motivation and a driving force behind the common life, and as the climax and fulfilment of that common life. In the imagination of the monastics, these aspects are inevitably and inseparably connected. They acknowledge this reality most 414 TA-1,40.
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