172 PART TWO: AN EMPIRICAL ACCOUNT Taizé cultivates such trust: the monastics are encouraged to train themselves in it. Trust in the community, fellow monastics, and guests Trust in the tradition of the church goes hand in hand with trust in the concrete and local communities in which the monastics find themselves. Brother TA speaks about trust in his Taizé brothers most explicitly. When I asked himwhat made him receive Communion when he was a volunteer in Taizé, he responded: … Well, I think, in the first place, because I… I was convinced that I found myself in a community of which I shared the essential values. Or, at least, the values, not really that, that’s a bit of a static formulation, but, that I share faith in the risen Christ as it is being confessed here, that I share that. And that it is some kind of trust, you know, towards the, that it is trust towards the community in which you live. And I think it was something, an important discovery for me, you know. I’m from a society, of course, in which a person is regarded as an autonomous individual. And here, you know, you are a person because you are engaged in relationships. Um, and that it is a matter of trust. Gosh, I may not understand all of it, but what takes place here, um, we all come from different backgrounds, that’s right… but I trust the people who make up this community and they do it like this and I will do the same to see where it leads me.410 Trust in the community led TA to participate in the community’s Eucharistic practice, which, as such, fits in the bigger process of ecumenical growth as described in the previous section. Trust is also the reason for him to accept the community’s choice for celebrating the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic tradition: “I understand why we do it here… both for the historical reasons and, indeed, for the theology of daily life, to put it like that {laughs} here, of Taizé… uh, and, but, most essentially, indeed, because I trust my brothers, and it comes all down to that.”411 Another thing TA mentions resonates with the broader process of growth as well. In the context of the question of whether the big theological themes are being discussed in Taizé, TA points out that one reason not to discuss everything in detail is trust or faith in the integrity of the mystery of each person. Concerning the Eucharist, he says: 410 TA-1,14. 411 TA-1,26.
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