Taize Prayer: An ecumenical service of song, silence and contemplation

What is Taizé Prayer?

Taizé Prayer is a distinctive style of meditative prayer developed by an ecumenical community of monks in rural France.  This quiet, moving reflective prayer combines elements of the Church's traditional Liturgy of the Hours with elements of contemplative meditation.  A typical Taizé prayer service incorporates periods of silence with meditative readings from Scripture, prayers of praise and intercession, and the frequent repetition of simple, contemporary chants based on the Psalms or other parts of Scripture. Short songs or chants, repeated over and over, create a meditative environment and express basic realities of faith which can be easily grasped by the mind and the heart. The result is to gradually move prayer from the head to the heart.