Taize Prayer around the Cross(HCH file photo)
By Jon James
Special to the Herald
The Newman Center/Holy Spirit Parish at the University of Hawaii at Manoa will host its annual Taize Prayer around the Cross at 7:30 p.m. Good Friday, March 25.
The Newman Center is at 1941 East-West Road, mauka of Korean Studies Center on the university campus. Parking is available on the UH campus or at the adjacent St. Francis School.
The Taize Prayer is an ecumenical hour of chants, petitions, Scripture reading of the Passion, reflections and the reverencing of the cross. Near the end of the service, a large cross icon is laid horizontally on stools in the center of the church, and with lights dimmed and candles burning, participants come forward, about seven to nine at a time, to kneel around the cross, touching it with their heads or hands and praying deeply while the congregation continues to sing.
The prayer service is open-ended so those wishing to return to the cross or remain in prayer and contemplation around the cross afterward are free to do so while Taize music is played.
Besides prayers for Christian unity, participants also pray for persecuted Christians, for refugees, for the revival of Christian churches, for those who suffer injustice, for the poor, and for personal problems and needs.
The Taize Prayer around the Cross finds its origins with the international ecumenical community of more than 100 Catholic and Protestant religious brothers who live in a monastery in Taize, France.
The monastery annually attracts tens of thousands of mostly young pilgrims from around the world. Four orders of Catholic sisters work in tandem with brothers. Taize also sponsors regional and international ecumenical gatherings in Europe and in other parts of the world. Taize sees itself as a parable of Christian unity, an ecumenism lived out as a foretaste of the future communion of churches so willed by Christ.
For more information, contact the Newman Center, 988-6222, or Jon James, 944-6983.
