wo intense blue eyes, ageless, beyond time. Such is the first image that comes to mind of the still live memory of the last meeting with frčre Roger. An intense gaze, extraordinarily intense, truly contemplative. Two eyes that seemed cut in the eyes of Bourgogne, where he chose to settle to establish his path to peace. And he was a man of peace, who knew how to blend longing, desire, the will to live in peace.
He spread calm and serenity before the injustices of the world, as well as before poverty and the suffering of brothers, in the conscience that the true and definitive solutions cannot come from Us. His serene way of speaking, with just a hair of voice, contrasted with the sounds that usually characterize our oceanic meetings, yet around him tens of thousands gathered.
They came to share at least a bit of his peace; indeed, to share, here’s another keyword to understand frčre Roger. To share the struggles, joys and sufferings of poorer brothers he opened four communities such as the one in Taizé in the South: in Africa, in Asia and in Latin America.
“So many young people all across the earth carry within them a yearning for peace, for communion and for joy. They are also mindful of the untold suffering of the innocent. They know all too well that poverty in the world is on the rise. 1 - It is not only the leaders of nations who build the world of tomorrow. The most obscure and humble people can play a part in bringing about a future of peace and trust. However powerless we may seem to be, God enables us to bring reconciliation where there are oppositions and hope where there is anxiety. God calls us to make his compassion for human beings accessible by the way we live.
Frčre Roger - To the Wellsprings of Joy
But I wish to remember him, especially, as a man of communion, live example of communion, to the point of being himself the reason of discussion precisely because of communion. It happened recently again, during the funeral of John Paul II: there was a buzz over the fact that he, evangelical theologian son of an evangelical pastor, received communion from then cardinal Josef Ratzinger. There was talk of a possible conversion to Roman Catholicism, but in early July, a note from the spokesman of the Holy See, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, noted that this “is an exceptional case, which can in no way be considered as a change in Rome’s position in the subject of intercommunion”.
As for frčre Roger, before the ceremony, it is said that "it was not possible to give communion to Schutz, of whom his deep catholic faith is well known”. Here, these brief notes suffice to paint this martyr of communion, recognized by one and the other side as deeply involved in the faith in Christ, as a peace operator, called later, as often happens to the men and women of beatitudes, to ‘lose’ their lives because of a terrible act of extreme violence, almost ‘an act of war’, a vile war like all wars!
In a season such as ours where many fill their mouths with violent words of clash of civilization and clash of religion, when there is an insistence in ostentatious display of religious symbols, worn as if walls, frčre Roger became an innocent victim like his Lord. And how many innocent victims will we need to stop all our wars?
(From MISNA)