Thought For Today is by Fr. David O'Riordan called 'The Beatitudes' When the founder of the Taizé community, Brother Roger, died in tragic circumstances in 2005, his monks resisted all efforts to turn his grave into a shrine. The work of Taizé is evangelical with its roots in the Beatitudes. The monks emphasise the value of the provisional over the permanent. We have, after all, no lasting kingdom here.

During the summer months Taizé is a tented village; accommodations are simple in the fields, young people come for a week and then must leave. When the work of Taizé is done, one imagines the monks will fold up their tents and disappear like Bedouin into the sands.

Many of our fears about the Church are fears about the loss of permanence. What will happen us? The Church will survive wherever the Beatitudes are being lived; its tents will be wherever the Beatitudes lead.