Immerse yourself in a luminous reflection in which Brother Roger invites us to rediscover the power and depth of a committed “yes”, an act of trust which, despite the trials, becomes a source of freedom, creativity and renewed love.
Oui
Once again, a forty-five year old man tells me: “When I got married, I was conditioned, I lacked perspective and lucidity: today, I’ve found the woman of my life. Of course, at the age of twenty-three, this man didn’t have all his foresight. But at what age will he have it?
It’s impossible to make a choice without giving up other options forever. If we don’t, we’re a bunch of naysayers: we’re willing to say yes, but in the moment, without continuity.
The “yes” to marriage – like the “yes” to celibacy in the Gospel – puts us on a knife-edge. It involves the whole person, his body and all his inner resources: intelligence, sensitivity, affectivity and imagination.
By refusing to look back, the person who says yes tells Christ over and over again, for the rest of his life: “I trust you, I’ll take your word for it. If we wait for total lucidity before saying a yes that remains a yes, aren’t we exposing ourselves to having nothing but leftovers to offer?
Once pronounced, the yes is the pivot around which continuous creativity is built, it is a column around which man twirls in freedom, a source near which he dances.
For this man, there will come times when fidelity will no longer be lived in the spontaneity of being: the yes weighs heavily, it is consented to without love. Then, for the time being, the law may impose itself as a teacher, until love comes to the fore once more.
Brother Roger
Lutte et contemplation, journal de Fr. Roger – Taizé, Presses de Taizé/Seuil