Our Prayer Community
Taizé Prayer at U of T is a Christian ecumenical prayer community of based at the University of Toronto. We gather during the academic year to share in fellowship and prayer through song, scripture, and silence in the style of the Taizé Community in France.
Founded in 2025 with the support of a Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, this initiative is a collaboration among St. Mike’s Campus Ministry, the Graduate Christian Fellowship (Christian Reformed Campus Ministry), and the Ecumenical Chaplaincy at the University of Toronto. Our aim is to cultivate and deepen contemplation and communion through the simplicity and beauty of communal prayer modelled on and inspired by the spirituality and practice of the Taizé Community.
We are lucky to have a number of beautiful chapels and churches on campus, which we make use of for our large gatherings, connecting us to the people who worship, study, and work in the various U of T colleges. In May 2026, we were fortunate to send a small delegation of pilgrims to visit Taizé, France for a week to enter into the rhythm of the community’s life and worship.
In addition to our larger community prayer gatherings, we meet regularly for small group Bible study and faith sharing. For updates, follow us on Instagram @taizeprayeruoft and join our mailing list.
The Spirituality of the Taizé Community
The monastic community of Taizé in France is a religious community of about eighty brothers from different church backgrounds – Catholic, Anglican, Protestant – from many countries. The spirit of hospitality, fraternity, ecumenism, and hope that enlivens Taizé makes it “a parable of community” and a tangible sign of reconciliation and unity.
Since its founding in the 1940s, the community of Taizé has become a place of pilgrimage for young people the world over. They come seeking many things — silence, meaning, direction, joy, community, justice, and peace. (See Brother Matthew’s 2026 Letter.) Pilgrims are drawn by the spirit of joy, simplicity, and fellowship which permeates the community, as lived out through its unique style of worship: meditative communal prayer rich in complementary silence and song. The music of Taizé, with its distinctive, repetitive chants setting a simple prayer phrase or word of scripture, encourages a contemplative disposition that allows one to go deeper, beyond the mere surface level, into a profound encounter with God in the inner room of the heart.
For more on the history, ethos, and spiritual practice of the Taizé Community, please visit the Taizé website.
Planning a Taizé Service
We offer these ideas and resources both to give a sense of the flow and format of our times of prayer, and also to be of support to others, in other places and contexts, seeking to build or foster a prayer community in the style of Taizé. The information given here is a starting point only, and intended for reference, reflecting what has worked well for us over the formative period afforded by the Calvin Grant.
Many helpful resources may be found on the Taizé website, including How to Prepare for a Time of Prayer.
Outline of service
A typical Taizé prayer gathering is characterized by Taizé songs, scripture readings, and intercessions, often in many languages, and meditative silence. For a service lasting about an hour, a format that has worked well for us is the following:
Opening prayer -> Songs (2 or 3) -> Psalm with sung response ->Scripture reading (in many languages) -> Songs (3 or 4) -> Litany or intercessions -> The Lord’s Prayer -> Prayer around the Cross with Songs (4 or 5)
Setting up a space for prayer
The space itself should be arranged in a manner conducive to meditative prayer — a simple, beautiful, welcome space, preferably (but not necessarily) a church or chapel. All participants should face the same direction, indicating a common shared focus. Subdued lighting, candles, and icons contribute to the beauty and prayerfulness of the space. Kneeling benches, cushions, and chairs can be made available so that individuals can adopt various prayer postures.
Songs
Taizé is famous for its songs — ostinato refrains which are often flexible enough to be sung in various languages and to accommodate harmonies, instruments, and solo verses sung by a cantor. The songs can be learned via the Taizé website: The Songs. Simple piano, organ, or guitar accompaniment works well, with the possibility of obbligato instruments such as woodwinds, or supportive strings like cello. Musical leadership should take place “from within” the congregation, supporting the song of the whole assembly. The choir/cantor also helps to indicate when to bring a song to an end or to move to the next moment of the prayer — something that should feel somewhat organic.
Scripture
A reading from the Bible forms the centrepoint of the prayer time and can provide an opportunity to connect to the liturgical year while offering material for spiritual reflection and nourishment. One reading works well, not too long, with an excerpt read again in many languages. Hearing the Word proclaimed in many tongues, representing unity in diversity, is a moving experience and a gesture of solidarity with people of faith across the world.
Silence
Silence is another cornerstone of the prayer time. An extended silence may feel uncomfortable at first, especially for us contemporary people who live in an impatient and fast-paced world, but allowing a deeper stillness to emerge over a longer period — 7 to 10 minutes, perhaps — becomes a spiritual practice that allows for a deep interior listening.
Prayer around the Cross
The icon of the Crucified Christ (commonly called the Taizé cross) serves as a visual focus and prompt to prayer. Our U of T community fashioned our own cross icon using a large poster of the image obtained from (and owned by) the Taizé community. In Taizé, France, every Friday evening prayer is a “mini-Good Friday,” remembering the sacrifice of Jesus, involving the veneration of the cross icon. One by one, individuals come to the cross and lay their burdens, hopes, fears, desires, upon the Cross, entrusting them to Christ. Inspired by this moving practice, our prayer service often concludes with an invitation to come and pray around the cross, while the singing continues, touching it with ones hands or forehead as a tangible experience of grace and encounter.