Shock and strict silence. The youth from the Community of Taizé are praying. They sing and pray in silence, in a dark crypt in the Church of Saint Agnes in Cologne, where they have set up a spiritual centre on the occasion of the WYD. Candles are lit up, boys and girls are beginning to sing the spiritual songs of Taizé. "Nada te turbe". "You are a live spring". Here are the children of frère Roger. As they come out, many refuse to give interviews to the journalists. "Today is the day of silence and prayer", they repeat. Barbara Khul, from Germany, learnt of frère Roger’s death from the radio as she was going to the catechesis. "Then I came here at once to pray. His life has been an example for all of us". "Taizé adds father Johannes Steffens from the diocese of Trier (Germany) is the sign of a hope for the future and for the world. Agateway of reconciliation and prayer for young Europeans". "When he stepped into church recalls Barbara Gondolf, from Germany a deep peace fell all around and God’s love seeped into the heart". Benjamin Rombouts, 22, a German student who spent two long periods in Taizé, tries to explain the strange contradiction of these times: "We wanted to be cheerful and instead we are sad, but life contains death, and vice versa". With the prayers of Taizé, he adds: "I have had very deep experiences of God".” “
