Prayer is a treasure of the Gospel. It opens a way forward which leads us to love and to forgive.

Forgiveness can change both our heart and our life: severity and harsh judgments recede and leave room in our hearts for goodness and kindness. And we become capable of seeking to understand rather than to be understood.

All who root their lives in forgiveness are able to pass through rock-hard situations like the water of a stream, which, in early springtime, makes its way through the still-frozen ground.

However, meager our resources, one of today's most urgent tasks is to bring about understanding where there are oppositions. Certain memories from the past are enough to keep individuals or nations apart.

Nothing is more tenacious than the memory of past wounds and humiliations. When we seek tirelessly to forgive and to be reconciled, a future opens up beyond all our expectations.

Brother Roger of Taize , Brother Roger of Taize: Essential Writings by Marcello Fidanzio, editor, Brother Roger of Taize