The journey from the motorway to Taizé was fairly straightforward until we came across a couple of signs that said that the road to Taizé was, something along the lines of: "barrée sauf obsèques et rivérains". The Taizé site had announced this but there was some confusion - where did we go? A long-ish detour brought us to a lay-by where the familiar figure of Br Paolo awaited us.

He spoke to the people on both coaches - expressing the Community's gratitude for the overwhelming love and support they had received. They were, he said, touched by the fact that people were prepared to travel so far to be with them at such a sad time. They had - in typical Taizé fashion - hoped to provide lunch for everyone but, as he explained, they simply had no idea how many people were coming. I think many of us thought that they had better things to be doing than worrying about doing lunches for us... but appreciated the characteristic hospitality.

Br Paolo also talked about the shock felt by the Community and their concern for the woman who ended Br Roger's life - a phrase they prefer. He said that the Community held firm to the vision of Br Roger and would continue to work for peace and reconciliation between peoples - and to welcome the young people on whom the future depends.

He then directed us to a drop-off point at the bottom of the Hill. A way had been opened up from the road - along the disused railway line which is now a cycle/ walkway and up past the Source - and then up the steep climb to the adult/ family camping section of the Taizé site. We advised a few people that the free shuttle-bus might be the wiser option - people in Taizé do not refer to life on "The Hill" for nothing!

At each point, young people directed us - clearly pleased to be able to help the Community to manage the crowds of people who were arriving. The weather had not improved but they smiled and greeted everyone with great warmth and welcome.

At the top - and being old hands - we located the (very busy) toilet and (fairly quiet) shower block - taking the opportunity to shower and change before getting our bearings and finding our way to the church.

This proved far more complicated than we'd expected! Everywhere was barred off but eventually, and with the good offices of people who trusted that we were who we said we were, we were allocated specific space in the church, more information and access to the Internet before heading outside so that Catherine could take photos for the website.

We went into the church an hour before the service was due to start and found it already filling up. We were taken aback to see that benches and chairs had been put into the church but realised that not everyone was up for sitting on the floor for up to 3 hours (as it turned out nearer 4). We were delighted, though, to find that where we had been told to go was floor-sitting.

It was time to centre ourselves - to be there for the main reason we had come - to pray for the repose of the soul of a man who has had a huge influence in our lives - to pray in solidarity with the brothers to whom our hearts went out in deep sympathy - and to give thanks to God for a life that had transformed the lives of so many people - including many of those gathered in the Church of Reconciliation.

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