Kate’s Comments (group member since Jan 06, 2020)

Kate’s comments from the Simone Weil group.

I’ve been thinking about Weil’s discussion of prayer as a kind of attention. It seems clear that she doesn’t believe in petitionary prayer given her view of creation as the ultimate act of divine renunciation or self-emptying, but I am trying to think this through. Maybe I’m missing the point entirely, but I would appreciate others’ ideas on this question: does focused attention, for example towards the poor, function as a kind of non-verbal petition?

My name is Kate. It seems this group is no longer active, but I will add this anyway. I am interested in Simone Weil as a contemporary Christian mystic and like many others was first introduced to her work through the stunning Gravity and Grace. Her biography and thought is deeply moving. I am particularly draw to her writings on self-giving; of love as a kind of kenotic act. I am glad her work is becoming more popular though it depresses me that she is described constantly as an anorexic and implied to be vaguely confused or even crazy.