Simone Weil, a brilliant French philosopher, died in an English hospital on August 24 1943. Raised in a secular Jewish home, she was driven by an exacting conscience to share in the experience of working people. She took a year’s leave from her teaching job to work in factories.
Conversation
A series of deep religious experiences brought her spiritual inclinations to the fore. Ultimately she felt that “Christ himself came down and took possession of me.” She remained at the threshold of the Church, but without crossing.
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Nothing Christian “was alien” to her, yet she believed she was called to remain at the intersection of Christianity and all that stands outside. After escaping Occupied France she struggled to return, but succumbed to TB and died at 34.
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“Today it is not nearly enough to be a saint but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment.”—Simone Weil
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Many good essays online. Best guide to her religious thought is “Waiting for God.” And “Simone Weil: Essential Writings.”
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Never fully understood her papers but she had the most extraordinary insightful mind and razor sharp conscience. A truly amazing lady....a living saint.
