Simone Weil was known as a political, social writer and mystic. In 1938, on a visit to the Trappist Abbey at Solemnes, she reported that "Christ took hold of" her. She was deeply influenced by the meaning of Jesus' Passion. This week we read her meditation on the Lord's Prayer found on page 48 of Spiritual Classics.- What is your intuitive response to Weil's reflections on the Lord's Prayer? Do her insights echo your understanding of the Lord's Prayer? Why or why not?
- Weil lived during a time of great trauma and horror. Do you read any of this history in her perspective on prayer?
- What lines or phrases do you find precious? troubling? perplexing? wise?
- We pray the Lord's Prayer frequently. How do we keep its meaning alive?
Everyone's comments, whether brief or lengthy, are welcome!
Next week's reading is by John Henry Newman.
Next week's reading is by John Henry Newman.
5 comments:
In suggested exercises, it mentions reading the Lord's Prayer in other languages. So here it is in French!
Luc 11:2-4 "Jésus et la prière"
"Quand vous priez, dites:
"Père,
que tous reconnaissent que tu es le Dieu saint;
que ton Règne vienne.
Donne-nous chaque jour le pain nécessaire.
Pardonne-nous nos péches,
car nous pardonnons nous-mêmes à tous ceux qui nous ont fait du tort.
Et ne nous expose pas à la tentation."
From " La Bible en français courant":
..and in German!
"Vater unser im Himmel,
Geheiligt werde dein Name.
Dein Reich komme.
Dein Wille geschehe, wie im Himmel so auf Erden.
Unser tägliches Brot gib uns heute.
Und vergib uns unsere Schuld,
wie auch wir vergeben unsern Schuldigern.
Und führe uns nicht in Versuchung,
sondern erlöse uns von dem Bösen.
Denn Dein ist das Reich und die Kraft und die Herrlichkeit in Ewigkeit. Amen."
(Gotteslob, 1975)
"We have to cast aside all other desires for the sake of our desire for eternal life, but we should desire eternal life itself with renunciation."--Perhaps I am too much of a practical Christian to embrace this statement too comfortably. Even with the caveat of not becoming "attached to detachment", I am uncomfortable in this level of transference. Is the desire for justice of lesser importance than that of eternal life. To be sure, Weil seems to be suggesting a conformity of will that results in the desire for eternal life reflecting the almighty will--maybe justice here. However, history is replete with examples of the use of the desire for eternal life as a malevolent distraction from will of God. I want to be careful of the singular ascendancy of any component of the life of faith.
Just a thought from a person living the faith in a complex world.
stan+
Lane ponders...
"It is impossible to say it once through, giving the fullest possible attention to each word, without a change, infinitesimal perhaps but real, taking place in the soul."
It's the attentiveness that struck home to me. So often the Lord's Prayer becomes for me a rote exercise, like saying the Pledge of allegiance or quoting Humpty Dumpty. I know the words so well that I forget to listen to the Word.
Simone Weil's reflections cause me to stop and think.
In that presence of mind, I cut through the haze of familiarity. I am reminded to really be present to the prayer as I pray it. And then, in that moment of praying with attention, the Presence of the Trinity unfolds some small corner of my brain and heart, and I see how infinitely unfamiliar I am with the Word and the Presence that is present.
Does anyone have a copy of the Our Father in Aramaic? I have heard it once or twice. Just imagine the voice of Jesus speaking it...
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