The solution of a geometry problem does not in itself constitute a precious gift, but the same law applies to it because it is the image of something precious. Being a little fragment of particular truth, it is a pure image of the unique, eternal, and living Truth, the very Truth that once in a human voice declared: “I am the Truth.” Every school exercise, thought of in this way, is like a sacrament.

In every school exercise there is a special way of waiting upon truth, setting our hearts upon it, yet not allowing ourselves to go out in search of it. There is a way of giving our attention to the data of a problem in geometry without trying to Þnd the solution or to the words of a Latin or Greek text without trying to arrive at the meaning, a way of waiting, when we are writing, for the right word to come of itself at the end of our pen, while we merely reject all inadequate words.

Simone Weil
“Reflections on the right use of school studies with a view to the love of God”

Simone Weil (1909–1943) was the child of Jewish parents. A brilliant student of classical philosophy at Paris, she taught in several high schools, but eventually left to work in factory jobs, as a way of sharing the circumstances of the poor. She served with an anarchist brigade in the Spanish civil war. Her spiritual quest led from agnosticism to a deep mysticism and, as she put it, the threshold of the Catholic Church. Weakened by her austere life, she died of tuberculosis in England.

 

honesty, fidelity and courage. But mostly it is about what leads us to or from life and love. The time has come when we must face major questions like: What shall I be? What shall I do? With whom shall I live my life? This little volume does not tell us the answers to these questions. No one should do that for us. But it does suggest a sane context for answering them. If we leave Boston College well educated, poised before job opportunities, reasonably self-assured about who we are, we will be lucky men or women. If we leave Boston College with all these, a sense of purpose and a sense of God’s presence, we will be graced men or women. This reflection on Ignatian spirituality has been about the difference between these two exits.

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