Lenten Day Fourteen: Simone Weil

February 27, 2024

“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.”  Simone Weil

I keep the quotations that aren’t taped to my desk, mirror, or fridge in a decorative box with the words “Prayer Cards” embossed on top.  Funny thing is that the box contained a little souvenir gift from a friend, not prayer cards at all.  My index cards fit perfectly.  What I call a “Godincidence.” 🙂

Today, on this fourteenth day of Lent, I draw out this quotation from Simone Weil.  I don’t know a lot about this French mystic, other than Weil was also a philosopher and political activist who died at the young age of 34 from tuberculosis.  Spiritual rather than religious, she did not embrace Christianity until later in life, and then was never baptized because she gleaned so much knowledge and richness in other religions that she did not want to commit to one faith, though she was committed to Christ.  From an early age on, she took Christ’s injunctions to heart, especially to love one’s neighbor. 

This quotation speaks to me because two words that I’ve come to help guide me are “rooted” and “grounded.”  We live in a white-water world, our little orange inflatables prone to flip over or smash into rocks.  How do we hold firm in the midst of the ceaseless wind and the crashing currents?  I recently attended a workshop on politics and spiritual formation, and the answer was to stay centered/rooted/grounded in Christ, or, in the spirit of Weil, whatever Being or Source you consider Divine.

What roots you?  What keeps you stable and close to the Divine?  Family?  Quiet time? Holy reading? Meditation?  Gardening?  Wood working?  Music?  Art?  Nature?  A spiritual companion? Candles?  (Yes, candles ground me.) Our souls, as Weil proclaims, cry out to be grounded so that we can “be still and know that God is God” (Psalm 46:10). One of my favorite verses from the Book of Psalms describes those who are grounded: “They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither” (1:3).  We cannot bear fruit if we are constantly tossed and blown about.  We need to be planted.

Jesus the Christ could not have carried out his ministry of Love without being grounded.  Pick up any gospel and notice how many times he goes to pray or goes to a “solitary place.”  Simone Weil could not have lived her full, albeit short, life of social activism without being grounded; otherwise, she would have burned out.  This Lent, I intentionally listen for what grounds me and spend some time there.  It is what my soul craves, and what the world needs.

Blessings ~ Rosemary