Ben Myers in a post entitled Between God and God reminds us of a Simone Weil quote ideal for the season of Lent. However, Ben does not give the quote in full, nor is the original French provided. Below the fold, the French, a translation revised toward the original, and a link to Attente de Dieu in its entirety.
Dieu a créé par amour, pour l'amour. Dieu n'a pas créé autre chose que l'amour même et les moyens de l'amour. Il a créé toutes les formes de l'amour. Il a créé des êtres capables d'amour à toutes les distances possibles. Lui-même est allé, parce que nul autre ne pouvait le faire, à la distance maximum, la distance infinie. Cette distance infinie entre Dieu et Dieu, déchirement suprême, douleur dont aucune autre n'approche, merveille de l'amour, c'est la crucifixion. Rien ne peut être plus loin de Dieu que ce qui a été fait malédiction.
God created through love and for love. God
did not create anything except love itself, and the means to love. He created
love in all its forms. He created beings capable of love from all possible
distances. He himself traveled, because no other could do it, from the greatest
possible distance, the infinite distance. This infinite distance between God
and God, this supreme tearing apart, whose pain no one else approaches, this marvel
of love, is the crucifixion. Nothing can be further from God than that which
has been made a curse.
Ce déchirement par-dessus lequel l'amour suprême met le lien de la
suprême union résonne perpétuellement à travers l'univers, au fond du silence,
comme deux notes séparées et fondues, comme une harmonie pure et déchirante.
C'est cela la Parole de Dieu. La création tout entière n'en est que la vibration.
This tearing apart, on top of which
supreme love places the bond of supreme union, echoes perpetually across the
universe beneath the silence, like two notes, separate yet fused into one, like
a harmony that is pure and tears apart. This is the Word of God. The totality
of creation is nothing but its vibration.
Simone Weil in French is available online. Go
here
and here.
Who’s afraid of Simone Weil? Just about everyone. An author who examines Simone
Weil with raw honesty and insight is Rachel Brenner. A side note: Emmanuel
Levinas, it seems to me, owes much to Simone Weil. On the assumption that one
is already familiar with Levinas, read, for example, these excerpts.
Bibliography
Rachel Feldhay Brenner, Writing as Resistance: Four Women Confronting the Holocaust. Edith Stein. Simone Weil. Anne Frank. Etty Hillesum (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997). In particular: “Stein and Weil: Diverging Responses to Jewish and Christian Traditions,” 59-74; “Stein and Weil: Between Self-Affirmation and Self-Renunciation,” 75-95; “Stein and Weil: Displaced Autobiographical Selves,” 123-129; “Stein and Weil: Women’s Nature and Destiny,” 154-166.
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