What is life? … The Periodic Table by Primo Levi

The Periodic Table (1975) by Primo Levi (1919-1987) is a collection of essays loosely tied together by the elements making up the periodic table of elements created by Dimitri Mendeleev in 1869. Of course, Levi does not use all the elements; there are 116 of them. He picks out ones that have some sort of…

A Voice For the Wilderness: Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac

A Sand County Almanac was published in 1948. It took Aldo Leopold ten years to write, which says something about his particular care for such things. In part it is written out of his experience living along the Wisconsin River in what was referred to as The Shack, by the Leopold family. Leopold purchased land…

The Love of Our Neighbor

I often find myself struggling to understand what love is, and how I can love so that I might live fully what Christ told us was the greatest commandment, to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbor like ourselves. How do we show love to one another? St. Paul’s First Letter…

Part II: Simone Weil on School Studies in_Waiting for God_ (The Essays)

In the second half of Simone Weil's, Waiting for God, there are several extensive essays on the love of God. While the first essay on school studies might seem out of place; it is in keeping with her main focus, but approached from the point of view of our love for God, rather than God's…

Part I: The Way of Simone Weil: _Waiting For God_(The Letters)

This Easter I was praying at home -- typically I would be traveling back and forth to church during the Triduum, starting with the foot washing on Holy Thursday and ending with the Saturday vigil. I would be singing, sitting still, looking around to see who I knew and trying to maintain a sense of…