Spiritual pilgrim though she was, Simone Weil remained outside the church to the end.

Even in her attraction to Catholicism, she could not limit God to any dogma or creed; the very certainty of faith was for her a luxury to be shunned.

For Weil, it was enough to gaze toward the empty place left by a God who was always just out of sight.

Attention animated by desire is the whole foundation of religious practices, she wrote in "Forms of the Implicit Love of God." "[L]ooking is what saves us." Not possessing, not consuming, not controlling, but simply watching and waiting, expecting nothing, surrendering all.

by Susan Hanson
from "Looking into the Void:
The Sacrificial Faith of Simone Weil"

As much as we resist the commercial emphasis on gift giving at Christmas, who does not find an "ah" escaping from deep within when presented with a gift that was neither expected nor deserved?

When buying presents becomes obligatory, however, and we run around the mall days before the holidays, frantic to find something for everyone "on our list," the grace of gift giving gets lost from the moment.

As millions of us await the opening of what is said to be a remarkable film, the debate continues as to whether or not C. S. Lewis' Narnia was written to be Christian.

Did Lewis intend his series of young adult novels to be Christian allegory?

by Jon M. Sweeney