What I notice about my own reflection on these scriptures, the Franciscan tradition and the writings of Simone Weil, is the paradox of affliction and hope.  Job, Lazarus, Paul writing to the Corinthians, and even Simone Weil, all are able to point to hope – not because they see it or sense it – but because they stayed turned towards God. Job never finds an answer, but he finds God. Martha and Mary do not receive an answer as to why God allows death with such power in the world, but they do discover who suffers with them. Simone Weil deeply enters her own affliction and the sufferings she saw in Europe from the Spanish Civil War to World War II. What she discovered, even as an agnostic Jew, was the love of God centered upon the cross of Jesus. She found hope in the world even as her world collapsed. Continue reading →