My name is Matthew, and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to join this experiment. I first encountered Simone Weil in the book Waiting for God, which my mother gave me about 30 years ago (when I was 20). The book didn't take for me at first because I suppose I was inattentive in the extreme at the time, but I have since come back to different parts of the book many times, even occasionally assigning "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God" to my students. (I teach writing and liberal studies at Notre Dame.) My problems with attention still run deep, but I'm hopeful that this time (this Lent and this experiment) will help me begin to understand their source and contours a little better. 

It's been a great joy to know Bert for many years, first meeting him not long after my family and I arrived in South Bend, Indiana. We met at St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker (in 2013, I think, during a community production of Les Miserables!). He was a key player (both at the Worker and in the production), and I and my family were sort of in orbit around the Worker. We're very glad now to be somewhere in the orbit of Simone Weil House as well, especially after becoming friends with Emma along the way!

Peace be with you all. 

When considering why I am participating in this experiment, I am reminded of the line from the Roman midday prayer — “Lord, may we live our lives in quiet joy and with the help of the Virgin Mary’s prayers, safely reach your kingdom.” 

I love that image, that pursuit  — of living quietly and under the protection of Mary one’s whole life. 

Regrettably, these past couple of years (post undergrad) have not felt so quiet for me, largely because discernment has felt so loud and dramatic and equal parts certain and uncertain in ways that it really didn’t have to be, but couldn’t have been know by me as not having to have been with the knowledge that I had. And, of course, some of the problem was the loud interior dispositions that I cultivated and possessed. Alas … 

These past couple years especially, my attempts to cultivate attention (which I think of in terms of “living more quietly interiorly”) have taken the form of reassessing my relationship with technology and going to Adoration when I can. I look forward to the ways this experiment might continue to help me in the hope for life marked more by this “quiet joy.”

My name is Tshombé, named after former present of Katanga and later prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have worked at University of Portland for almost 8 years, the last 2 of which I have served as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

I became Catholic at the Easter Vigil in 2019, and I am very much looking forward to experiencing these Lenten days leading up to another Great Holy Saturday with all of you.

Stay awake!

Thanks for the prompting to look up Käthe Kollwitz's work. I hope we have a chance to hear more of your reflections about her - especially in our later weeks on attention and suffering.