Awe

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 91 of 217 · 20 per page

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. (in Matt. Hom. 67) How is it that He was hungry in the morning, as Matthew says, if it were not that by an economy He permitted it to His flesh? There follows, And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon. Now it is evident that this expresses a conjecture of the disciples, who thought that it was for this reason that Christ came to the fig tree, and that it was cursed, because He found no fruit upon it. For it goes on: And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. He therefore curses the fig tree for His disciples sake, that they might have faith in Him. For He every where distributed blessings, and punished no one, yet at the same time, it was right to give them a proof of His chastising power, that they might learn that He could even cause the persecuting Jews to wither away; He was however unwilling to give this proof on men, wherefore He shewed them on a plant a sign of His power of punishing. This proves that He came to the fig tree principally for this reason, and not on account of His hunger, for who is so silly as to suppose that in the morning He felt so greatly the pains of hunger, or what prevented the Lord from eating before He left Bethany? Nor can it be said that the sight of the figs excited His appetite to hunger, for it was not the season of figs; and if He were hungry, why did He not seek food elsewhere, rather than from a fig-tree which could not yield fruit before its time? What punishment also did a fig tree deserve for not having fruit before its time? From all this then we may infer, that He wished to shew His power, that their minds might not be broken by His Passion. THEOPHYLACT. Wishing to shew His disciples that if He chose He could in a moment exterminate those who were about to crucify Him. In a mystical sense, however, the Lord entered into the temple, but came out of it again, to shew that He left it desolate, and open to the spoiler. BEDE. (ubi sup.) Farther, He looks round about upon the hearts of all, and when in those who opposed the truth, He found no place to lay His head, He retires to the faithful, and takes up His abode with those who obey Him. For Bethany means the house of obedience. PSEUDO-JEROME. He went in the morning to the Jews, and visits us in the eventide of the world.

• From Blue Like Jazz (2003)

  I love this because by being true I am allowing people to get to know the real me, and it feels better to have people love the real me than the me I invented. [image "9780785263708_0150_004" file=Image00049.jpg] So one of the things I had to do after God provided a church for me was to let go of any bad attitude I had against the other churches I’d gone to. In the end, I was just different, you know. It wasn’t that they were bad, they just didn’t do it for me. I read through the book of Ephesians four times one night in Eugene Peterson’s The Message, and it seemed to me that Paul did not want Christians to fight with one another. He seemed to care a great deal about this, so, in my mind, I had to tell my heart to love the people at the churches I used to go to, the people who were different from me. This was entirely freeing because when I told my heart to do this, my heart did it, and now I think very fondly of those wacko Republican fundamentalists, and I know that they love me, too, and I know that we will eat together, we will break bread together in heaven, and we will love each other so purely it will hurt because we are a family in Christ. So here is a step-by-step formula for how you, too, can go to church without getting angry: [image "Bullet" file=Image00050.jpg] Pray that God will show you a church filled with people who share your interests and values. [image "Bullet" file=Image00050.jpg] Go to the church God shows you. [image "Bullet" file=Image00050.jpg] Don’t hold grudges against any other churches. God loves those churches almost as much as He loves yours.13 Romance Meeting Girls Is Easy MY FRIEND KURT USED TO SAY FINDING A WIFE IS a percentage game. He said you have to have two or three relationships going at once, never letting the one girl know about the others, always “moving in to close the deal.” One of them, he said, is bound to work out, and if you lose one, you just pick up another. Kurt believed you had to date about twenty girls before you found the one you were going to marry. He just believed it was easier to date them all at once. Kurt ended up marrying a girl from Dallas, and everybody says he married her for her money. He is very happy. Elsewhere in the quandary is my friend Josh. When I first moved to Oregon I was befriended by this vibrant kid who read a lot of the Bible. Josh was good-looking and obsessed with dating, philosophies of dating, social rituals, and that sort of thing. He was homeschooled and raised to believe traditional dating was a bad idea. I traveled with him around the country and introduced him at seminars he would conduct on the pitfalls of dating.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  HILARY. (ii. de Trin. c. 15) Thou wilt say, that a word is the sound of the voice, the enunciation of a thing, the expression of a thought: this Word was in the beginning with God, because the utterance of thought is eternal, when He who thinketh is eternal. But how was that in the beginning, which exists no time either before, or after, I doubt even whether in time at all? For speech is neither in existence before one speaks, nor after; in the very act of speaking it vanishes; for by the time a speech is ended, that from which it began does not exist. But even if the first sentence, in the beginning was the Word, was through thy inattention lost upon thee, why disputest thou about the next; and the Word was with God? Didst thou hear it said, “In God,” so that thou shouldest understand this Word to be only the expression of hidden thoughts? Or did John say with by mistake, and was not aware of the distinction between being in, and being with, when he said, that what was in the beginning, was not in God, but with God? Hear then the nature and name of the Word; and the Word was God. No more then of the sound of the voice, of the expression of the thought. The Word here is a Substance, not a sound; a Nature, not an expression; God, not a nonentity. HILARY. (vii. de Trin. c. 9, 10, 11.) But the title is absolute, and free from the offence of an extraneous subject. To Moses it is said, I have given1 thee for a god to Pharaoh: (Exod. 7:1) but is not the reason for the name added, when it is said, to Pharaoh? Moses is given for a god to Pharaoh, when he is feared, when he is entreated, when he punishes, when he heals. And it is one thing to be given for a God, another thing to be God. I remember too another application of the name in the Psalms, I have said, ye are gods. (Ps. 82) But there too it is implied that the title was but bestowed; and the introduction of, I said, makes it rather the phrase of the Speaker, than the name of the thing. But when I hear the Word was God, I not only hear the Word said to be, but perceive It proved to be, God. BASIL. (Hom. i. in princ. Joan. c. 4) Thus cutting off the cavils of blasphemers, and those who ask what the Word is, he replies, and the Word was God. THEOPHYLACT. Or combine it thus. From the Word being with God, it follows plainly that there are two Persons. But these two are of one Nature; and therefore it proceeds, In the Word was God: to shew that Father and Son are of One Nature, being of One Godhead.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THE SEVENTH THING TO BE CHIEFLY NOTED ABOUT THE SACRAMENT OF THE BODY OF JESUS IS THE PRECIOUS BLOOD XXVII About the consideration of the Blood of Jesus in three ways; and here about the first way, as that Blood was shed on the CrossOUR Lord ever calls us to His life-giving banquet, in which He has made ready for us very precious meat and drink, that is, His own Body and Blood. We have already meditated on the Body of Jesus; we now go on to meditate on His Blood. We can do this in three ways: A, as that Blood is shed on the Cross for the salvation of all; B, as it is drunk by the faithful in the Holy Sacrament; C, as it is drunk spiritually apart from the Sacrament by the saved. The first way is considered in this Meditation and the next; the second way in the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Meditations; the third way in the last Meditation but one. In the first way it is commended to us by its preciousness beyond all price; in the second way by its manifold usefulness; in the third way by its spiritual sweetness. As to the first way it is ever to be kept in mind; in the second way it is ever to be adored; in the third way it is ever to be desired. Now we consider it as commended to us by its priceless worth. A. About this preciousness four things have to be noted: (1) the proof of its pricelessness; (2) the reason for paying so great a price; (3) the greatness of the power of this Blood; (4) the countless gathering of those that are redeemed by it. The first two points we consider in this Meditation, and the other two in the next Meditation. (1) There is the proof of the pricelessness of this Blood. This is shown in three ways: 1, by its virginal origin; 2, by the great worth of its innocence; 3, by its union with God. 1. The fruit of the vine, that is, of the Blessed Virgin, is grapes and wine, that is, the Body and Blood of Jesus. The wine of honour, therefore, born of the flower of the vine, is the Precious Blood of Jesus, drawn from a virginal source. Greatly indeed does it show us the worth and preciousness of the Blood of Jesus, that it took its beginning not as other blood from corruption, but from a virginal flower. 2. The more innocent that Blood is, the dearer it is and more precious. St. Peter contrasts the worthlessness of silver and gold with the preciousness of the Blood of Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  PSEUDO-JEROME. But they looked from afar off for Him, whom though near they cannot see, as Isaac from the blindness of his eyes does not know Jacob who was under his hands, but prophesies long before things which were to come to him. It goes on, Jesus said, I am; namely, that they might be inexcusable. THEOPHYLACT. For He knew that they would not believe, nevertheless He answered them, lest they should afterwards say, If we had heard any thing from Him, we would have believed on Him; but this is their condemnation, that they heard and did not believe. AUGUSTINE. (de Con. iii. 6) Matthew, however, does not say that Jesus answered I am, but, Thou hast said. But Mark shews, that the words I am were equivalent to Thou hast said. There follows, And ye shall see the Son of Man silting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. (Matt. 26:64) THEOPHYLACT. As if He had said, Ye shall see Me as the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Father, for He here calls the Father power. He will not however come without a body, but as He appeared to those who crucified Him, so will He appear in the judgment. BEDE. (ubi sup.) If therefore to thee, O Jew, O Pagan, and heretic, the contempt, weakness, and cross in Christ are a subject of scorn, see how by this the Son of Man is to sit at the right hand of the Father, and to come in His majesty on the clouds of heaven. PSEUDO-JEROME. The High Priest indeed asks the Son of God, but Jesus in His answer speaks of the Son of Man, that we may by this understand that the Son of God is also the Son of Man; and let us not make a quaternityx in the Trinity, but let man be in God and God in man. And He said, Sitting on the right hand of power, that is, reigning in life everlasting, and in the Divine power. He says, And coming with the clouds of heaven. He ascended in a cloud, He will come with a cloud; that is, He ascended in that body alone, which He took of the Virgin, and He will come to judgment with the whole Church, which is His body and His fulness. LEO. (Serm. 5. de Pass.) But Caiaphas, to increase the odiousness of what they had heard rent his clothes, and without knowing what his frantic action meant, by his madness, deprived himself of the honour of the priesthood, forgetting that command, by which it is said of the High Priest, He shall not uncover his head or rend his clothes. For there follows: Then the High Priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye?

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THAT THERE IS NO LIGHTMINDEDNESS IN ASSENTING TO TRUTHS OF FAITH, ALTHOUGH THEY ARE ABOVE REASONTHE Divine Wisdom, that knows all things most fully, has deigned to reveal these her secrets to men, and in proof of them has displayed works beyond the competence of all natural powers, in the wonderful cure of diseases, in the raising of the dead, and what is more wonderful still, in such inspiration of human minds as that simple and ignorant persons, filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost, have gained in an instant the height of wisdom and eloquence. By force of the aforesaid proof, without violence of arms, without promise of pleasures, and, most wonderful thing of all, in the midst of the violence of persecutors, a countless multitude, not only of the uneducated but of the wisest men, flocked to the Christian faith, wherein doctrines are preached that transcend all human understanding, pleasures of sense are restrained, and a contempt is taught of all worldly possessions. That mortal minds should assent to such teaching is the greatest of miracles, and a manifest work of divine inspiration leading men to despise the visible and desire only invisible goods. Nor did this happen suddenly nor by chance, but by a divine disposition, as is manifest from the fact that God foretold by many oracles of His prophets that He intended to do this. The books of those prophets are still venerated amongst us, as bearing testimony to our faith. This argument is touched upon in the text: Which (salvation) having begun to be uttered by the Lord, was confirmed by them that heard him even unto us, God joining in the testimony by signs and portents and various distributions of the Holy Spirit (Heb. ii, 3, 4). This so wonderful conversion of the world to the Christian faith is so certain a sign of past miracles, that they need no further reiteration, since they appear evidently in their effects. It would be more wonderful than all other miracles, if without miraculous signs the world had been induced by simple and low-born men to believe truths so arduous, to do works so difficult, to hope for reward so high. And yet even in our times God ceases not through His saints to work miracles for the confirmation of the faith. CHAPTER VII THAT THE TRUTH OF REASON IS NOT CONTRARY TO THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIAN FAITHTHE natural dictates of reason must certainly be quite true: it is impossible to think of their being otherwise. Nor a gain is it permissible to believe that the tenets of faith are false, being so evidently confirmed by God. Since therefore falsehood alone is contrary to truth, it is impossible for the truth of faith to be contrary to principles known by natural reason.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  GREGORY OF NYSSA. When Christ commanded to let down the nets, the multitude of the fishes taken was just as great as the Lord of the sea and land willed. For the voice of the Word is the voice of power, at whose bidding at the beginning of the world light and the other creatures came forth. At these things Peter wonders, for he was astonished, and all that were with him, &c. AUGUSTINE. (de con. Ev. lib. ii. 17.) He does not mention Andrew by name, who however is thought to have been in that ship, according to the accounts of Matthew and Mark. It follows, And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not. AMBROSE. Say thou also, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord, that God may answer, Fear not. Confess thy sin, and the Lord will pardon thee. See how good the Lord is, who gives so much to men, that they have the power of making alive. As it follows, From henceforth thou shalt catch men. BEDE. This especially belongs to Peter himself, for the Lord explains to him what this taking of fish means; that in fact as now he takes fishes by the net, so hereafter he will catch men by words. And the whole order of this event shews what is daily going on in the Church, of which Peter is the type. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 14. in Matt.) But mark their faith and obedience. For though they were eagerly engaged in the employment of fishing, yet when they heard the command of Jesus, they delayed not, but forsook all and followed Him. Such is the obedience which Christ demands of us; we must not forego it, even though some great necessity urges us. Hence it follows, And having brought their ships to land.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But after that the High Priest had made publicly known His choice of Apostles, He did many and great miracles, that the Jews and Gentiles who had assembled might know that these were invested by Christ with the dignity of the Apostleship, and that He Himself was not as another man, but rather was God, as being the Incarnate Word. Hence it follows, And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him. For Christ did not receive virtue from others, but since he was by nature God, sending out His own virtue upon the sick, He healed them all. AMBROSE. But observe all things carefully, how He both ascends with His Apostles and descends to the multitude; for how could the multitude see Christ but in a lowly place. It follows him not to the lofty places, it ascends not the heights. Lastly, when He descends, He finds the sick, for in the high places there can be no sick. BEDE. You will scarcely find any where that the multitudes follow our Lord to the higher places, or that a sick person is healed on a mountain; but having quenched the fever of lust and lit the torch of knowledge, each man approaches by degrees to the height of the virtues. But the multitudes which were able to touch the Lord are healed by the virtue of that touch, as formerly the leper is cleansed when our Lord touched him. The touch of the Saviour then is the work of salvation, whom to touch is to believe on Him, to be touched is to be healed by His precious gifts. 6:20–2320. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. 21. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 22. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. 23. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. After the ordination of the Apostles, the Saviour directed His disciples to the newness of the evangelical life. AMBROSE. But being about to utter His divine oracles, He begins to rise higher; although He stood in a low place, yet as it is said, He lifted up his eyes. What is lifting up the eyes, but to disclose a more hidden light?

• From Blue Like Jazz (2003)

  It is that big of a place, that wonderful of a landscape. [image "9780785263708_0218_002" file=Image00084.jpg] I like that scene in the movie Dead Poets Society in which Mr. Keating, an English instructor at an elite preparatory school, asks his students to rip out the “Introduction to Poetry” essay from their literature textbooks. The essayist had instructed students in a method of grading poems on a sliding scale, complete with the use of a grid, thus reducing art for the heart into arithmetic for the head. The students looked around at each other in confusion as their teacher dismissed the essay as rubbish and ordered them to rip these pages from their books. And at their teacher’s loud prodding, the students began to rip. Dr. Keating paced the aisle with a trash can and reminded the students that poetry is not algebra, not songs on American Bandstand that can be rated on a scale from one to ten, but rather they are pieces of art that plunge the depths of the heart to stir vigor in men and woo women. Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little is spent allowing our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder. When I think about the complexity of the Trinity, the three-in-one God, my mind cannot understand, but my heart feels wonder in abundant satisfaction. It is as though my heart, in the midst of its euphoria, is saying to my mind, There are things you cannot understand, and you must learn to live with this. Not only must you learn to live with this, you must learn to enjoy this. I want to tell you something about me that you may see as weakness. I need wonder. I know that death is coming. I smell it in the wind, read it in the paper, watch it on television, and see it on the faces of the old. I need wonder to explain what is going to happen to me, what is going to happen to us when this thing is done, when our shift is over and our kids’ kids are still on the earth listening to their crazy rap music. I need something mysterious to happen after I die. I need to be somewhere else after I die, somewhere with God, somewhere that wouldn’t make any sense if it were explained to me right now. At the end of the day, when I am lying in bed and I know the chances of any of our theology being exactly right are a million to one, I need to know that God has things figured out, that if my math is wrong we are still going to be okay. And wonder is that feeling we get when we let go of our silly answers, our mapped out rules that we want God to follow. I don’t think there is any better worship than wonder.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  BASIL. (in Ps. 33.) But holy is the name of God called, not because in its letters it contains any significant power, but because in whatever way we look at God we distinguish his purity and holiness. BEDE. For in the height of His marvellous power He is far beyond every creature, and is widely removed from all the works of His hands. This is better understood in the Greek tongue, in which the very word which means holy, (ἅγιον) signifies as it were to be “apart from the earth.” 1:5050. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. BEDE. Turning from God’s special gifts to His general dealings, she describes the condition of the whole human race, And his mercy is from generation to generation on them that fear him. As if she said, Not only for me hath He that is mighty done great things, but in every nation he that feareth God is accepted by Him. ORIGEN. For the mercy of God is not upon one generation, but extends to eternity from generation to generation. GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Victor Pres.) According to the mercy which He hath upon generations of generations, I conceive, and He Himself is united to a living body, out of mercy alone undertaking our salvation. Nor is His mercy shewn indiscriminately, but upon those who are constrained by the fear of Him in every nation; as it is said, upon those who fear him, that is, upon those who being brought by repentance are turned to faith and renewal for the obstinate unbelievers have by their sin shut against themselves the gate of mercy. THEOPHYLACT. Or by this she means that they who fear shall obtain mercy, both in that generation, (that is, the present world,) and the generation which is to come, (i. e. the life everlasting.) For now they receive a hundred-fold, but hereafter far more. (Matt. 19:29.) 1:5151. He hath shewed strength with his arm, he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. BEDE. In describing the state of mankind, she shews what the proud deserve, and what the humble; saying, He hath shewed strength with his arm, &c. i. e. with the very Son of God. For as your arm is that whereby you work, so the arm of God is said to be His word by whom He made the world. ORIGEN. But to those that fear Him, He hath done mighty things with His arm; though thou comest weak to God, if thou hast feared Him thou shalt obtain the promised strength. THEOPHYLACT. For in His arm, that is, His incarnate Son, He hath shewed strength, seeing that nature was vanquished, a virgin bringing forth, and God becoming man.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  JEROME. But the answer of Christ was cautions. He spake not what the Scribes would fain have heard, The children do well that they bear witness to me; nor on the other hand, They do what is wrong, they are but children, you ought to be indulgent to their tender years. But He brings a quotation from the eighth Psalm, that though the Lord were silent, the testimony of Scripture might defend the words of the children (Ps. 8:2) as it follows, But Jesus said unto them, Yea, have ye never read, &c. PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. As though He had said, Be it so, it is My fault that these cry thus. But is it My fault that so many thousand years before the Prophet foretold that so it should be? But babes and sucklings cannot know or praise any one. Therefore they are called babes, not in age, but in guilelessness of heart; sucklings, because they cried out being moved by their joy at the wonderful things they beheld, as by the sweetness of milk. Miraculous works are called milk, because the beholding of miracles is no toil, but rather excites wonder, and gently invites to the faith. Bread is the doctrine of perfect righteousness, which none can receive but they who have their senses exercised about spiritual things. CHRYSOSTOM. This was at once a type of the Gentiles, and no small comfort to the Apostles; for that they might not be perplexed, contriving how having no education for the purpose they should preach the Gospel, these children going before them did away that fear; for He who made these to sing His praises, shall give speech to those. This miracle also shews that Christ was the Framer of nature; seeing the children spoke things full of meaning, and agreeing with the Prophets, whereas the men uttered things meaningless, and full of frenzy. 21:17–2217. And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there. 18. Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. 19. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. 20. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! 21. Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. 22. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  PSEUDO-JEROME. Or else, the sun shall be darkened, at the coldness of their hearts, as in the winter time. And the moon shall not give her light with serenity, in this time of quarrel, and the stars of heaven shall fail in their light, when the seed of Abraham shall all but disappear, for to it they are likened. (Gen. 22:17) And the powers of heaven shall be stirred up to the wrath of vengeance, when they shall be sent by the Son of Man at His coming, of whose Advent it is said, And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, He, that is, who first came down like rain into the fleece of Gideon in all lowliness. AUGUSTINE. (Epist. cxcix. 11.) For since it was said by the Angels to the Apostles, He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven, (Acts 1:11) rightly do we believe that He will come not only in the same body, but on a cloud, since He is to come as He went away, and a cloud received Him as He was going. THEOPHYLACT. But they shall see the Lord as the Son of Man, that is, in the body, for that which is seen is body. AUGUSTINE. (de Trin. i. 13) For the vision of the Son of Man is shewn even to the bad, but the vision of the form of God to the pure in heart alone, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8) And because the wicked cannot see the Son of God, as He is in the form of God, equal to the Father, and at the same time both just and wicked are to see Him as Judge of the quick and dead, before Whom they shall be judged, it was necessary that the Son of Man should receive power to judge. Concerning the execution of which power, there is immediately added, And then shall he send his angels. THEOPHYLACT. Observe that Christ sends the Angels as well as the Father; where then are they who say that He is not equal to the Father? For the Angels go forth to gather together the faithful, who are chosen, that they may be carried into the air to meet Jesus Christ. Wherefore it goes on: And gather together his elect from the four winds. PSEUDO-JEROME. As corn winnowed from the threshing-floor of the whole earth.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  QUALITIES OF THE GLORIFIED BODYThis doctrine gives us an insight into the condition of the bodies of the blessed. The soul is both the form and the motive force of the body. In its function as form, the soul is the principle of the body, not only as regards the body’s substantial being, but also as regards its proper accidents, which arise in the subject from the union of form with matter. The more dominant the form is, the less can any outside cause interfere with the impression made by the form on matter. We see this verified in the case of fire, whose form, generally accounted the noblest of all elementary forms, confers on fire the power of not being easily diverted from its natural disposition by the influence emanating from any cause. Since the blessed soul, owing to its union with the first principle of all things, will be raised to the pinnacle of nobility and power, it will communicate substantial existence in the most perfect degree to the body that has been joined to it by divine action. And thus, holding the body completely under its sway, the soul will render the body subtle and spiritual. The soul will also bestow on the body a most ,noble quality, namely, the radiant beauty of clarity. Further, because of the influence emanating from the soul, the body’s stability will not be subject to alteration by any cause; which means that the body will be impassible. Lastly, since the body will be wholly submissive to the soul, as a tool is to him who plies it, it will be endowed with agility. Hence the properties of the bodies belonging to the blessed will be these four: subtlety, clarity, impassibility, and agility. This is the sense of the Apostle’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:42 ff.: In death the body “is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption;” this refers to impassibility. “It is sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory;” this refers to clarity. “It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power,” and hence will have agility. “It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body;” in other words, it will be endowed with subtlety. CHAPTER 169

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  It is used of the guards at the tomb when the angel rolled the stone away (Matt. 28.4), and of the women as they went home after seeing the empty tomb (Matt. 28.8). It is used of the feelings of men in the midst of the shattering events of the last days (Luke 21.26). In Acts it is used of the feeling in men’s minds when they saw the signs and wonders and felt the power in the early Church (Acts 3.43). It is used of the reaction of the people after the death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5.5, 11). It is used of the discomfited heathen exorcists at Ephesus (Acts 19.17). The Church is said to walk in the phobos, the ‘fear’, of the Lord (Acts 9.31). In not one case in the Synoptic Gospels or Acts is phobos used in a bad sense. In every case it describes the feeling in a man’s heart when he is confronted with the divine power in action. It always describes the feelings of a man when he finds himself in the presence of what Otto called ‘the wholly other’, when he finds himself face to face with something outside and beyond and different from himself, something which he cannot understand. There is here the truth that there can be no religion without reverence. Between man and God there is ‘intimacy’ but not ‘familiarity’. It describes the feeling of the man who is ‘lost in wonder, love and praise’. It describes that awe which comes upon the creature in the presence of the Creator. In a famous sentence Swinburne wrote: ‘Glory to man in the highest, for man is the master of things.’ Phobos is the very opposite of that, for, in its highest sense, phobos is the essential reverence of man in the presence of God. In the rest of the NT the word phobos is a much more complicated word. It can have both a good and a bad sense. Let us start with the good sense. (i) In many cases the word ‘fear’ translates phobos in the AV where the meaning is rather ‘reverence’ than ‘fear’. We have already seen that in Acts 9.31 it is said the Churches were ‘walking in the fear of the Lord’, that is, the Christians were living reverent lives. It is Paul’s condemnation of the heathen world that there is no ‘fear of God’ before their eyes (Rom. 3.18). Reverence, respect for God, was entirely lacking. Peter talks about passing the time of your sojourning here ‘in fear’ (I Pet. 1.17). A man must be ready to give a reason for his hope in meekness and ‘fear’ (I Pet.

• From Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family (1901)

  And wherever you went, you breathed in the aroma of the festival with the scent of the fir trees for sale. Then finally the evening of the twenty-third of December came, and with it the giving of presents in the hall at home, in the Fischergrube, a giving of presents in the closest circle, which was only a beginning, an opening, a prelude, because the consul kept Christmas Eve tight Possessed for the whole family, so that in the late afternoon of the twenty-fourth the entire Thursday dinner party, along with Jürgen Kröger from Wismar and Therese Weichbrodt with Madame Kethelsen, gathered in the landscape room. Dressed in heavy gray and black striped silk, with flushed cheeks and flushed eyes, in a delicate scent of patchouli, the old lady received the guests who came in one by one, and her golden bracelets jingled softly at the wordless embraces. She was in unspeakable, silent and trembling excitement that evening. "My God, you're feverish, mother!" said the senator when he arrived with Gerda and Hanno... "Everything can be quite easy." But she whispered, while kissing all three: "In honor of Jesus... And then my dear blessed Jean..." Indeed, the solemn program which the late Consul had set for the solemnity must be maintained, and the sense of their responsibility for the dignified course of the evening, which must be filled with the mood of deep, solemn, and fervent merriment, must be maintained restlessly back and forth - from the columned hall, where the Marien choirboys were already gathering, to the dining room, where Riekchen Severin put the finishing touches on the tree and the gift board the corridor, where a few strange old people stood around shyly and embarrassed, house poor who were also supposed to take part in the gift giving, and back into the landscape room, where she punished every superfluous word and noise with a mute sideways glance. It was so quiet that one could hear the sounds of a distant barrel organ, soft and clear as that of a music box, finding its way here from some snow-covered street. For although there were now twenty people sitting and standing in the room, the peace was greater than in a church and the atmosphere, as the senator whispered very carefully to his uncle Justus, reminded one a little of that of a funeral. Incidentally, there was hardly any danger; this mood might be torn apart by a sound of youthful high spirits.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  KNOWLEDGE OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE BY THE CREATED INTELLECTThe possibility of such knowledge must be investigated. Manifestly, since our intellect knows nothing except through an intelligible species of the thing known, the species of one thing cannot disclose the essence of another thing. In proportion as the species, whereby the mind knows, is remote from the thing known, the less perfect is the knowledge our intellect has of that thing’s essence. For example, if we should know an ox by the species of an ass, we would have an imperfect knowledge of the essence of the ox, for our concept would be limited to its genus. Our knowledge would be still more defective if we were to know the ox through the medium of a stone, because then we would know it by a more remote genus. And if our knowledge were gained through the species of a thing that did not agree with the ox in any genus, we could not know the essence of the ox at all. Previous discussion has brought out the fact that no creature is associated with God in genus. Hence the essence of God cannot be known through any created species whatever, whether sensible or intelligible. Accordingly, if God is to be known as He is, in His essence, God Himself must become the form of the intellect knowing Him and must be joined to that intellect, not indeed so as to constitute a single nature with it, but in the way an intelligible species is joined to the intelligence. For God, who is His own being, is also His own truth, and truth is the form of the intellect. Whatever receives a form, must first acquire the disposition requisite to the reception of that form. Our intellect is not equipped by its nature with the ultimate disposition looking to that form which is truth; otherwise it would be in possession of truth from the beginning. Consequently, when it does finally attain to truth, it must be elevated by some disposition newly conferred on it. And this we call the light of glory, whereby our intellect is perfected by God, who alone by His very nature has this form properly as His own. In somewhat the same way the disposition which heat has for the form of fire can come from fire alone. This is the light that is spoken of in Psalm 35: 10: “In Your light we shall see light.” CHAPTER 106 FRUITION OF NATURAL DESIRE IN THE BEATIFIC VISIONOnce this end is reached, natural desire must find its full fruition. The divine essence thus united to the intellect of the one who sees God, is the adequate principle for knowing everything, and is the source of all good, so that nothing can remain to be desired. This, too, is the most perfect way of attaining likeness with God: to know God in the way He knows Himself, by His own essence.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  GREGORY OF NYSSA. (sup.) These words of Mary are a token of what she was pondering in the secrets of her heart; for if for the sake of the marriage union she had wished to be espoused to Joseph, why was she seized with astonishment when the conception was made known unto her? seeing in truth she might herself be expecting at the time to become a mother according to the law of nature. But because it was meet that her body being presented to God as an holy offering-should be kept inviolate, therefore she says, Seeing that I know not a man. As if she said, Notwithstanding that thou who speakest art an Angel, yet that I should know a man is plainly an impossible thing. How then can I be a mother, having no husband? For Joseph I have acknowledged as my betrothed. GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Geometer.) But mark, how the Angel solves the Virgin’s doubts, and shews to her the unstained marriage and the unspeakable birth. And the Angel answered, and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 49 in Gen.) As if he said, Look not for the order of nature in things which transcend and overpower nature. Dost thou say, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Nay rather, shall it happen to thee for this very reason, that thou hast never known a husband. For if thou hadst, thou wouldest not have been thought worthy of the mystery, not that marriage is unholy, but virginity more excellent. It became the common Lord of all both to take part with us, and to differ with us in His nativity; for the being born from the womb, He shared in common with us, but in that He was born without cohabitation, He was exalted far above us. GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Orat. in Diem Nat.) O blessed is that womb which because of the overflowing purity of the Virgin Mary has drawn to itself the gift of life! For in others scarcely indeed shall a pure soul obtain the presence of the Holy Spirit, but in her the flesh is made the receptacle of the Spirit. GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Lib. de Vita Moysis.) For the tables of our nature which guilt had broken, the true Lawgiver has formed anew to Himself from our dust without cohabitation, creating a body capable of taking His divinity, which the finger of God hath carved, that is to say, the Spirit coming upon the Virgin. GREGORY OF NYSSA. (in Diem Natal.) Moreover, the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Christ is the power of the most high King, who by the coming of the Holy Spirit is formed in the Virgin.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THEOPHYLACT. That, namely, which I now give and which ye take. But the bread is not a mere figure of the Body of Christ, but is changed into the very Body of Christ. For the Lord said, The bread which I give you is my flesh. But the flesh of Christ is veiled from our eyes on account of our weakness, for bread and wine are things to which we are accustomed, if however we saw flesh and blood we could not bear to take them. For this reason the Lord bending Himself to our weakness keeps the forms of bread and wine, but changes the bread and wine into the reality of His Body and Blood. CHRYSOSTOM. (ubi sup.) Even now also that Christ is close to us; He who prepared that table, Himself also consecrates it. For it is not man who makes the offerings to be the Body and Blood of Christ, but Christ who was crucified for us. The words are spoken by the mouth of the Priest, and are consecrated by the power and the grace of God. By this word which He spoke, This is my body, the offerings are consecrated; and as that word which says, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, (Gen. 1:28) was sent forth but once, yet has its effect throughout all time, when nature does the work of generation; so also that voice was spoken once, yet gives confirmation to the sacrifice through all the tables of the Church even to this day, even to His advent. PSEUDO-JEROME. But in a mystical sense, the Lord transfigures into bread His body, which is the present Church, which is received in faith, is blessed in its number, is broken in its sufferings, is given in its examples, is taken in its doctrines; and He forms His Blood (formans sanguinem suum ap. Pseudo-Hier.) in the chalice of water and wine mingled together, that by one we may be purged from our sins, by the other redeemed from their punishment. For by the blood of the lamb our houses are preserved from the smiting of the Angel, and our enemies perish in the waters of the Red sea, which are the sacraments of the Church of Christ. Wherefore it goes on: And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them. For we are saved by the grace of the Lord, not by our own deserts.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  AUGUSTINE. (to Paul. c. iv.) If we say, that the text, No oned hath seen God at any time, (1 Tim. 6:16) applies only to men; so that, as the Apostle more plainly interprets it, Whom no man hath seen nor can see, no one is to be understood here to mean, no one of men: the question may be solved in a way not to contradict what our Lord says, Their Angels do always behold the face of My Father; (Mat. 18:10) so that we must believe that Angels see, what no one, i. e. of men, hath ever seen. GREGORY. (xviii. Moral. c. 54. [91] vet. xxxviii.) Some however there are who conceive that not even the Angels see God. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xv. [xiv.] 1) That very existence which is God, neither Prophets, nor even Angels, nor yet Archangels, have seen. For enquire of the Angels; they say nothing concerning His Substance; but sing, Glory to God in the highest, and Peace on earth to men of good will. (Luke 2:1) Nay, ask even Cherubim and Seraphim; thou wilt hear only in reply the mystic melody of devotion, and that heaven and earth are full of His glory. (Is. 6:3) AUGUSTINE. (to Paulina c. 7) Which indeed is true so far, that no bodily or even mental vision of man hath ever embraced the fulness of God; for it is one thing to see, another to embrace the whole of what thou seest. A thing is seen, if only the sight of it be caught; but we only see a thing fully, when we have no part of it unseen, when we see round its extreme limits. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xv. [xiv.] 1.) In this complete sense only the Son and the Holy Ghost see the Father. For how can created nature see that which is uncreated? So then no man knoweth the Father as the Son knoweth Him: and hence what follows, The Only-Begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. That we might not be led by the identity of the name, to confound Him with the sons made so by grace, the article is annexed in the first place; and then, to put an end to all doubt, the name Only-Begotten is introduced. HILARY. (de Trin. vi. 39) The Truth of His Nature did not seem sufficiently explained by the name of Son, unless, in addition, its peculiar force as proper to Him were expressed, so signifying its distinctness from all beside. For in that, besides Son, he calleth Him also the Only-Begotten, he cut off altogether all suspicion of adoption, the Nature of the Only-Begotten guaranteeing the truth of the name.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Corresponding to these three immediate modes of influence, God is said to be in everything by essence, power, and presence. He is in everything by His essence inasmuch as the existence of each thing is a certain participation in the divine essence; the divine essence is present to every existing thing, to the extent that it has existence, as a cause is present to its proper effect. God is in all things by His power, inasmuch as all things operate in virtue of Him. And God is in all things by His presence, inasmuch as He directly regulates and disposes all things. CHAPTER 136 THE WORKING OF MIRACLES PROPER TO GOD ALONEThe entire order of secondary causes, as well as their power, comes from God. He Himself, however, produces His effects not out of necessity, but by free will, as was shown above. Clearly, then, He can act outside the order of secondary causes, as when He cures those who are incurable from the standpoint of natural causality, or when He does something else of this kind that is not within the sphere of natural causes but is nevertheless consonant with the order of divine providence. What God occasionally does in this way, independently of the order of natural causes, is designed by Him for a definite end. When effects are thus wrought by divine power outside the order of secondary causes, they are called miracles; for when we perceive an effect without knowing its cause, our wonder is excited (mirum est). God is a cause that is completely hidden from us. Therefore, when some effect is wrought by Him outside the order of secondary causes known to us, it is called simply a miracle. But if an effect is produced by some other cause that is unknown to this or that person, it is not a miracle simply as such, but only with regard to him who is ignorant of the cause. Thus an event may appear marvelous to one person without seeming marvelous to another who is acquainted with its cause.