Fear

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.

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• From Heptaméron (1559)

  A LORD of Grignaux, gentleman, of honour to Anne, Duchess of Brittany and Queen of France, returning home after an absence of more than two years, found his wife at another estate he had, not far from that in which he usually resided. He asked the reason of this, and was told that the house was haunted by a spirit, which made such a disturbance that no one could live in it. Monsieur de Grignaux, who was not a man to give credit to these fancies, replied that if it was the devil himself he should not fear him, and took his wife home with him to their usual abode. At night he had plenty of torches lighted, the better to see this spirit; but, after watching a long time without seeing or hearing anything, he at last fell asleep. No sooner had he done so than he was awakened by a sound box on the ears, after which he heard a voice crying, " Brenigne, Brenigne," which was the name of his deceased grandmother. He called to a woman who slept in the chamber to light a candle, for he had had all the torches put out, but she durst not rise. At the same time, Monsieur de Grignaux felt his bed-clothes pulled off, and heard a great noise of tables, trestles, and stools tumbled about the room with a din that lasted until day. But he never believed that it was a spirit ; he was not so frightened as vexed at losing his night's rest. On the following night, being resolved to catch Master Goblin, he had no sooner lain down than he pretended Fourth Jay. QUEEN OF NAVARRE. 34.1 to snore with all his might, keeping his open hand ovei his face. While thus awaiting the arrival of the spirit, he heard something approach, and began to snore louder than ever. The spirit, which by this time had become familiar, gave him a great thump, whereupon Monsieur de Grignaux seized its hand, crying out, " Wife, I have caught the spirit." His wife rose instantly, lighted a candle, and behold you, it turned out that the spirit was the girl who slept in their chamber. She threw herself at their feet, begging to be forgiven, and promised to tell them the truth, which was, that the love she long entertained for a domestic had made her play this trick in order to drive the master and mistress out of the house, and that they two, who had charge of it, might make good cheer, which they failed not to do when they were alone. Monsieur de Grignaux, who was not a man to be trifled with, had them both beaten in a manner they never forgot, and then turned them both out of doors. In this way he got rid of the spirits who had haunted his house for two years.

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

  THEOPHYLACT. But it seems to me, that in these words He foretells the eating of children, for when afflicted by famine and pestilence, they laid hands on their children. GLOSS. (non occ.) Again, after having mentioned this double impediment to flight, which might arise either from the desire of taking away property, or from having children to carry, He touches upon the third obstacle, namely, that coming from the season; saying, And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. THEOPHYLACT. That is, lest they who wish to fly should be impeded by the difficulties of the season. And He fitly gives the cause for so great a necessity for flight; saying, For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. AUGUSTINE. (Epist. cxcix. 9.) For Josephus, who has written the history of the Jews, relates that such things were suffered by this people, as are scarcely credible, wherefore it is said, not without cause, that there was not such tribulation from the beginning of the creation until now, nor shall ever be. But although in the time of Antichrist there shall be one similar or greater, we must understand that it is of that people, that it is said that there shall never happen such another. For if they are the first and foremost to receive Antichrist, that same people may rather be said to cause than to suffer tribulation. BEDE. (ubi sup.) The only refuge in such evils is, that God who gives strength to suffer, should abridge the power of inflicting. Wherefore there follows: And except that the Lord had shortened those days. THEOPHYLACT. That is, if the Roman war had not been soon finished, no flesh should be saved; that is, no Jew should have escaped; but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, that is, for the sake of the believing Jews, or who were hereafter to believe, He hath shortened the days, that is, the war was soon finished, for God foresaw that many Jews would believe after the destruction of the city; for which reason He would not suffer the whole race to be utterly destroyed. AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) But some persons more fitly understand that the calamities themselves are signified by days, as evil days are spoken of in other parts of holy Scripture; for the days themselves are not evil, but what is done in them. The woes themselves therefore are said to be abridged, because through the patience which God gave they felt them less, and then what was great in itself was abridged.

• From The Principles of Psychology (Volume 1 of 2) (1890)

  J. Brown, who had rented a small shop six weeks previously stocked it with stationery, confectionery, fruit and small articles, and carried on his quiet trade without seeming to any one unnatural or eccentric, woke up in a fright and called in the people of the house to tell him where he was. He said that his name was Ansel Bourne, that he was entirely ignorant of Norristown, that he knew nothing of shop-keeping, and that the last thing he remembered—it seemed only yesterday—was drawing the money from the bank, etc., in Providence. He would not believe that two months had elapsed. The people of the house thought him insane; and so, at first, did Dr. Louis H. Read, whom they called in to see him. But on telegraphing to Providence, confirmatory messages came, and presently his nephew, Mr. Andrew Harris, arrived upon the scene, made everything straight, and took him home. He was very weak, having lost apparently over twenty pounds of flesh during his escapade, and had such a horror of the idea of the candy-store that he refused to set foot in it again. The first two weeks of the period remained unaccounted for, as he had no memory, after he had once resumed his normal personality, of any part of the time, and no one who knew him seems to have seen him after he left home. The remarkable part of the change is, of course, the peculiar occupation which the so-called Brown indulged in. Mr. Bourne has never in his life had the slightest contract with trade. 'Brown' was described by the neighbors as taciturn, orderly in his habits, and in no way queer. He went to Philadelphia several times; replenished his stock; cooked for himself in the back shop, where he also slept; went regularly to church; and once at a prayer-meeting made what was considered by the hearers a good address, in the course of which he related an incident which he had witnessed in his natural state of Bourne. This was all that was known of the case up to June 1890, when I induced Mr. Bourne to submit to hypnotism, so as to see whether, in the hypnotic trance, his 'Brown' memory would not come back. It did so with surprising readiness; so much so indeed that it proved quite impossible to make him whilst in the hypnosis remember any of the facts of his normal life. He had heard of Ansel Bourne, but "didn't know as he had ever met the man." When confronted with Mrs. Bourne he said that he had "never seen the woman before," etc. On the other hand, he told of his peregrinations during the lost fortnight,[316] and gave all sorts of details about the Norristown episode. The whole thing was prosaic enough; and the Brown-personality seems to be nothing but a rather shrunken, dejected, and amnesic extract of Mr.

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

  CHRYSOSTOM. When the Lord had finished all that related to Jerusalem, He came in the rest to His own coming, and gives them signs thereof, useful not for them only, but for us and for all who shall be after us. As above, the Evangelist said, In those days came John the Baptist, (Mat. 3:1.) not implying immediately after what had gone before, but thirty years after; so here, when He says Then, He passes over the whole interval of time between the taking of Jerusalem and the beginnings of the consummation of the world. Among the signs which He gives of His second coming He certifies them concerning the place, and the deceivers. For it shall not be then as at His former coming, when He appeared in Bethlehem, in a corner of the world, unknown of any; but He shall come openly so as not to need any to announce His approach, wherefore, If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe not. JEROME. Wherein He shews that His second coming shall be not in lowliness as His first, but in glory; and therefore it is folly to seek in places little and obscure for Him who is the Light of the whole world. (John 8:12.) HILARY. Notwithstanding, by reason of the great tribulation in which men shall be cast, false prophets promising to shew aid present from Christ, will falsely affirm that Christ is present in divers places, that they may draw into the service of Antichrist men discouraged and distracted. CHRYSOSTOM. He speaks here of Antichrist, and of certain his ministers, whom He calls false Christs and false prophets, such as were many in the time of the Apostles; but before Christ’s second coming there shall come others more bitter than the former, And they shall shew great signs and wonders. (cf. 2 Thes. 2:8.)

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

  CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. After having commanded them to embrace poverty, He then crowns with honour those things which follow from poverty. It is the lot of those who embrace poverty to be in want of the necessaries of life, and scarcely to be able to get food. He does not then permit His disciples to be fainthearted on this account, but says, Blessed are ye who hunger now. BEDE. That is, blessed are ye who chasten your body and subject it to bondage, who in hunger and thirst give heed to the word, for then shall ye receive the fulness of heavenly joys. GREGORY OF NYSSA. (de Beat. orat. 4.) But in a deeper sense, as they who partake of bodily food vary their appetites according to the nature of the things to be eaten; so also in the food of the soul, by some indeed that is desired which depends upon the opinion of men, by others, that which is essentially and of its own nature good. Hence, according to Matthew, men are blessed who account righteousness in the place of food and drink; by righteousness I mean not a particular but an universal virtue, which he who hungers after is said to be blessed. BEDE. Plainly instructing us, that we ought never to account ourselves sufficiently righteous, but always desire a daily increase in righteousness, to the perfect fulness of which the Psalmist shews us that we can not arrive in this world, but in the world to come. I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall be made manifest (Ps. 17:15.). Hence it follows, For ye shall be filled. GREGORY OF NYSSA. (ubi sup.) For to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness He promises abundance of the things they desire. For none of the pleasures which are sought in this life can satisfy those who pursue them. But the pursuit of virtue alone is followed by that reward, which implants a joy in the soul that never faileth. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But poverty is followed not only by a want of those things which bring delight, but also by a dejected look, because of sorrow. Hence it follows, Blessed are ye that weep. He blesses those who weep, not those who merely drop tears from their eyes, (for this is common to the believing and unbelieving, when sorrow befals them,) but rather He calls those blessed, who shun a careless life, mixed up with sin, and devoted to carnal pleasures, and refuse enjoyments almost weeping from their hatred of all worldly things.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  It was the strange conception of the Greeks that the gods grudged man all happiness, all prosperity and all success. That goes as far back as Homer. Even a fair reputation for kindliness and honour was a thing which the gods might grudge and envy men, for was not Poseidon, the sea god, jealous of the Phaeacians because ‘they gave safe escort to all men’ (Homer, Odyssey 8.566)? The same conception of this envy of the gods is there in Pindar. When he sings in praise of Corinth, he adds the prayer to the sovereign Lord of Olympia not to allow his envy to be awakened by such words of praise (Pindar, Olymp. 13.24). In the Pythians he prays that the family of the Aleuadae may continue to fare well. ‘Of the happy things of Hellas they have received no small portion; I pray that they meet with no reverses from the envious gods’ (Pindar, Pyth. 10.19). It is the same in the Isthmians: ‘I will set a garland upon my hair and sing. But let not the envy of the immortal gods bring confusion on me’ (Pindar, Isth. 7.39). The Greek was haunted by the idea of the envy of the gods. It may be said that all early Greek history is written on the theme of the envy of the gods. Herodotus draws the picture of Xerxes planning to invade Greece, and of Artabanus seeking to restrain him from an ambition which is bound to awaken the envy of the gods: ‘You see how God smites with his thunderbolts the tallest animals, and does not allow them to exalt themselves, whereas the smaller animals in no way provoke his wrath; you see how he ever hurls his shafts at the highest buildings and trees, for it is God’s custom to cut down whatever exceeds in point of greatness. Thus a mighty host may be destroyed by a small one, when God, becoming envious, smites them with panic or with lightning, so that they perish in a manner unworthy of themselves. For God will not suffer any but himself to think high thoughts’ (Herodotus, 7.10). In the same way Amasis addresses his warning letter to Polycrates: ‘Your great successes do not please me, knowing as I do that the divine nature is jealous. I would prefer that I myself and those I care for should be successful in some things and unsuccessful in others, experiencing through life alternate good and evil fortune, rather than that they should invariably succeed. For I have never yet heard of anyone who was successful in everything, without perishing miserably, root and branch, at the last’ (Herodotus, 3.40). At the back of life for the Greek there was the terror of success, for success was bound to awaken the envy of the gods.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  To him the logos of God was ‘inscribed and engraved upon the constitution of all things’. The logos is ‘the tiller by which the pilot of the universe steers all things’. ‘Every man is akin in understanding to the divine logos.’ ‘The logos is the high priest which sets the soul before God.’ The logos is the bridge between man and God. Now we can see what John was doing when he uttered his tremendous statement, ‘The Word was made flesh.’ (i) He was clothing Christianity in a dress that a Greek could understand. Here is a challenge to us. He refused to go on expressing Christianity in outworn and Judaistic categories. He used categories that his age knew and understood. Again and again the Church has failed in that task through mental laziness, through fear to cut adrift from the past, through shrinking from possible heresy; but ‘the man who would discover a new continent must accept the hazard of sailing upon an uncharted sea.’ If we are ever to tell people about the Christian message we must tell it in language that they can understand. That is precisely what John did. (ii) He was giving us a new Christology. By calling Jesus the logos, John said two things about Jesus, (a) Jesus is the creating power of God come to men. He does not only speak the word of knowledge; he is the word of power. He did not come so much to say things to us, as to do things for us. (b) Jesus is the incarnate mind of God. We might well translate John’s words, ‘The mind of God became a man.’ A word is always ‘the expression of a thought’ and Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s thought for men. We should do well to rediscover and to preach again Jesus Christ as the logos, the Word of God. LUTRON, LUTROUN AND APOLUTRŌSIS THE DEBT AND ITS PAYMENT There is a group of NT words which all have to do with the idea of ransom and redemption, of deliverance and freedom won and purchased at a price. These words have been so influential in moulding the conception of the work of Jesus Christ, and of the idea of the atonement, that it is absolutely necessary to study them in detail. We begin with the word lutron. (i) In classical Greek the word occurs mostly in the plural (lutra) and its basic meaning is ‘the price of release’. The title of the 24th book of the Iliad is Lutra Hektoros, ‘the ransoming of Hector’, and it tells the story of the ransoming of the dead body of Hector, the Trojan champion, after it had been captured by the Greeks.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  It can be used of absolving a man from duty that he could have been compelled to carry out. The whole essence of the word is the undeserved release of a man from something that might justly have been inflicted upon him or exacted from him. Through Jesus Christ man is released from the punishment and penalty that God had every right to inflict upon him. It is the word which tells us that God deals with us, not in justice, but in love; that we are dealt with, not according to our deserts, but according to his mercy and his grace in Jesus Christ. There is no book which has so great a sense of the horror and the awfulness of sin as the NT has, but equally there is no book which is so sure that the cure and the remedy have been found. HUBRIS, HUBRIZEIN, HUBRISTĒS THE WORDS OF IMPIOUS PRIDE The words hubris, hubrizein and hubristēs do not occur often in the NT, but they are words which are well worth studying, because to the Greeks these were the words which were concerned with the supreme sin, which could not do anything else but breed destruction and total ruin. They are words which are not easy to translate. Hubris is a noun which means wanton insolence: hubristēs is also a noun which means one who acts with wanton insolence: hubrizein is a verb which means to treat with wanton insolence. But the basic idea in all these words is the pride which erects itself against God and man alike. W. G. de Burgh writes of hubris: ‘Its root meaning is the violent over-stepping of the mark, the insolence of triumph, and the pride of life that tramples underfoot the unwritten laws of gods and men. Hubris is the closest Greek equivalent for “sin”. Its most characteristic application was to the insatiable thirst for power which drives a man or a nation headlong, as though possessed by a demon, on the path of unbridled self-assertion. This blinding passion, outraging alike personal liberty and public law, lures the victim in a frenzy of self-confidence towards destruction. It provokes nemesis, the feeling of righteous indignation, in the gods and in his fellow men.’ Ernest Myers speaks of ‘the sin of hubris, of insolence, ready to trample in violence over law and liberty to gratify selfish lust and pride’. The basic evil of hubris is that when hubris enters into a man’s heart that man forgets that he is a creature and that God is the Creator. Hubris is the sin whereby a man forgets his humanity and makes himself equal with God. Hubris is that insolent arrogance which forgets the essential creatureliness of the condition of being a man. This was accentuated by the strange Greek conception of the envy of the gods (phthonos theōn).

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  (ii) But there were certain gods of whom this word was specially used. It was specially used of the Erinyes, the Furies whose duty and task it was to avenge sin. So much so was this the case that these Furies were actually called the semnai (the feminine plural of the adjective). There were three of these grim goddesses, Allecto, ‘she who never rests’, Tisiphone, ‘the avenger of murder’, and Megaera, ‘the jealous one’, and once a man had sinned they were on his heels, and neither in this world or the next did they let him go. ‘They are the avengers of every transgression of natural order, and especially of offences which touch the foundation of human society. They punish, without mercy, all violations of filial duty, or the claims of kinship, or the rites of hospitality; murder, perjury and like offences…. The punishment begins on earth and is continued after death.’ The Erinyes, the Furies, the semnai were nothing less than the custodians of divine justice. There is much about them in Greek tragedy. Sophocles calls them ‘majestic swift-footed hounds of vengeance’ (Ajax 837). Euripides says of them: ‘They are the dread ones; wise art thou to name them not.’ The most terrible description of the semnai is in Aeschylus’ play, The Eumenides. Eumenides means The Gracious Ones, and the Greeks called the Erinyes, the Furies, by that name in order to please them and to avert their wrath. There the chorus of the avengers says: ‘No wrath from us creeps up on him who has clean hands, but unharmed he passes the age of his life; but whosoever sins, as this man has done, and seeks to hide the hands in murder dipped, to him we appear, true witnesses to the dead, come as the avengers of blood, avengers who cannot fail in their task’ (Aeschylus, The Eumenides 313-320). There is all the majesty of the divine in this word semnos, and it is the word which describes the characteristic quality of the Christian. But these words have still other and illuminating uses. (i) They are words which have to do with royalty and with kingliness. Herodotus tells how the Egyptians disapproved of the lax and drunken conduct of their king, and how they said: ‘We would have you sit aloft upon a throne of pride’ (Herodotus, 2.173). Euripides speaks of a ‘proud despot’ (The Suppliant Women 384). Plato uses semnos to describe the ‘most important and influential men in our cities’ (Plato, Phcedrus 257d). Aristophanes in his skit The Ecclesiazusce, in which the women take over the government and wipe out social distinctions, says, as Rogers translates it into English verse: ‘By the side of the beauty so stately and grand The dwarf, the deformed and the ugly shall stand.’

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  It means either a ‘stumbling-block’, something set in a man’s path to trip him up, or ‘a snare’, ‘a bait’, ‘a lure’ to entice him astray and so to ruin him. When we turn to the NT we find that the translators of the AV always took skandalon in the sense of ‘stumbling-block’, but when we go to the NT passages with the idea of the double meaning of skandalon in our minds, we find that in certain passages the other meaning gives a more vivid picture. (i) There are some passages where either meaning is perfectly suitable. In Matt. 13.41 it is said that the Son of Man will remove all skandala from his Kingdom. When the Kingdom comes all the things which are calculated to make a man sin, all the things which could trip him up, all the things which would entice him and seduce him into the wrong way will be taken away. The Kingdom will be a state of things in which temptation will lose its power. (ii) There are some passages where the meaning of ‘stumbling-block’ is more fitting, or where it is even essential. In Rom. 14.13 we are forbidden to put a ‘stumbling-block’ or ‘occasion to fall’ in our brother’s way. The word that is used for ‘occasion to fall’ is proskomma, which means ‘a barrier’, ‘a hindrance’, ‘a road-block’. It is the word that would be used for a tree that has been felled and laid across a road to block it. We must never do or allow anything which would be a road-block on the way to goodness. In Matt. 13.21 the shallow hearer of the word is said to be ‘offended’ (skandalizein) by persecution. Persecution is a stumbling-block that stops him on the Christian way. The Pharisees are ‘offended’ by Jesus and his words (Matt. 15.12). Jesus forecasts that all his disciples will be ‘offended’ because of him (Matt. 26.31). The false teachers put a ‘stumbling-block’ in the way of others (Rev. 2.14). The Jews find the cross of Christ ‘a stumbling-block’ and ‘an offence’ (I Cor. 1.23; Gal. 5.11). In all these cases, the words mean something which stops a man’s progress, something which trips him up, something which bars the way to him. That something may come from the malicious action of others, or it may come from the prejudice and the pride of a man’s own heart. (iii) But there are certain cases where it gives a far better picture to take skandalon and skandalizein in the sense of a ‘trap’, a ‘snare’, a ‘bait’, an ‘allurement’, an ‘enticement to sin’. Rom. 16.17 warns against those who cause divisions and ‘offences’ contrary to the doctrine which Christ’s people have received. That is a warning against those who would ‘lure’ us from the way of true belief. I John 2.10 says: ‘He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no skandalon in him.’

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  To be too successful, to have too much good fortune, to triumph too much, was to court disaster, for it was to incur the inevitable envy of the gods. ‘Seek not to become Zeus’ said Pindar. ‘Mortal things befit a mortal’ (Pindar, Isth. 5.14). ‘If anyone shall possess wealth and shall excel others in beauty, and have won distinction by display of strength in the games, let him not forget that his raiment is on mortal limbs, and that the earth shall be his garment at the last’ (Pindar, Nem. 11.13). Even man’s voyaging throughout the world must be circumscribed. At the end of the Mediterranean Sea there stood the Pillars of Hercules. Better for a man not to venture beyond. ‘By their manly prowess they have touched the Pillars of Hercules, at the boundaries of the world. Beyond that I bid them seek for no further excellence’ (Pindar, Isth. 4.11). The same refrain runs through Aeschylus. The man upon a too prosperous voyage, in the midst of a calm sea, strikes a hidden reef, and the end is shipwreck (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 993). Xerxes is defeated with all his might and the defeat is due to ‘the envy of the gods’ (Aeschylus, Persae 365). From beginning to end, classical literature is permeated with this fear of the envy of the gods; and this conception that the supreme sin is the failure of a man to remember that he is a man. Now if all that be true—and to the Greek it was the truest thing in the universe—then if success is dangerous, pride in success is fatal. And hubris is this arrogant and insolent pride which forgets the gods. ‘Very certainly’, said Aeschylus, ‘insolence, hubris, is the child of godlessness’ (Aeschylus, Eumenides 533). ‘Zeus,’ he says, ‘of a truth is a chastiser of overweening pride and corrects with a heavy hand. Therefore, now that my son has been warned to prudence by the voice of God, do ye instruct him by admonitions of reason, to cease from drawing on himself the punishment of heaven by his vaunting rashness’ (Aeschylus, Persae 827-831). Darius says of his son Xerxes and his disastrous expedition against Greece: ‘Mortal though he was, he thought in his folly that he would gain the mastery over all the gods’ (ibid. 794). The trouble about this pride is that it grows ever greater as a man’s life goes on: ‘An ancient hubris ever breeds a fresh and living hubris to add to human woes’ (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 760); and that is the very reason why ‘from good fortune there sprouts forth for posterity insatiate calamity’. Sophocles has it: ‘Hubris begets a tyrant’ (Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 873). It is this overweening pride which makes a tyrant and men and gods hate a tyrant.

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

  AMBROSE. It is well said that there appeared an angel to Zacharias, who suddenly beheld him; and this is the expression especially used by Divine Scripture with respect to angels or God, that what cannot be seen beforehand may be said to appear. For things which are the objects of our senses are not seen as He is seen, Who is seen only as He will, and Whose nature is not to be seen. ORIGEN. And we speak thus not only of the present time, but also of the future. When we shall have passed from the world, God will not appear unto all men, nor will the angels, but unto him only who has a clean heart. The place will neither hinder nor serve any one. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. li. in Matt.) But the angel evidently came not in a dream, because the tidings he brought were too hard to be understood, and needed therefore a more visible and marvellous manifestation. DAMASCENE. (de fide Orthodox. ii. 3.) Angels, however, are revealed not as they really are, but transformed (as men are able to behold them) into whatever the Lord commands. THEOPHYLACT. It is said the altar of incense, because the other altar was set apart for burnt offerings. AMBROSE. It was not without good reason that the angel appeared in the temple, for the coming of the true High Priest was now announced, and the Heavenly Sacrifice was preparing at which angels were to minister. For one cannot doubt that an angel stands by where Christ is sacrificed. But he appeared at the right hand of the altar of incense, because he brought down the token of Divine mercy. For the Lord is on my right hand, so that I should not be moved. (Ps. 16:8.) CHRYSOSTOM. (de Inc. Dei Nat.) The justest of men can not without fear behold an angel; Zacharias therefore, not sustaining the sight of the angel’s presence, nor able to withstand his brightness, is troubled, as it is added, Zacharias was troubled. But as it happens, when a charioteer is frightened, and has let loose his reins, the horses run headlong, and the chariot is overturned; so is it with the soul, when it is taken by any surprise or alarm; as it is here added, and fear fell upon him. ORIGEN. A new face suddenly presenting itself to the human eye, troubles and startles the mind. The angel knowing this to be the nature of man, first dispels the alarm, as it follows, But the angel said unto him, Fear not. ATHANASIUS. (in vita Anton.) Whereby it is not difficult to discern between good and bad spirits, for if joy has succeeded to fear, we may know that relief has come from God, because the peace of the soul is a sign of the Divine Presence; but if the fear remains unshaken, it is an enemy who is seen.

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

  AUGUSTINE. (Tract. cxxii) The preceding words of the Evangelist seem to indicate the end of the book; but He goes on farther to give an account of our Lord’s appearance by the sea of Tiberias: After these things Jesus shewed Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxxvii) He says, Afterwards, because He did not go continually with His disciples as before; and, manifested Himself, because His body being incorruptible, it was a condescension to allow Himself to be seen. He mentions the place, to shew that our Lord had taken away a good deal of their fear, and that they no longer kept within doors, though they had gone to Galilee to avoid the persecution of the Jews. BEDE. The Evangelist, after his wont, first states the thing itself, and then says how it took place: And on this wise shewed He Himself. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxxvii) As our Lord was not with them regularly, and the Spirit was not given them, and they had received no commission, and had nothing to do, they followed the trade of fishermen: And on this wise shewed He Himself. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee; he who was called by Philip, and the sons of Zebedee, i. e. James and John, and two other of His disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. GREGORY. (Hom.) It may be asked, why Peter, who was a fisherman before his conversion, returned to fishing, when it is said, No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62.).

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

  BEDE. (ubi sup.) Some however refer this to the time of the Jewish captivity, where many, declaring themselves to be Christs, drew after them crowds of deluded persons; but during the siege of the city there was no Christian to whom the Divine exhortation, not to follow false teachers, could apply. Wherefore it is better to understand it of heretics, who, coming to oppose the Church, pretended to be Christs; the first of whom was Simon Magus, but that last one, greater than the rest, is Antichrist. It goes on: But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. AUGUSTINE. (Epist. 78) For He did not only foretel to His disciples the good things which He would give to His saints and faithful ones, but also the woes in which this world was to abound, that we might look for our reward at the end of the world with more confidence, from feeling the woes in like manner announced as about to precede the end of the world. THEOPHYLACT. But after the coming of Antichrist, the frame of the world shall be altered and changed, for the stars shall be obscured on account of the abundance of the brightness of Christ. Wherefore it goes on: But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light; and the stars of heaven shall fall. BEDE. (ubi sup.) For the stars in the day of judgment shall appear obscure, not by any lessening of their own light, but because of the brightness of the true light, that is, of the most high Judge coming upon them; although there is nothing to prevent its being taken to mean, that the sun and moon with all the other heavenly bodies then for a time are really to lose their light, just as we are told was the case with the sun at the time of our Lord’s Passion. But after the day of judgment, when there shall be a new sky and a new earth, then shall happen what Isaiah says: Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold. (Isa. 30:26) There follows, And the powers of heaven shall be shaken. THEOPHYLACT. That is, the Angelic virtues shall be astonished, seeing that such great things are done, and that their fellow-servants are judged. BEDE. (ubi sup.) What wonder is it that men should be troubled at this judgment, the sight of which makes the very Angelic powers to tremble? What will the stories of the house do when the pillars shake? What does the shrub of the wilderness undergo, when the cedar of paradise is moved?

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

  47. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole: go in peace. AUGUSTINE. (de Con. Ev. l. ii. c. 28.) After relating the miracle of the Gadarenes, Luke goes on to relate that of the ruler of the synagogue’s daughter; saying, And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him. THEOPHYLACT. At once both because of His teaching, and His miracles. AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) But the event which He adds, And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, must not be supposed to have taken place immediately, but first that of the feast of the publicans which Matthew mentions, (Matt. 9:18.) to which he so joins on this that it cannot consequently be understood to have happened otherwise. TITUS BOSTRENSIS. (Vide Victor. Ant. in Mark 5.) The name is inserted for the sake of the Jews, who at that time well knew the event, that the name might be a demonstrative proof of the miracle. And there came not one of the lowest, but a ruler of the synagogue, that the mouths of the Jews might be the more closed. As it follows, And he was a ruler of the synagogue. Now he came to Christ because of his need; for grief sometimes urges us to do those things which are right, according to the Psalm, Hold their mouths with bit and bridle, who come not nigh unto thee. (Ps. 32:9.) THEOPHYLACT. Through urgent need then he fell at His feet, as it follows, And he fell at Jesus’ feet; but it were right for him without a pressing necessity to fall at Christ’s feet and acknowledge Him to be God. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 31. in Matt.) But mark his dulness of heart, for it follows, and besought him that he would come into his house; being ignorant in truth that He was able to heal when absent. For if he had known, he would have said as the centurion did, Speak the word, and my daughter shall be healed. GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Asterius.) But the cause of his coming is told by adding, For he had only one daughter, the prop of his house, the succession of his race, about twelve years old, in the very flower of her age; and she lay dying, about to be carried to the grave instead of her nuptial bed.

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

  WHAT IS TEMPTATION?Regarding the first, it must be known that to tempt is nothing other than to test or to prove. To tempt a man is to test or try his virtue. This is done in two ways just as a man’s virtue requires two things. One requirement is to do good, the other is to avoid evil: “Turn away from evil and do good.” Sometimes a man’s virtue is tried in doing good, and sometimes it is tested in avoiding evil. Thus, regarding the first, a person is tried in his readiness to do good, for example, to fast and such like. Then is thy virtue great when thou art quick to do good. In this way does God sometimes try one’s virtue, not, however, because such virtue is hidden from Him, but in order that all might know it and it would be an example to all. God tempted Abraham in this way, and Job also. For this reason God frequently sends trials to the just, who in sustaining them with all patience make manifest their virtue and themselves increase in virtue: “The Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, or not.” Thus does God tempt man by inciting him to good deeds. As to the second, the virtue of man is tried by solicitation to evil. If he truly resists and does not give his consent, then his virtue is great. If, however, he falls before the temptation, he is devoid of virtue. God tempts no man in this way, for it is written: “God is not a tempter of evils, and He tempteth no man.” HOW IS ONE TEMPTED?The Temptations of the Flesh.—Man is tempted by his own flesh, by the devil and by the world. He is tempted by the flesh in two ways. First, the flesh incites one to evil. It always seeks its own pleasures, namely, carnal pleasures, in which often is sin. He who indulges in carnal pleasures neglects spiritual things: “Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence.” Secondly, the flesh tempts man by enticing him away from good. For the spirit on its part would delight always in spiritual things, but the flesh asserting itself puts obstacles in the way of the spirit: “The corruptible body is a load upon the soul.” “For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members.” This temptation which comes from the flesh is most severe, because our enemy, the flesh, is united to us; and as Boethius says: “There is no plague more dangerous than an enemy in the family circle.” We must, therefore, be ever on our guard against this enemy: “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.”

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

  III. On the third head it is to be noted, that spiritual riches are knowledge and virtue; riches of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: “The fear of the Lord is his treasure,” Isa. 33:6, Vulg.; “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin,” Ecclus. 1:27; “They that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in His sight will sanctify their souls,” Ecclus 3:20; “The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord … For he that is without fear cannot be justified,” Ecclus. 25:15–18. Discretion and honest conversation comes to us by knowledge, for it is by knowledge that man knows what is due to God, to his neighbour, and to himself. God teaches us this knowledge, having weaned us from milk, and drawn us from the breasts of pleasures and desires. Isaiah asks by the Holy Spirit, the Lord, saying, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?” And then He answers, “Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts,” Isa. 28:9. It is wonderful when man finds bitterness and tormenting pain in these breasts that he does not separate from them. As S. Augustine says, “Oh, Lord, Thou hast mingled my delights with bitterness that I might seek to live without bitterness. You, O man, if you wish to be taught by the Lord, separate yourself from these breasts, because it is said, ‘Wisdom shall not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins,’ Wis. 1:4.” And by wisdom the love of God enters into the soul; whence S. Bernard says, “Since a man can learn what he wishes, he cannot learn wisdom while he neither fears nor loves God.”

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

  The mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear Him. Ps. 102:17. But Thou, O Lord, do with me for Thy name’s sake; because Thy mercy is sweet. Ps. 108:21. Justice of God; I will judge thee according to thy ways.… My eye shall not spare thee, and I will show thee no pity. Ezech. 7:3, 4. See then the goodness and the severity of God; towards them indeed that are fallen the severity; but towards thee the goodness of God, if thou abide in goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Rom. 11:22. Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. St. Matt. 21:44. b. The winnowing; Behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel, among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve. Amos 9:9. Then Judas and his brethren said, Behold, our enemies are discomfited; let us go up now to cleanse the holy places, and to repair them. 1 Mac. 4:36. They that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in His sight will sanctify their souls. Ecclus. 2:20. c. The mixing; Abraham made haste into the tent to Sara, and said to her, Make haste; mix together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the hearth. And he himself ran to the herd, and took from thence a calf very tender and very good; and gave it to a young man, who made haste and boiled it. He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had boiled, and set before them; but he stood by them under the tree. Gen. 18:6–8. Condemnation; The king went in to see the guests; and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he said to him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment? But he was speechless. Then the king said to the waiters, Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. St. Matt. 22:11–13. If, therefore, thou offer thy gift at the Altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy offering before the Altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother; and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift. St. Matt. 5:23, 24. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread. Ex. 12:15. Prayer

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

  25:4646. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. AUGUSTINE. (de Fid. et Op. 15.) Some deceive themselves, saying, that the fire indeed is called everlasting, but not the punishment. This the Lord foreseeing, sums up His sentence in these words. ORIGEN. Observe that whereas He put first the invitation, Come, ye blessed, and after that, Depart, ye cursed, because it is the property of a merciful God to record the good deeds of the good, before the bad deeds of the bad; He now reverses the order, describing first the punishment of the wicked, and then the life of the good, that the terrors of the one may deter us from evil, and the honour of the other incite us to good. GREGORY. (Mor. xv. 19.) If he who has not given to others is visited with so heavy a punishment, what shall he get who is convicted of having robbed others of their own. AUGUSTINE. (de Civ. Dei, xix. 11.) Eternal life is our chief good, and the end of the city of God, of which the Apostle speaks, And the end everlasting life. (Rom. 6:22.) But because eternal life might be understood by those who are not well versed in Holy Scripture, to mean also the life of the wicked, because of the immortality of their souls, or because of the endless torments of the wicked; therefore we must call the end of this City in which the chief good shall be attained, either peace in life eternal, or life eternal in peace, that it may be intelligible to all. AUGUSTINE. (de Trin. i. 8.) That which the Lord spoke to His servant Moses, I am that I am, (Exod. 3:14.) this we shall contemplate when we shall live in eternity. For thus the Lord speaks, This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God. (John 17:3.) This contemplation is promised to us as the end of all action, and the eternal perfection of our joys, of which John speaks, We shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2.) JEROME. Let the thoughtful reader observe that punishments are eternal, and that that continuing life has thenceforward no fear of fall. GREGORY. (Mor. xxxiv. 19.) They say that He held out empty terrors to deter them from sin. We answer, if He threatened falsely to check unrighteousness, then He promised falsely to promote good conduct. Thus while they go out of the way to prove God merciful, they are not afraid to charge Him with fraud. But, they urge, finite sin ought not to be visited with infinite punishment; we answer, that this argument would be just, if the righteous Judge considered men’s actions, and not their hearts. Therefore it belongs to the righteousness of an impartial Judge, that those whose heart would never be without sin in this life, should never be without punishment.

• From Love & Sex: A Christian Guide to Healthy Intimacy (2018)

  Kaycie inserted, “I feel that way sometimes with James. I fear being engulfed by him, and I don’t know how to ask for what I need, so I just push him away. Sex is so close and intimate—I don’t want to get that close either.” Holly asked, “So what happened to you two that you don’t want sex or a man’s skin on skin with you? I’m no professional, but I think something happened.” Everyone was all ears. Angie spoke first, “Whatever it was I don’t want to know, and I don’t want to talk about it.” After a brief pause, Kaycie said, “I think I felt so powerless with my dad, I would do anything to make him stay to the point of begging him. It felt humiliating when he did finally leave, and I felt so alone, abandoned. I think I made myself a promise that I would never let a man hurt me like that again. And sex feels so vulnerable—I don’t want to be that vulnerable with James. If I do, I will get too attached and then what happens if someday he does leave or cheats again? I can’t take it. It feels too scary.” “How does it feel to say that, Kaycie? Have you ever given those emotions words before?” Olivia asked. “No, never. And for the longest time, I’ve wondered if something is wrong with me, but now it makes sense. I haven’t wanted to be hurt again, like my dad hurt me. Is this about my attachment style?” She asked to no one in particular. “What do you think, Kaycie?” Olivia responded. “I think it could be. I was always afraid of losing my dad, and so I think I became avoidant, to protect myself from getting hurt. James says I sometimes live in my own world and that I’m hard to reach. If he wants to be close, I can feel suffocated and want to run away. If we need to have a hard conversation, I make excuses for why I don’t have time, or I just stay busy working on another project—even if it’s just doing the laundry. I avoid getting close. It terrifies me. My dad leaving just proved the point; you can’t trust men to stay.”