Hope

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 Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  However, as Augustine says in his commentary on St. John [In Joannis Evangelium, XIX, 15], we are to understand that the Word of God raises up souls, but that the Word as incarnate raises up bodies. To give life to the soul belongs to God alone. Yet, since the flesh is the instrument of His divinity, and since an instrument operates in virtue of the principal cause, our double resurrection, bodily and spiritual, is referred to Christ’s bodily resurrection as cause. For everything done in Christ’s flesh was salutary for us by reason of the divinity united to that flesh. Hence the Apostle, indicating the resurrection of Christ as the cause of our spiritual resurrection, says, in Romans 4:25, that Christ “was delivered up for our sins and rose again for our justification.” And in 1 Corinthians 15:12 he shows that Christ’s resurrection is the cause of our bodily resurrection: “Now if Christ be preached, that He rose again from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Most aptly does the Apostle attribute remission of sins to Christ’s death and our justification to His resurrection, thus tracing out conformity and likeness of effect to cause. As sin is discarded when it is remitted, so Christ by dying laid aside His passible life, in which the likeness of sin was discernible. But when a person is justified, he receives new life; in like manner Christ, by rising, obtained newness of glory. Therefore Christ’s death is the cause of the remission of our sin: the efficient cause instrumentally, the exemplary cause sacramentally, and the meritorious cause. In like manner Christ’s resurrection was the cause of our resurrection: the efficient cause instrumentally and the exemplary cause sacramentally. But it was not a meritorious cause, for Christ was no longer a wayfarer, and so was not in a position to merit; and also because the glory of the resurrection was the reward of His passion, as the Apostle declares in Philippians 2:9 ff. Thus we see clearly that Christ can be called the first-born of those who rise from the dead. This is true not only in the order of time, inasmuch as Christ was the first to rise, as was said above, 85 but also in the order of causality, because His resurrection is the cause of the resurrection of other men, and in the order of dignity, because He rose more gloriously than all others. This belief in Christ’s resurrection is expressed in the words of the Creed: “The third day He arose again from the dead.” CHAPTER 240 THE TWOFOLD REWARD OF CHRIST’S HUMILIATION: RESURRECTION AND ASCENSIONAccording to the Apostle, the exaltation of Christ was the reward of His humiliation. Therefore a twofold exaltation had to correspond to His twofold humiliation.

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  The newest of our Legacy Sites, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, explores the institution of slavery, the lives of enslaved people, and the continuing legacy of this tragic era. Visitors have intensely emotional experiences when they confront this history—and at the same time, I see many of those who come to Montgomery leave filled with hope and energized by the belief that we are capable of a different future. Watching visitors to our sites confront the nation’s past gives me great hope as well. I am persuaded that we need a new era of truth and justice. It will require courage, commitment, and dedication to reckon with a past that often leaves us indifferent to the injustices I document in Just Mercy. Like parts of this book, our Legacy Sites explore the lives of the poor and people of color and detail the pain, trauma, and suffering that has undermined justice for all. I’m often reminded how daunting and difficult it can be to face the challenging history of our nation and the many contemporary manifestations of bias and bigotry. But I believe that learning our history also enables us to recognize that we’ve inherited more than tragedy and oppression. History teaches us that we’ve also been given a legacy of strength, perseverance, hope, and beauty that can empower us to achieve a world in which the children of our children are no longer burdened by the legacy of racial injustice. It’s encouraging for me to see so many visitors embrace that mission as their own. — Since the release of Just Mercy, I’ve had the great privilege of hearing from readers who have shared their hopes and plans for improving the justice quotient in our nation. This feedback has inspired me greatly as I continue my journey, with a hope that I can stand with people who are disfavored, marginalized, imprisoned, excluded, or condemned, and that together we can harness and demonstrate the power of justice, mercy, and love. Over this last decade, I have come to understand anew that this path requires constant struggle and commitment—and events like the torturous killing of Kenny Smith are stark reminders that the struggle must continue. But what excites me now is to see how many people have joined us on this journey. There are people from all walks of life who feel motivated to embrace compassion and look for the dignity and beauty we all possess. I hope this book educates, encourages, and uplifts the growing community of people engaged in the struggle toward justice, just as they continue to encourage and uplift me. BRYAN STEVENSON I Introduction Higher Ground wasn’t prepared to meet a condemned man.

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  “I’ve always told people ‘no lie can live forever,’ and this has always been one big lie.” I wasn’t exactly sure how to manage the family’s expectations. I felt I was supposed to be the cautionary voice that prepared family members for the worst even while I urged them to hope for the best. It was a task that was growing in complexity as I handled more cases and saw the myriad ways that things could go wrong. But I was developing a maturing recognition of the importance of hopefulness in creating justice. I’d started addressing the subject of hopefulness in talks to small groups. I’d grown fond of quoting Václav Havel, the great Czech leader who had said that “hope” was the one thing that people struggling in Eastern Europe needed during the era of Soviet domination. Havel had said that people struggling for independence wanted money and recognition from other countries; they wanted more criticism of the Soviet empire from the West and more diplomatic pressure. But Havel had said that these were things they wanted; the only thing they needed was hope. Not that pie in the sky stuff, not a preference for optimism over pessimism, but rather “an orientation of the spirit.” The kind of hope that creates a willingness to position oneself in a hopeless place and be a witness, that allows one to believe in a better future, even in the face of abusive power. That kind of hope makes one strong. Havel prescribed exactly what our work seemed to require. Walter’s case had needed it more than most. So I didn’t discourage Minnie. Together, we hoped. — On February 23, nearly six weeks after getting the ABI’s report, I received a call from the clerk of the court informing us that the Court of Criminal Appeals had ruled in the McMillian case and that we could pick up the opinion. “You’re going to like this,” she said cryptically. I ran over to the courthouse and was out of breath by the time I sat down to read the thirty-five-page ruling. The clerk was right. The ruling invalidated Walter’s conviction and death sentence. The court didn’t conclude that he was innocent and must be released, but it ruled in our favor on every other claim and ordered a new trial. I didn’t realize how much I had feared that we would lose until we finally won. I jumped into the car and raced down to death row to tell Walter in person. I watched him take it all in. He leaned back and gave me a familiar chuckle. “Well,” he said slowly, “you know, that’s good. That’s good.” “Good? It’s great!” “Yeah, it is great.” He was grinning now with a freedom I hadn’t seen before. “Whew, man, I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it….Whew!” His smile started to fade, and he began slowly shaking his head.

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  We presented evidence from Taylor Hardin staffer Dr. Kamal Nagi, who said that Myers had told him of “another murder that occurred in 1986 where a girl was shot in the Laundromat. [He] said that the ‘police and also my lawyer want me to say that I had driven these people to the Laundromat and they shot the girl, but I won’t do it.’ ” Myers also told Nagi, “They threatened me. They want me to say what they want to hear and if I don’t then they tell me, ‘You’re going to the electric chair.’ ” We had evidence from a fourth doctor to whom Myers confided that he was being pressured to give false testimony against Walter McMillian. Dr. Bernard Bryant testified that Myers told him “he did not commit the crime and that at the time he was incarcerated for the crime, he was threatened and harassed by the local police authorities into confessing he committed a crime.” We emphasized to the court throughout the day’s hearing that all of these statements were made by Myers before the initial trial. Not only did these statements make Myers’s recantation more credible but they had also been documented in medical records that had never been turned over to Walter’s trial lawyers, as the law required. The U.S. Supreme Court has long required that the prosecution disclose to the defendant anything that is exculpatory or that may be helpful to the defendant in impeaching a witness. The supporters whom the State had brought to court and the victim’s family seemed confused by the evidence we were presenting—it complicated the simple narrative they had fully embraced about Walter’s guilt and the need for swift and certain punishment. State supporters began to leave the courtroom as the day went on, and the number of black people who were let into the room grew. By the end of that second day, I felt very hopeful. We had maintained a good pace and the cross-examinations had been shorter than I had expected. I thought we could finish our case in one more day. — I was tired but feeling pleased as I walked to my car that evening. To my surprise, I noticed Mrs. Williams sitting outside the courthouse on a bench, alone. She stood when our eyes met. I walked over, remembering how unsettled I had been to see her leave the courtroom. “Mrs. Williams, I’m so sorry they did what they did this morning. They should not have done it, and I’m sorry if they upset you. But, so you know, things went well today. I feel like we had a good day—” “Attorney Stevenson, I feel so bad. I feel so bad,” she said and grabbed my hands. “I should have come into that courtroom this morning. I was supposed to be in that courtroom this morning,” she said and began to weep. “Mrs.

• From The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses) (2)

  On a night the great priest appeared unto me, presenting his lap full of treasure, and when I demanded what it signified, he answered, that it was sent me from the countrey of Thessaly, and that a servant of mine named Candidus was arived likewise: when I was awake, I mused in my selfe what this vision should pretend, considering I had never any servant called by that name: but what soever it did signifie, this I verely thought, that it was a foreshew of gaine and prosperous chance: while I was thus astonied I went to the temple, and taried there till the opening of the gates, then I went in and began to pray before the face of the goddesse, the Priest prepared and set the divine things of every Altar, and pulled out the fountaine and holy vessell with solempne supplication. Then they began to sing the mattens of the morning, testifying thereby the houre of the prime. By and by behold arived my servant which I had left in the country, when Fotis by errour made me an Asse, bringing with him my horse, recovered by her through certaine signes and tokens which I had upon my backe. Then I perceived the interpretation of my dreame, by reason that beside the promise of gaine, my white horse was restored to me, which was signified by the argument of my servant Candidus.

• From The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25-Year Landmark Study (2000)

  Realizing that their contemporaries share many of the same feelings, they’re no longer ashamed to admit how much their childhood grievances and disappointments have endured. As they search for ways to help one another and put their fears to rest, we may see the rise of groups that focus on the experience of having grown up in divorced families. Another change is that many people are seriously considering the benefits of staying together for the sake of their children. They’re examining what they have as a family and are taking a more realistic look at what divorce entails. Combining a full-time job, courtship, and parenting requires the speed and agility of an Olympics champion but without the training that the champion brings to the race. We are also seeing a rise in interest in premarital education and marriage enrichment programs. Several states have enacted marriage license incentives that encourage people to take a four-hour class in marriage education for a reduced fee and immediate granting of the license. To cut down on impetuous weddings, Florida put in a three-day waiting period. Illinois has legislation to make people wait sixty days. Other states are considering legislation to improve preparation for marriage. There is greater community interest in marital counseling programs and conflict resolution courses that are aimed at teaching people to stay in the marriage and resolve the friction rather than turn to divorce. It is still far too early to know whether these or other education plans will be effective, but they reflect the rise in community concern about children and the search for new ways to improve marriage. When I have presented my findings to judges and attorneys at national conferences, many admitted that they were stunned to learn that highly educated, affluent parents were not sending their children to college, especially when a second set of children was born into a remarriage and children from the first marriage were pushed aside. They were also surprised to hear that many adolescents are furious at the court system for ordering strict visitation agreements with no options for adding flexibility or change down the road. The extraordinary reception to our book has encouraged me to hope that change is on the way. This younger generation has no illusions that divorce is easy or quickly over for children or parents. They, like we, are in favor of divorce where the marriage is cruel, exploitative, or dangerous or even when one or both partners are miserably unhappy in the relationship. But they are also acutely aware of how difficult it is to raise children alone or as coparents in separate homes. They know how hard it is for the youngsters who grow up in divorced homes to create the relationships that they long for when they come of age. Greta, who is 23 years old, is an example of the hope I see for the future.

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  I told the congregation that Walter’s case had taught me that the death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment in this country is, Do we deserve to kill? Finally and most important, I told those gathered in the church that Walter had taught me that mercy is just when it is rooted in hopefulness and freely given. Mercy is most empowering, liberating, and transformative when it is directed at the undeserving. The people who haven’t earned it, who haven’t even sought it, are the most meaningful recipients of our compassion. Walter genuinely forgave the people who unfairly accused him, the people who convicted him, and the people who had judged him unworthy of mercy. And in the end, it was just mercy toward others that allowed him to recover a life worth celebrating, a life that rediscovered the love and freedom that all humans desire, a life that overcame death and condemnation until it was time to die on God’s schedule. After the service, I didn’t stay long. I walked outside and looked down the road and thought about the fact that no one was ever prosecuted for Ronda Morrison’s murder after Walter’s release. I thought about the anguish that must still create for her parents. There were lots of people who came up to me who needed legal help for all sorts of things. I hadn’t brought business cards, so I wrote my number down for each person and encouraged them to call my office. It wasn’t likely that we could do much for many of the people who needed help, but it made the journey home less sad to hope that maybe we could. O Postscript n a warm Good Friday morning in 2015, I walked out of a Birmingham jail with an innocent man who had been condemned on Alabama’s death row for nearly thirty years. Anthony Ray Hinton had been locked down in solitary confinement for three decades at Holman Correctional Facility in a 5-by-7-foot cell just down the hall from the chamber where more than fifty condemned people were executed during his time on the row. In the electric chair years, he complained he could smell burning flesh after the midnight executions. Mr. Hinton arrived at Holman in the 1980s, before Walter McMillian was sent to death row. In 2000, we presented test results that confirmed Mr. Hinton’s innocence, and I begged prosecutors to retest the gun evidence that was the sole basis for his conviction, but for fifteen years they refused.

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals courtroom was on the second floor. The chief judge of the court was former governor John Patterson. He had made national news in the 1960s as a fierce opponent of civil rights and racial integration. In 1958, with the backing of the Ku Klux Klan, he defeated George Wallace for governor. His positions were even more pro-segregation than Wallace’s (who, having learned his lesson, would become the most famous segregationist in America, declaring in 1963 “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” just a block away from this courthouse). When he was attorney general before becoming governor, Patterson banned the NAACP from operating in Alabama and blocked civil rights boycotts and protests in Tuskegee and Montgomery. As governor, he withheld law enforcement protection for the Freedom Riders—the black and white college students and activists who traveled south in the early 1960s to desegregate public facilities in recognition of new federal laws. When the Freedom Riders’ bus traveled through Alabama, they were abandoned by the police. Alone and unprotected, they were beaten violently, and their bus was bombed. Still, I forced myself to be hopeful. That was all long ago. During my argument, the court’s five judges looked at me with curiosity but asked few questions. I chose to interpret their silence as agreement. I hoped they saw so little support for the conviction that they didn’t think there was much to discuss. Judge Patterson’s only remark during the oral argument came at the end, when he slowly but firmly asked a single question that echoed through the mostly empty courtroom. “Where are you from?” I was thrown by the question and hesitated before answering. “I live in Montgomery, sir.” I had foolishly discouraged McMillian’s family from attending the oral argument because I knew that the issues were fairly arcane and that there would be very little discussion of the facts. Supporters would have to take off from work and make the long drive to Montgomery for an early morning argument. Since each side had only thirty minutes to present, I hadn’t thought it worth the effort. When I sat down after the argument, I regretted that decision. I would have appreciated some sympathetic faces in the courtroom to signal to the court that this case was different, but there were none. An assistant attorney general then presented the State’s arguments—capital cases on appeal were managed by the attorney general, not the local district attorney. The State’s lawyer argued that this was a routine capital murder case and that the death penalty had been appropriately imposed. Following the oral argument, I still had hope that the court would overturn the conviction and sentence because it was so clearly unsupported by reliable facts. State law required credible corroboration of accomplice testimony in a murder case, and there simply wasn’t any in Walter’s case. I believed that the court would have a hard time affirming a conviction with so little evidence. I was wrong. —

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

  Therefore, to increase the hope of the saints, we are bidden to say: “who art in heaven,” that is, in the saints, as Augustine explains [De sermone Domini in monte, II, 5]. For, as the same doctor adds, the spiritual distance between the just and sinners seems to be as great as the spatial distance between heaven and earth. To symbolize this idea, we turn toward the east when we pray, because it is in that direction that heaven rises. The hope of the saints and their confidence in prayer are increased by the divine nearness, and also by the dignity they have received from God, who through Christ has caused them to be heavens, as is indicated in Isaiah 51:16: “That You might plant the heavens and found the earth.” He who has made them heavens will not withhold heavenly goods from them. CHAPTER 7 OBJECTS OF HOPEHaving treated of the truths that lead men to hope in God, we must go on to inquire what are the blessings we ought to hope to receive from Him. In this connection we should observe that hope presupposes desire. Before a thing can be hoped for, it must first be desired. Things that are not desired are not said to be objects of hope; rather they are feared or even despised. Secondly, we must judge that what is hoped for is possible to obtain; hope includes this factor over and above desire. True, a man can desire things he does not believe he is able to attain; but he cannot cherish hope with regard to such objects. Thirdly, hope necessarily implies the idea that the good hoped for is hard to get: trifles are the object of contempt rather than of hope. Or, if we desire certain things and have them, as it were, to hand, we are not deemed to hope for them as future goods, but to possess them as present to us. We should further note that among the difficult things a person hopes to obtain, there are some he hopes to get through the good offices of another, and some that he hopes to acquire through his own efforts. The difference between these two classes of goods seems to come to this: to obtain the things he hopes to acquire by himself, a man employs the resources of his own power; to obtain what he hopes to receive from another, he has recourse to petition. If he hopes to receive such a benefit from a man, his request is called simple petition; if he hopes to obtain a favor from God, it is called prayer, which, as Damascene says, “is a petition addressed to God for suitable goods” [De fide orthodoxa, III, 24].

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  He moved on to other subjects, but it was clear that his heart and his mind were aligned with the plight of the condemned and those facing unjust treatment in jails and prisons. It was deeply affirming to meet someone whose work so powerfully animated his life. There were just a few attorneys working at the SPDC when I arrived that winter. Most of them were former criminal defense lawyers from Washington who had come to Georgia in response to a growing crisis: Death row prisoners couldn’t get lawyers. In their thirties, men and women, black and white, these lawyers were comfortable with one another in a way that reflected a shared mission, shared hope, and shared stress about the challenges they faced. After years of prohibition and delay, executions were again taking place in the Deep South, and most of the people crowded on death row had no lawyers and no right to counsel. There was a growing fear that people would soon be killed without ever having their cases reviewed by skilled counsel. We were getting frantic calls every day from people who had no legal assistance but whose dates of execution were on the calendar and approaching fast. I’d never heard voices so desperate. When I started my internship, everyone was extremely kind to me, and I felt immediately at home. The SPDC was located in downtown Atlanta in the Healey Building, a sixteen-story Gothic Revival structure built in the early 1900s that was in considerable decline and losing tenants. I worked in a cramped circle of desks with two lawyers and did clerical work, answering phones and researching legal questions for staff. I was just getting settled into my office routine when Steve asked me to go to death row to meet with a condemned man whom no one else had time to visit. He explained that the man had been on the row for over two years and that they didn’t yet have a lawyer to take his case; my job was to convey to this man one simple message: You will not be killed in the next year. — I drove through farmland and wooded areas of rural Georgia, rehearsing what I would say when I met this man. I practiced my introduction over and over. “Hello, my name is Bryan. I’m a student with the…” No. “I’m a law student with…” No. “My name is Bryan Stevenson. I’m a legal intern with the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee, and I’ve been instructed to inform you that you will not be executed soon.” “You can’t be executed soon.” “You are not at risk of execution anytime soon.” No. I continued practicing my presentation until I pulled up to the intimidating barbed-wire fence and white guard tower of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center. Around the office we just called it “Jackson,” so seeing the facility’s actual name on a sign was jarring—it sounded clinical, even therapeutic.

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

  AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvi. 5) And perhaps there is a distinction at bottom, since He speaks of His sayings, when they are His own, in the plural number; as when He says, He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings: when they are not His own, but the Father’s, in the singular, i. e. as the Word, which is Himself. For He is not His own Word, but the Father’s, as He is not His own image, but the Father’s, or His own Son, but the Father’s. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. Some of these things were obscure, and not understood by the disciples. AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxxvii. 1) The abode He promised them hereafter is altogether a different one from this present abode He now speaks of. The one is spiritual and inward, the other outward, and perceptible to the bodily sight and hearing. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) To enable them to sustain His bodily departure more cheerfully, He promises that that departure shall be the source of great benefit; for that while He was then in the body, they could never know much, because the Spirit would not have come: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. GREGORY. (Hom. xxx. in Evang.) Paraclete is Advocate, or Comforter. The Advocate then intercedes with the Father for sinners, when by His inward power He moves the sinner to pray for himself. The Comforter relieves the sorrow of penitents, and cheers them with the hope of pardon. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxv. 3) He often calls Him the Comforter, in allusion to the affliction in which they then were.

• From Collected Essays (1998)

  Now, I don't want to keep you any longer. But I'd like to leave you with this, I think we have some idea about reality which is not quite true. Without having anything whatever against Cadillacs, refrigerators or all the parapher nalia of American lif e, I yet suspect that there is something much more important and much more real which produces the Cadillac, refrigerator, atom bomb, and what produces it, af ter all, is something which we don't seem to want to look at, and that is the person. A country is only as good-! don't care now about the Constitution and the laws, at the moment let us leave these things aside-a country is only as strong as the people who make it up and the country turns into what the people want it to become. Now, this country is going to be transformed. It will not be transformed by an act of God, but by all of us, by you and me. I don't believe any longer that we can afford to say that it is entirely out of our hands. We made the world we're living in and we have to make it over. ro . The Male Prison T HERE is something immensely hu mbling in this last document [Madeleine by Andre Gide] from the hand of a writer whose el aborately graceful fiction very often impressed me as simply cold, solemn and irritatingly pious, and whose precise memoirs made me accuse him of the most exasperating egocentricity. He does not, to be sure, emerge in Madeleine as being less egocentric; but one is compelled to see this ego centricity as one of the conditions of his lif e and one of the elements of his pain. Nor can I claim that reading Madeleine has caused me to re-evaluate his fiction (though I care more now for 1he Immoralist than I did when I read it several years ago); it has only made me feel that such a re-evaluation must be made. For, whatever Gide's shortcomings may have been, few writers of our time can equal his devotion to a very high ideal.

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

  Against Service of the Devil.—The fourth reason is because of the great burden imposed by service to the devil: “You shall serve strange gods day and night, who will give you no rest” [Jer 16:13]. The devil is not satisfied with leading to one sin, but tries to lead on to others: “Whoever sins shall be a slave of sin” [Jn 8:34]. It is, therefore, not easy for one to escape from the habit of sin. Thus, St. Gregory says: “The sin which is not remitted by penance soon draws man into another sin” [Super Ezech. 11]. The very opposite of all this is true of service to God; for His Commandments are not a heavy burden: “My yoke is sweet and My burden light” [Mt 11:30]. A person is considered to have done enough if he does for God as much as what he has done for the sake of sin: “For as you yielded your members to serve uncleanness and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice for sanctification” [Rm 6:19]. But on the contrary, it is written of those who serve the devil: “We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways” [Wis 5:7]. And again: “They have labored to commit iniquity” [Jer 9:5] Greatness of the Reward.—The fifth reason is taken from the greatness of the reward or prize. In no law are such rewards promised as in the law of Christ. Rivers flowing with milk and honey are promised to the Muslims, to the Jews the land of promise, but to Christians the glory of the Angels: “They shall be as the Angels of God in heaven” [Mt 22:30]. It was with this in mind that St. Peter asked: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” [Jn 6:69] ARTICLE 4 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT “YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD IN VAIN.”This is the Second Commandment of the law. Just as there is but one God whom we must worship, so there is only one God whom we should reverence in a special manner. This, first of all, has reference to the name of God. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” THE MEANING OF “IN VAIN”“In vain” has a threefold meaning. Sometimes it is said of that which is false: “They have spoken vain things every one to his neighbor” [Ps 11:3]. One, therefore, takes the name of God in vain when one uses it to confirm that which is not true: “Love not a false oath” [Zech 8:17]. “You shall not live because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord” [Zech 13:3]. Any one so doing does injury to God, to himself, and to all men.

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

  The generation of a living thing is the change of a lifeless into a living being. Now man is deprived of spiritual life in his origin, by original sin, as we have already stated, and whatsoever sins a man commits in addition to this, deprive him of life. Hence it was necessary that Baptism, which is spiritual birth, should have the power to remove original sin and all the actual sins a man has committed. Now the sensible sign in a sacrament should be adapted to signify the spiritual effect of that sacrament: and water is the easiest and handiest means of removing dirt from the body. Therefore Baptism is fittingly conferred with water, hallowed by the Word of God. Moreover, since the generation of one thing is the corruption of another, and since that which is generated loses its previous form and the properties resulting therefrom, it follows that Baptism, which is spiritual generation, removes not only sins which are contrary to spiritual life, but also all guilt of sin: so that it not only washes sin away, but removes all debt of punishment. Hence no satisfaction for sin is demanded in the sacrament of Baptism. Again. By generation a thing acquires its form; hence it acquires, at the same time, the operation that results from that form, and the place that is becoming to it: thus, as soon as it is kindled, fire tends upwards as towards its proper place. Wherefore, since Baptism is spiritual generation, as soon as a man is baptized he is fit for spiritual action, such as the reception of other sacraments and so forth; and a place befitting the spiritual life—namely, eternal happiness—is due to him. For this reason, if a man die immediately after being baptized, he is forthwith admitted into heaven; wherefore Baptism is said to open the gates of heaven. Again we must observe that a thing can be born but once: so that, since Baptism is spiritual generation, a man is but once baptized. It is also evident that the disorder which, through Adam, came into the world, infects man but once: wherefore Baptism, which is chiefly a remedy for that disorder, may not be repeated. It is also a general rule that, when a thing is once consecrated, so long as it remains intact it must not be reconsecrated, lest the consecration seem to have been invalid. Consequently, since Baptism is a kind of consecration of the person baptized, it must not be repeated: and thus the error of the Donatists or Rebaptizers is refuted. CHAPTER LX

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

  On the first point: the object of the irascible element is something which is sensible and arduous. The object of hope is something which is intelligible and arduous, or rather, something which transcends the intellect. On the second point: charity is sufficient to perfect the will in respect of one action, which is to love. But another virtue is required to perfect it in respect of its other action, which is to hope. On the third point: it is clear from what we said in Q. 17, Art. 8, that the movement of hope and the movement of charity relate to the same thing. There is therefore no reason why both movements should not belong to the same power simultaneously. The intellect can likewise understand many things simultaneously, provided that they relate to the same thing, as we said in Pt. I, Q. 85, Art. 4. ARTICLE TWO Whether there is Hope in the Blessed1. It seems that there is hope in the blessed. Christ was the perfect comprehensor from the moment of his conception, and he had hope, since it is said in his person in Ps. 31:1: “ In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, ” as the gloss expounds it. There can therefore be hope in the blessed. 2. Again, just as to obtain blessedness is an arduous good, so is to continue in blessedness. Men hope to obtain blessedness before they obtain it. They can therefore hope to continue in blessedness after they obtain it. 3. Again, it was said in Art. 3 of the preceding question that by the virtue of hope one can hope for blessedness for others as well as for oneself. Now in heaven the blessed hope for the blessedness of others, since otherwise they would not pray for them. There can therefore be hope in the blessed. 4. Again, the blessedness of the saints means glory of the body as well as of the soul. But it appears from Rev., ch. 6, and also from what Augustine says in 12 De Gen. ad Litt. 35, that the souls of the saints in heaven still await the glory of ” the body. There can therefore be hope in the blessed. On the other hand: the apostle says in Rom. 8:24: “ for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? ” The blessed enjoy the vision of God. There is therefore no place in them for hope.

• From Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition (2004)

  221 usurers. These were people who somehow aligned themselves with the created order; their private consciences and public conduct were out of step. Among deceivers, we fi nd seducers, panderers, corrupt popes, corrupt politicians, hypocrites, and thieves. These people have undermined human dignity and simultaneously harmed society. Hell is a place of ironic inversions: Cunning punishments fi t each sin and speakers condemn themselves as they explain their predicaments. Once the pilgrims have encountered Satan, the most treacherous of all the betrayers and, thus, of all beings, they are ready to move to a new realm, where there is hope. The mountain of Purgatory is Dante’s most original creation. It is a conical mountain, the very opposite of the concave, downward-pointing Hell. It lies precisely opposite Jerusalem. Purgatory consists of ante-Purgatory, Purgatory proper, and Eden—the earthly paradise. Within Purgatory, there are seven terraces or ledges, each representing one of the deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, lust. Purgatory is a place of purgation: People who have hope of seeing God but who have been, for a period, re-subjected to time (hence, astronomical references abound) must lighten the burden of their sins to return to the pristine state of Eden. Purgatory provides a model of time well spent. Inhabitants of Purgatory are eager to see the visitors and to have news of the world they have left behind, especially to hear that people are praying for them. One great theme is reunion: of souls with God, of family members with one another, of states and societies. Poetry and the arts rise again. In Hell, they were dead as instruments of evil and corruption. Now, they are instruments of regeneration. Those in the ante-Purgatory are the dilatory and negligent who compare with the cowardly in the antechamber of Hell. Those on the terraces sinned mightily in some respect and their situation reminds us of Hell, but we know these sinners will pass on to Heaven. For example, envy is a sin of the eyes: One fails to see the excellence in others. The envious, therefore, sit indistinguishable from the landscape and have The Comedy is about truth, about what is really, fi nally true. God wishes people to know his truths, the truths of the universe. 222 Lecture 31: Dante Alighieri—The Divine Comedy Depiction of souls in Purgatory in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dore’s Illustrations for Dante’s Divine Comedy; courtesy of Dover Pictorial Archive Series.

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

  We should observe, further, that when any perfection is conferred, an ability to do or acquire something is also added. For example, when the air is illuminated by the sun, it has the capacity to serve as a medium for sight, and when water is heated by fire it can be used to cook, and it could hope for this if it had a mind. To man is given, over and above the nature of his soul, the perfection of grace, by which he is made a partaker in the divine nature, as we are taught in 2 Peter 1:4. As a result of this, we are said to be regenerated and to become sons of God, according to John 1:12: “He gave them power to be made the sons of God.” Thus raised to be sons, men may reasonably hope for an inheritance, as we learn from Romans 8:17: “If sons, heirs also.” In keeping with this spiritual regeneration, man should have a yet higher hope in God, namely, the hope of receiving an eternal inheritance, according to 1 Peter 1:3 f.: “God... has regenerated us into a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that cannot fade, reserved in heaven for you.” Through this “spirit of adoption” that we receive, we cry: “Abba, (Father),” as is said in Romans 8:15. Hence our Lord began His prayer by calling upon the Father, saying, “Father,” to teach us that our prayer must be based on this hope. By uttering the name, “Father,” man’s affection is prepared to pray with a pure disposition, and also to obtain what he hopes for. Moreover, sons ought to be imitators of their parents. Therefore he who professes that God is his Father ought to try to be an imitator of God, by avoiding things that make him unlike God and by earnestly praying for those perfections that make him like to God. Hence we are commanded in Jeremiah 3:19: “You shalt call Me Father and shalt not cease to walk after Me.” If, then, as Gregory of Nyssa reminds us [De oratione dominica, II], you turn your gaze to worldly affairs, or seek human honor or the filth of passionate craving: how can you, who lead such a corrupt life, call the source of incorruption your Father? CHAPTER 5

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

  PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. He does not straightway preach righteousness which all knew, but repentance, which all needed. Who then dared to say, ‘I desire to be good, but am not able?’ For repentance corrects the will; and if ye will not repent through fear of evil, at least ye may for the pleasure of good things; hence He says, the kingdom of heaven is at hand; that is, the blessings of the heavenly kingdom. As if He had said, Prepare yourselves by repentance, for the time of eternal reward is at hand. REMIGIUS. And note, He does not say the kingdom of the Canaanite, or the Jebusite, is at hand; but the kingdom of heaven. The law promised worldly goods, but the Lord heavenly kingdoms. CHRYSOSTOM. Also observe how that in this His first address He says nothing of Himself openly; and that very suitably to the case, for they had yet no right opinion concerning Him. In this commencement moreover He speaks nothing severe, nothing burdensome, as John had concerning the axe laid to the root of the condemned tree, and the like; but he puts first things merciful, preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom of heaven. JEROME. Mystically interpreted, Christ begins to preach as soon as John was delivered to prison, because when the Law ceased, the Gospel commenced. 4:18–2218. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. 21. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed Him. PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. Before He spoke or did any thing, Christ called Apostles, that neither word nor deed of His should be hid from their knowledge, so that they may afterwards say with confidence, What we have seen and heard, that we cannot but speak. (Acts 4:20.) RABANUS. The sea of Galilee, the lake of Gennesareth, the sea of Tiberias, and the salt lake, are one and the same. GLOSS. (ord.) He rightly goes to fishing places, when about to fish for fishermen. REMIGIUS. Saw, that is, not so much with the bodily eye, as spiritually viewing their hearts. CHRYSOSTOM. He calls them while actually working at their employment, to shew that to follow Him ought to be preferred to all occupations. They were just then casting a net into the sea, which agreed with their future office. AUGUSTINE. (Serm. 197. 2.) He chose not kings, senators, philosophers, or orators, but he chose common, poor, and untaught fishermen.

• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  I remain the Executive Director of EJI, which is a great privilege. With my amazing colleagues at EJI, I continue to represent people on death row, children prosecuted as adults, and incarcerated women, men, and children who have been wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced. In February 2019, we won a landmark ruling from the United States Supreme Court banning the execution of condemned people who become incompetent as a result of dementia or neurological disease. I continue to meet stonecatchers along the way who inspire me and make me believe that we can do better for the accused, convicted, and condemned among us—and that all of us can do better for one another. The work continues. In memory of Alice Golden Stevenson, my mom Acknowledgments [image file=image_rsrc32M.jpg] Iwant to thank the hundreds of accused, convicted, and imprisoned men, women, and children with whom I have worked and who have taught me so much about hope, justice, and mercy. I’m especially appreciative of and humbled by the people who appear in this book, victims and survivors of violence, criminal justice professionals, and those who have been condemned to unimaginably painful spaces and yet have shown tremendous courage and grace. All the names of people who appear in these pages are real with the exception of just a few whose privacy and security needed to be protected. I’m extremely grateful to Chris Jackson, my extraordinary editor, for his thoughtful guidance and kind assistance. I feel very, very fortunate to have worked with an editor as insightful and generous. I’m also deeply thankful to Cindy Spiegel and Julie Grau whose tremendous support and feedback has genuinely inspired me in ways I never imagined. One of my great joys with this project has been the privilege of working with and learning from all my new friends at Spiegel & Grau and Random House who have been so wonderfully encouraging. I want to also thank Sharon Steinerman at New York University School of Law for her excellent research assistance for this project. All my work is made possible by the exceptional staff of the Equal Justice Initiative, each of whom fearlessly contributes to the cause of justice every day with enough hope and humility to make me believe that we can do the things that must be done to serve the least of these. I want to especially thank Aaryn Urell and Randy Susskind for feedback and editing. Additionally, I’m grateful to Eva Ansley and Evan Parzych for research assistance. Finally, I cannot say enough about Doug Abrams, agent extraordinaire, who persuaded me to take on this project. Without his invaluable guidance, encouragement, and friendship, this book would not have been possible.

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

  OF DARING [*Excessive daring or foolhardiness] (TWO ARTICLES)We must now consider daring; and under this head there are two points of inquiry: (1) Whether daring is a sin? (2) Whether it is opposed to fortitude? Whether daring is a sin?Objection 1: It seems that daring is not a sin. For it is written (Job 39:21) concerning the horse, by which according to Gregory (Moral. xxxi) the godly preacher is denoted, that “he goeth forth boldly to meet armed men [*Vulg.: ‘he pranceth boldly, he goeth forth to meet armed men’].” But no vice redounds to a man’s praise. Therefore it is not a sin to be daring. Objection 2: Further, according to the Philosopher (Ethic. vi, 9), “one should take counsel in thought, and do quickly what has been counseled.” But daring helps this quickness in doing. Therefore daring is not sinful but praiseworthy. Objection 3: Further, daring is a passion caused by hope, as stated above ([3330]FS, Q[45], A[2]) when we were treating of the passions. But hope is accounted not a sin but a virtue. Neither therefore should daring be accounted a sin. On the contrary, It is written (Ecclus. 8:18): “Go not on the way with a bold man, lest he burden thee with his evils.” Now no man’s fellowship is to be avoided save on account of sin. Therefore daring is a sin. I answer that, Daring, as stated above ([3331]FS, Q[23], A[1]; Q[55]), is a passion. Now a passion is sometimes moderated according to reason, and sometimes it lacks moderation, either by excess or by deficiency, and on this account the passion is sinful. Again, the names of the passions are sometimes employed in the sense of excess, thus we speak of anger meaning not any but excessive anger, in which case it is sinful, and in the same way daring as implying excess is accounted a sin. Reply to Objection 1: The daring spoken of there is that which is moderated by reason, for in that sense it belongs to the virtue of fortitude. Reply to Objection 2: It is praiseworthy to act quickly after taking counsel, which is an act of reason. But to wish to act quickly before taking counsel is not praiseworthy but sinful; for this would be to act rashly, which is a vice contrary to prudence, as stated above ([3332]Q[58], A[3]). Wherefore daring which leads one to act quickly is so far praiseworthy as it is directed by reason. Reply to Objection 3: Some vices are unnamed, and so also are some virtues, as the Philosopher remarks (Ethic. ii, 7; iv, 4,5,6). Hence the names of certain passions have to be applied to certain vices and virtues: and in order to designate vices we employ especially the names of those passions the object of which is an evil, as in the case of hatred, fear, anger and daring. But hope and love have a good for this object, and so we use them rather to designate virtues.