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 The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch (2017)

  148The History of Christianity II õHis revivals were very much a reaction to revolution, not a catalyst of it. He told his followers that now that America had rebelled from Britain, Nova Scotians, not the rebellious Yankees, were God’s true chosen people. õHe told Nova Scotians, many of whom were loyalists who had migrated north only a few years prior, that they had been called away from the terrible sinful storm of war to found a holy refuge. SUGGESTED READING Kidd, God of Liberty. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism. Rawlyk, The Canada Fire. Stout, The Divine Dramatist. QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER äWhy was it so important to the New Lights and the Old Lights to establish what counts as a “real” Christian conversion? äHow might a Christian believer’s account of the Northampton revival compare to a modern historian’s understanding? äChristian revivals have been happening for 2,000 years. Does this mean that a certain kind of spiritual hunger is part of human nature? 149 LECTURE 16 RELIGION AND REVOLUTION IN THE 18 TH CENTURY H istory has a way of constantly showing up in modern-day politics. This is especially true of the role of religion in the political revolutions of the 18 th century, particularly the American Revolution. This lecture first examines Christianity in the context of the American Revolution. Then it crosses the Atlantic to examine church-state dynamics in revolutionary France.

• From The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch (2017)

  344The History of Christianity II PROTESTANT MISSIONS AND REVIVAL õThe first Protestant missionary to have real impact in Korea was a Scot named John Ross, who worked for a Presbyterian mission in northern China and collaborated with a team of Korean merchants to translate the New Testament into Korean. Bits and pieces of this New Testament started circulating in Korea in the early 1880s. Around the same time, the Korean monarchy started allowing American missionaries to roam about, but it was mainly Koreans who passed around the first translations of scripture and made the first converts. õThe major reason why the Christian message resonated with Koreans is because they were living in a small, relatively weak country surrounded by powerful countries that all wanted a piece of Korea. õKorean history up through World War II is a long story of invasions and proxy wars. They were interested in an ideology that said: We are different from the Chinese and the Japanese because we are Christian. The ideology also said: Don’t look to the political authorities of this world for ultimate justice, because it’s coming when Christ returns.

• From The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch (2017)

  273 LECTURE 28 VATICAN II AND GLOBAL RENEWAL O n January 25, 1959, Pope John XXIII announced a gathering of Catholic Church leaders. It had been almost a century since a pope last summoned a council of the entire Catholic Church, calling all the bishops, heads of religious orders, and other leaders to gather in Rome and make some big decisions. That last council, the First Vatican Council (or Vatican I) in 1870, was Rome’s major defensive maneuver against a modern world that the pope and his allies did not like too much. That council declared the pope infallible and squelched the hopes of Catholic progressives who wanted the church to embrace democratic liberalism and make room for Catholics to learn from the latest biblical scholarship. But by the 1960s, it was clear that this defensive strategy wasn’t entirely working. Pope John XXIII declared that the leaders of the church were not to be “museum keepers, but to cultivate a f lourishing garden of life.” This lecture explores the big debates and the drama of the council itself. Then, it turns to the question of how the church reforms that came out of it had immense consequences for Catholics around the world and even for international politics. EARLY FACTIONS AND DEBATES õIn October 1962, 2,700 bishops gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to convene the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II. This made it the largest gathering of bishops in church history, and it would last more than three years, with the bishops meeting in four 10-week sessions. 274The History of Christianity II õThe proceedings of the council were all in Latin, a language that some of the bishops could understand pretty well but others found difficult. The real debate happened in off hours, in the monasteries, hostels, and hotels where the bishops were staying. õThe pope also took an unprecedented step and invited non-Catholic observers, mainly prominent Jews and Protestants, to attend the council. John XXIII learned he was dying of stomach cancer not long after Vatican II began. In April of 1963, he issued his last encyclical before he died, Pacem in Terris. He said he was working together with nonbelievers to defend human rights and seek the “universal common good.”

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

  Objection 3: Further, as Christ’s cross was the instrument of His passion and death, so were also many other things, for instance, the nails, the crown, the lance; yet to these we do not show the worship of “latria.” It seems, therefore, that Christ’s cross should not be worshiped with the adoration of “latria.” On the contrary, We show the worship of “latria” to that in which we place our hope of salvation. But we place our hope in Christ’s cross, for the Church sings: “Dear Cross, best hope o’er all beside, That cheers the solemn passion-tide: Give to the just increase of grace, Give to each contrite sinner peace.” [*Hymn Vexilla Regis: translation of Father Aylward, O.P.] Therefore Christ’s cross should be worshiped with the adoration of “latria.” I answer that, As stated above [4120](A[3]), honor or reverence is due to a rational creature only; while to an insensible creature, no honor or reverence is due save by reason of a rational nature. And this in two ways. First, inasmuch as it represents a rational nature: secondly, inasmuch as it is united to it in any way whatsoever. In the first way men are wont to venerate the king’s image; in the second way, his robe. And both are venerated by men with the same veneration as they show to the king. If, therefore, we speak of the cross itself on which Christ was crucified, it is to be venerated by us in both ways—namely, in one way in so far as it represents to us the figure of Christ extended thereon; in the other way, from its contact with the limbs of Christ, and from its being saturated with His blood. Wherefore in each way it is worshiped with the same adoration as Christ, viz. the adoration of “latria.” And for this reason also we speak to the cross and pray to it, as to the Crucified Himself. But if we speak of the effigy of Christ’s cross in any other material whatever—for instance, in stone or wood, silver or gold—thus we venerate the cross merely as Christ’s image, which we worship with the adoration of “latria,” as stated above [4121](A[3]). Reply to Objection 1: If in Christ’s cross we consider the point of view and intention of those who did not believe in Him, it will appear as His shame: but if we consider its effect, which is our salvation, it will appear as endowed with Divine power, by which it triumphed over the enemy, according to Col. 2:14,15: “He hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross, and despoiling the principalities and powers, He hath exposed them confidently, in open show, triumphing over them in Himself.” Wherefore the Apostle says (1 Cor. 1:18): “The Word of the cross to them indeed that perish is foolishness; but to them that are saved—that is, to us—it is the power of God.”

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

  CHRYSOSTOM. But one might say, What then, shall these things be always thus? Will He endure for ever those who thus lay snares, and are mad against Him? Far from it; when His own work shall be all complete, then shall He work these things also. And. this He signifies, saying, Until he shall send forth judgment to victory; as much as to say, When He shall have accomplished all things which are of Himself, then shall He bring in perfect vengeance; then shall they receive punishment when He has made his victory illustrious, that there be not left to them any irreverent opportunity of contradiction, HILARY. Or, Until he shall send forth judgment to victory, that is, Until He shall take away the power of death, and bring in judgment and the return of His splendour. RABANUS. Or, Until that judgment which was being done in Him should come forth to victory. For after that by His resurrection He had overcome death, and driven forth the prince of this world, He returned as conqueror to His kingdom to sit on the right hand of the Father, until He shall put all His enemies under His feet. CHRYSOSTOM. But the things of this dispensation will not rest in this only, that they who have not believed should be punished, but He will also draw the world to Him; whence it follows, And in his name shall the Gentiles hope. AUGUSTINE. (De Civ. Dei, xx. 30.) This last we now see fulfilled; and thus this which cannot be denied establishes the truth of that which some have denied through ignorance, the last judgment namely, which He will hold upon earth, when he Himself shall come from heaven. For who could have expected that the Gentiles would have hope in Christ’s name, when He was in the hands of His enemies, when He was bound, scourged, set at nought, and crucified; when even His disciples had lost that hope which they had begun to have in Him? That which one thief hardly hoped on the cross, the nations scattered far and wide now hope. And that they may not die for ever, they are marked with that very cross on which he died. Let none then doubt that the last judgment will be by Christ Himself.

• From Best Erotic Romance

  Title : Best Erotic Romance Author: Unknown [image file=image_8.jpg] [image file=image_19.jpg] Table of Contents Title Page Foreword Introduction WHAT HAPPENED IN VEGAS FIRST NIGHT ANOTHER TRICK UP MY SLEEVE DRIVE ME CRAZY ONCE UPON A DINNER DATE HE TENDS TO ME GUEST SERVICES MEMORIES FOR SALE BLAME IT ON FACEBOOK THE DRAFT TO BE IN CLOVER HONEY CHANGES EVERYTHING CHEATING TIME OUR OWN PRIVATE CHAMPAGNE ROOM TILL THE STORM BREAKS THE CURVE OF HER BELLY DAWN CHORUS ABOUT THE AUTHORS ABOUT THE EDITOR Copyright Page FOREWORD Shayla Black Erotic romance. The words sound divine and naughty. They conjure up images of silk sheets, heavy breathing, steamy nights, damp skin, and pleasure beyond our imagination. But more than that, erotic romance says something about us on a deeper level. It’s not just sex. Erotic romance marries our hopes and fantasies, our dreams and desires. Erotic romance opens a gateway to deeper connections to other people through the most physical expression of our bodies. The stories of erotic romance connect our sexual selves with the romantic in us. From a writer’s perspective, it’s the marriage of two established genres: romance and erotica. Romance is a genre full of hope and fulfillment. We read it in hopes of finding our perfect mate, our very best tomorrows, and the rich emotional lives we’d like to lead. Romance is a journey about people finding one another. It’s a fantasy that teaches us that no matter how dire the circumstances, true love wins out. It’s the reader’s path to believing that everyone has a destined someone and no one will be forever alone. Classic erotica is one person’s journey to self-fulfillment through sexual expression and exploration. Trying new things with new people to create new boundaries and norms is what makes erotica so appealing. Every scenario is open to interpretation, to emotional expression. The sky—and human experience (with a bit of embellishment for fantasy)—is the new limit. When we put the two genres together, it creates a reading experience that embraces eternal hope and deep sensuality at the same time. It’s the ultimate expression of body and soul together. It’s a journey that leads us to both our heart’s desire and our self-actualized personal best, all because we expressed our deepest sexual self with the person we love and formed a bond meant to last through either a meaningful encounter or the rest of our lives. Erotic romance takes us to the deepest part of ourselves, forces us to dig deep and ask what we really want. What are we willing to overcome for sex? For love? For something we’ve always longed for? It allows us to explore deeper longing, deeper conflicts, and even cross boundaries that we wouldn’t cross in real life. It allows us to forget our mundane daily existence.

• From Stone Butch Blues (1993)

  My legs could hardly get me up on stage. I looked at the hundreds of faces staring at me. “?’m not a gay man.” My own amplified voice startled me. “T’m a butch, a he-she. I don’t know if the people who hate our guts call us that anymore. But that single epithet shaped my teenage years.” Everyone got very quiet as I spoke, and I knew they were listening; I knew they had heard me. I spotted a femme woman, about my age, who stood near the back of the crowd. She nodded as I spoke, as though she recognized me. Her eyes were warm with memories. 324 = Leslie Feinberg “T know about getting hurt,” I said. “But I don’t have much experience talking about it. And I know about fighting back, but I mostly know how to do it alone. That’s a tough way to fight, ’cause I’m usually outnumbered and I usually lose.” An older drag queen on the edges of the protest slowly waved her hand back and forth over her head in silent testimony. “T watch protests and rallies from across the street. And part of me feels so connected to you all, but I don’t know if ?m welcome to join. There’s lots of us who are on the outside and we don’t want to be. We’re getting busted and beaten up. We’re dying out here. We need you—but you need us, too. “T don’t know what it would take to really change the world. But couldn’t we get together and try to figure it out? Couldn’t the we be bigger? Isn’t there a way we could help fight each other’s battles so that we’re not always alone?” I got the same thunderous applause that those gathered gave each person who found the courage to speak. To me, the applause was an answer: yes, it was possible to still hope. This rally didn’t change night into day, but I saw people speaking and listening to each other. When I handed the mike to the woman who was chairing, she put her arm around me. “Good for you, sister,” she whispered in my ear. No one had ever called me that before. I stepped down and made my way through the crowd. Hands reached out and shook mine or patted me on the shoulder. A young gay man who was passing out leaflets smiled and nodded at me. “That was teally brave to get up there and say that.” I laughed. “You don’t know the half of it.” He handed me a leaflet calling for a protest against the government’s neglect of the AIDS epidemic. “Hold up,” I heard someone say. A young butch extended her hand to me. She reminded me so much of my old friend Edwin that for just a split second I thought Ed had come back to life to give me another shot at friendship.

• From Stone Butch Blues (1993)

  forms of human expression ate very ancient and were once honored in communal societies on every continent. And I found evidence that the hostile laws and attitudes towards trans expression, the role of women, and same-sex love, arose with the cleavage of societies into haves and have-nots. Now I am confident that you, living in the oldest continuously recorded culture in the world, will find many, many more examples from your own history— both of the acceptance of trans expression and of the social origins of this form of oppression. Today, we as US. revolutionaries have put these demands for sex and gender liberation on the agenda of struggle. As a lifelong revolutionary, it means a great deal to me to see the demands for trans liberation raised on banners and shouted as chants in all major protests in this country. But whether or not you and I share a common view about the future of humanity or which road will take us forward, I believe we may very well share other beliefs that are very important. We strive to be the best human being—the best person—that we can possibly be. We try to live a principled life. To uplift our knowledge and our consciousness. To leave the world a better place wherever that is within our power. 342 Leslie Feinberg If you pride yourself on these qualities, then I believe that once you have looked at the world through the eyes of someone who is “gender different” through reading this novel, you will try to take a stand against the cruel jokes and mockery and social isolation of those whose only crime is to be part of the gender and sex diversity that has existed in all human societies. What a wonderful contribution you could make! However, I also believe that once we find common ground in the fight against this one injustice, we will have forged a bond that can continue. I hope that we discover we have become comrades in a lifelong struggle to win the liberation of every human being who is degraded, devalued and downtrodden by exploitation and oppression. AUTHOR NOTE STONE BUTCH BLUES Serbo-Croatian Edition September 24, 2012 MESSAGE FROM LESLI FAJNBERG TO Serbo- Croat readers: XBasla TyHo! I send this message to Milica Jeremic—one of the translators of Stone Butch Blues into Setbo- Croatian, and to the entire Kolektiv Queer Beograd that shared my work with Serbian and Croatian readers by publishing Svone Butch Blues: XBasla IyHO Hvala puno puno hvala Thank you very much! Thank you, Milica, for your message to me that the Serbo-Croat edition publication was launched, “{I]n the second biggest town in Serbia, at a feminist festival. It was great, the people massively love the book.” On facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ events /412873802108596 /?ref=ts Link to translation: ttp:/ /faktiva.net/vest/stoun-buc- bluz-lesli-fajnberg I will be publishing a new 20th-Anniversary Author’s Edition of Stone Butch Blues on May Day Stone Butch Blues 343 2013. The online digital edition will include links to your translation.

• From Best Erotic Romance

  Her hand stilled and settled over his heart. “You’re not ready, Paul. I wish you were.” “The counselor I’ve been talking to says otherwise.” Robin’s heartbeat skipped. “Counselor?” He nodded. “I’ll need to keep seeing him for a while, but I know enough about what losing Curt did to me to have my head on straight again.” Her heart ached for the tragedy he’d suffered. She couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to outlive your child. His fingers linked with hers. “I should have talked to someone a lot sooner, most especially after I started seeing you. It wasn’t fair to you that I didn’t.” “You can’t take all the blame,” she said softly. “When we started out, our arrangement was perfect for me, too. No strings, hot sex, and a guy who listened to me ramble on about jewelry. Things were fine until I changed my expectations.” He reached over with his free hand and opened the nightstand drawer. She thought he might be reaching for a condom, and her pulse quickened. Then a dark blue velvet box appeared in her line of vision, and her heart stopped altogether. Paul set the box on his washboard abs and took a deep breath. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to buy an engagement ring for a jewelry designer who’s kicked your ass to the curb?” Unable to help herself, she reached for the box. “Wait,” he said, staying her. “Going back to the list of things I need from you...I need you to marry me, Robin. The next time we leave this room, I want us to come back to it as man and wife. I promise you’ll have the wedding of your dreams, with our friends and family and doves and swans and whatever the hell you want, but I’d really like the vows now—today—and getting married here in Vegas feels like it fits us.” Us. She looked at him with wide eyes, her mind telling her how crazy that was. There were so many courtship steps they were skipping. What they’d had in their year together—not counting the four miserable months apart—was emails, phone calls, six days a month of the hottest sex of her life... ...and a sharp, pure feeling of connection that had hit them both like lightning the moment they’d laid eyes on each other. “I know it’s crazy,” he said, reading her mind, as he so often did. “But we’ve been crazy over each other from the start. I’m lovesick over you, baby. I swear you’ll never regret taking a chance on me. I’ll make you happier than you’ve ever been in your life.” Swallowing hard, she thumbed open the box. “Oh, Paul,” she breathed, her fingers shaking. “Do you like it?” His rich, deep voice was laced with a rare note of anxiety. “We can exchange it if you don’t. You can pick out whatever you want. Something more traditional maybe—”

• From The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch (2017)

  317Lecture 32—Liberation Theologies in Latin America õ In any case, Hoover wrote down what happened on this unusual night. At the call to prayer, he expected one person to pray, and then another, in an orderly Methodist fashion. But instead, he wrote “all with a single voice began praying in a loud voice,” and the noise grew louder and louder. People sang spontaneously, fell on the floor, and had visions. õ Just as in the United States, early Pentecostal revivals in Latin America broke down traditional rules about “respectable” worship, or women preaching. And just like in the United States, almost as soon as the revival began, so did schisms. Pentecostals broke away from Methodist churches, and then broke away again from one another. õ Early Pentecostal missionaries, both the foreigners and new local converts, did what savvy religious entrepreneurs do: They adjusted to meet the demands of the local market, and they took risks to meet potential converts where they were. For example, when a yellow fever epidemic hit the area, they didn’t stay inside in quarantine; they went out and evangelized sick people in their homes. Today, almost half of Latin American Protestants are Pentecostal. GRASSROOTS CATHOLIC REVIVAL õ The Protestant revival coincided with a long period of turmoil within the Latin American Catholic Church. By the 1960s, Latin American catholic leaders were having serious debates about the causes of poverty in their communities and the way church institutions were sometimes complicit in unjust economic arrangements that hurt the poor and made them more receptive to Protestant missionaries. õ These concerns came to the fore in 1968, when the bishops of Latin America met for a big conference in Colombia. Pope Paul VI came to open the conference in Bogota—the first time a pope had ever visited Latin America. Many Catholics wanted him to say something bold about the oppression of Catholics under many Latin American regimes. 318 The History of Christianity II õ But the pope showed up in a military helicopter, which was a bad sign. In his speech, he called on the church to defend the dignity of the poor, and he denounced the exploitation of peasants—although he warned Catholics not to trust any activists who claimed that violent revolution was the path to justice. In the end, he didn’t go quite as far in condemning powerful businessmen and politicians as many progressives would have liked. õ When the pope left, the conference moved to Medellin, and the bishops echoed the pope’s warning against radical politics that could tempt people to violence. But in context, their statements were pretty radical: They criticized big business, called for workers to organize, and called for agrarian reform to make it possible for peasants to actually earn a decent living on the land.

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

  Objection 2: Further, while He lived in mortal flesh, it behooved Christ to lead a most perfect life. But the most perfect is the contemplative life, as we have stated in the [4207]SS, Q[182], AA[1],2. Now, solitude is most suitable to the contemplative life; according to Osee 2:14: “I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart.” Therefore it seems that Christ should have led a solitary life. Objection 3: Further, Christ’s manner of life should have been uniform: because it should always have given evidence of that which is best. But at times Christ avoided the crowd and sought lonely places: hence Remigius [*Cf. Catena Aurea, Matth. 5:1], commenting on Matthew, says: “We read that our Lord had three places of refuge: the ship, the mountain, the desert; to one or other of which He betook Himself whenever he was harassed by the crowd.” Therefore He ought always to have led a solitary life. On the contrary, It is written (Baruch 3:38): “Afterwards He was seen upon earth and conversed with men.” I answer that, Christ’s manner of life had to be in keeping with the end of His Incarnation, by reason of which He came into the world. Now He came into the world, first, that He might publish the truth. thus He says Himself (Jn. 18:37): “For this was I born, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth.” Hence it was fitting not that He should hide Himself by leading a solitary life, but that He should appear openly and preach in public. Wherefore (Lk. 4:42,43) He says to those who wished to stay Him: “To other cities also I must preach the kingdom of God: for therefore am I sent.” Secondly, He came in order to free men from sin; according to 1 Tim. 1:15: “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.” And hence, as Chrysostom says, “although Christ might, while staying in the same place, have drawn all men to Himself, to hear His preaching, yet He did not do so; thus giving us the example to go about and seek those who perish, like the shepherd in his search of the lost sheep, and the physician in his attendance on the sick.” Thirdly, He came that by Him “we might have access to God,” as it is written (Rom. 5:2). And thus it was fitting that He should give men confidence in approaching Him by associating familiarly with them. Wherefore it is written (Mat. 9:10): “It came to pass as He was sitting . . . in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came, and sat down with Jesus and His disciples.” On which Jerome comments as follows: “They had seen the publican who had been converted from a sinful to a better life: and consequently they did not despair of their own salvation.”

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

  Objection 3: Further, happiness consists in an operation. But operations are determined by their objects: and there are two universal objects, the true and the good: of which the true corresponds to vision, and good to delight. Therefore there is no need for comprehension as a third. On the contrary, The Apostle says (1 Cor. 9:24): “So run that you may comprehend [Douay: ‘obtain’].” But happiness is the goal of the spiritual race: hence he says (2 Tim. 4:7,8): “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; as to the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice.” Therefore comprehension is necessary for Happiness. I answer that, Since Happiness consists in gaining the last end, those things that are required for Happiness must be gathered from the way in which man is ordered to an end. Now man is ordered to an intelligible end partly through his intellect, and partly through his will: through his intellect, in so far as a certain imperfect knowledge of the end pre-exists in the intellect: through the will, first by love which is the will’s first movement towards anything; secondly, by a real relation of the lover to the thing beloved, which relation may be threefold. For sometimes the thing beloved is present to the lover: and then it is no longer sought for. Sometimes it is not present, and it is impossible to attain it: and then, too, it is not sought for. But sometimes it is possible to attain it, yet it is raised above the capability of the attainer, so that he cannot have it forthwith; and this is the relation of one that hopes, to that which he hopes for, and this relation alone causes a search for the end. To these three, there are a corresponding three in Happiness itself. For perfect knowledge of the end corresponds to imperfect knowledge; presence of the end corresponds to the relation of hope; but delight in the end now present results from love, as already stated (A[2], ad 3). And therefore these three must concur with Happiness; to wit, vision, which is perfect knowledge of the intelligible end; comprehension, which implies presence of the end; and delight or enjoyment, which implies repose of the lover in the object beloved. Reply to Objection 1: Comprehension is twofold. First, inclusion of the comprehended in the comprehensor; and thus whatever is comprehended by the finite, is itself finite. Wherefore God cannot be thus comprehended by a created intellect. Secondly, comprehension means nothing but the holding of something already present and possessed: thus one who runs after another is said to comprehend [*In English we should say ‘catch.’] him when he lays hold on him. And in this sense comprehension is necessary for Happiness.

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

  Reply to Objection 2: By ascending into heaven Christ acquired no addition to His essential glory either in body or in soul: nevertheless He did acquire something as to the fittingness of place, which pertains to the well-being of glory: not that His body acquired anything from a heavenly body by way of perfection or preservation; but merely out of a certain fittingness. Now this in a measure belonged to His glory; and He had a certain kind of joy from such fittingness, not indeed that He then began to derive joy from it when He ascended into heaven, but that He rejoiced thereat in a new way, as at a thing completed. Hence, on Ps. 15:11: “At Thy right hand are delights even unto the end,” the gloss says: “I shall delight in sitting nigh to Thee, when I shall be taken away from the sight of men.” Reply to Objection 3: Although Christ’s bodily presence was withdrawn from the faithful by the Ascension, still the presence of His Godhead is ever with the faithful, as He Himself says (Mat. 28:20): “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” For, “by ascending into heaven He did not abandon those whom He adopted,” as Pope Leo says (De Resurrec., Serm. ii). But Christ’s Ascension into heaven, whereby He withdrew His bodily presence from us, was more profitable for us than His bodily presence would have been. First of all, in order to increase our faith, which is of things unseen. Hence our Lord said (Jn. 26) that the Holy Ghost shall come and “convince the world . . . of justice,” that is, of the justice “of those that believe,” as Augustine says (Tract. xcv super Joan.): “For even to put the faithful beside the unbeliever is to put the unbeliever to shame”; wherefore he goes on to say (10): “‘Because I go to the Father; and you shall see Me no longer’”—“For ‘blessed are they that see not, yet believe.’ Hence it is of our justice that the world is reproved: because ‘you will believe in Me whom you shall not see.’” Secondly, to uplift our hope: hence He says (Jn. 14:3): “If I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to Myself; that where I am, you also may be.” For by placing in heaven the human nature which He assumed, Christ gave us the hope of going thither; since “wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together,” as is written in Mat. 24:28. Hence it is written likewise (Mic. 2:13): “He shall go up that shall open the way before them.”

• From In an Unspoken Voice (2010)

  6. Separate or “uncouple” the conditioned association of fear and helplessness from the (normally time-limited but now maladaptive) biological immobility response. 7. Resolve hyperarousal states by gently guiding the “discharge” and redistribution of the vast survival energy mobilized for life-preserving action while freeing that energy to support higher-level brain functioning. 8. Engage self-regulation to restore “dynamic equilibrium” and relaxed alertness. 9. Orient to the here and now, contact the environment and reestablish the capacity for social engagement. Step 1. Establish an environment of relative safety After my accident, the first inkling my body had of being other than profoundly helpless and disoriented was when the pediatrician came and sat by my side. As simple as this seems, her calm, centered presence gave me a slight glimmer of hope that things might turn out OK. Such soothing support in the midst of chaos is a critical element that trauma therapists must provide for their unsettled and troubled clients. This truly is the starting point for one’s return to equilibrium. The therapist must, in other words, help to create an environment of relative safety, an atmosphere that conveys refuge, hope and possibility. For traumatized individuals, this can be a very delicate task. Fortunately, given propitious conditions, the human nervous system is designed and attuned both to receive and to offer a regulating influence to another person. 53 Thankfully, biology is on our side. This transference of succor, our mammalian birthright, is fostered by the therapeutic tone and working alliance you create by tuning in to your client’s sensibilities. With the therapist’s calm secure center, relaxed alertness, compassionate containment and evident patience, the client’s distress begins to lessen. However minimally, his or her willingness to explore is prompted, encouraged and owned. While resistance will inevitably appear, it will soften and recede with the holding environment created by the skilled therapist. One possible roadblock, however, happens between sessions; when they are without their therapist’s calm, regulating presence, clients may feel raw and thrown back into the lion’s den of chaotic sensations when exposed to the same triggers that overwhelmed them in the first place. The therapist who provides only a sense of safety (no matter how effectively) will only make the client increasingly dependent—and thus will increase the imbalance of power between therapist and client. To avoid such sabotage, the next steps are aimed at helping the client move toward establishing his or her own agency and capacity for mastering self-soothing and feelings of empowerment and self-regulation. Step 2. Support initial exploration and acceptance of sensation Traumatized individuals have lost both their way in the world and the vital guidance of their inner promptings. Cut off from the primal sensations, instincts and feelings arising from the interior of their bodies, they are unable to orient to the “here and now.” Therapists must be able to help clients navigate the labyrinth of trauma by helping them find their way home to their bodily sensations and capacity to self- soothe.

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

  Moreover, at that time, when the whole world lived under one ruler, peace abounded on the earth. Therefore it was a fitting time for the birth of Christ, for “He is our peace, who hath made both one,” as it is written (Eph. 2:14). Wherefore Jerome says on Is. 2:4: “If we search the page of ancient history, we shall find that throughout the whole world there was discord until the twenty-eighth year of Augustus Caesar: but when our Lord was born, all war ceased”; according to Is. 2:4: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.” Again, it was fitting that Christ should be born while the world was governed by one ruler, because “He came to gather His own [Vulg.: ‘the children of God’] together in one” (Jn. 11:52), that there might be “one fold and one shepherd” (Jn. 10:16). Reply to Objection 2: Christ wished to be born during the reign of a foreigner, that the prophecy of Jacob might be fulfilled (Gn. 49:10): “The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till He come that is to be sent.” Because, as Chrysostom says (Hom. ii in Matth. [*Opus Imperf., falsely ascribed to Chrysostom]), as long as the Jewish “people was governed by Jewish kings, however wicked, prophets were sent for their healing. But now that the Law of God is under the power of a wicked king, Christ is born; because a grave and hopeless disease demanded a more skilful physician.” Reply to Objection 3: As says the author of the book De Qq. Nov. et Vet. Test., “Christ wished to be born, when the light of day begins to increase in length,” so as to show that He came in order that man might come nearer to the Divine Light, according to Lk. 1:79: “To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” In like manner He chose to be born in the rough winter season, that He might begin from then to suffer in body for us. OF THE MANIFESTATION OF THE NEWLY BORN CHRIST (EIGHT ARTICLES)We must now consider the manifestation of the newly born Christ: concerning which there are eight points of inquiry: (1) Whether Christ’s birth should have been made known to all? (2) Whether it should have been made known to some? (3) To whom should it have been made known? (4) Whether He should have made Himself known, or should He rather have been manifested by others? (5) By what other means should it have been made known? (6) Of the order of these manifestations; (7) Of the star by means of which His birth was made known; (8) of the adoration of the Magi, who were informed of Christ’s nativity by means of the star.

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

  RABANUS. Otherwise; He who seeks an immortal life, does not hesitate to lose his life, that is, to offer it to death. But either sense suits equally well with that which follows, And whoso shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. REMIGIUS. That is, he who in confession of My name in time of persecution despises this temporal world, its joys, and pleasures, shall find eternal salvation for his soul. HILARY. Thus the gain of life brings death, the loss of life brings salvation; for by the sacrifice of this short life we gain the reward of immortality. 10:40–4240. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 41. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. JEROME. The Lord when He sends forth His disciples to preach, teaches them that dangers are not to be feared, that natural affection is to be postponed to religion—gold He had above taken from them, brass He had shaken out of their purses—hard then surely the condition of the preachers! Whence their living? Whence their food and necessaries? Therefore He tempers the rigour of His precepts by the following promises, that in entertaining the Apostles each believer may consider that he entertains the Lord. CHRYSOSTOM. Enough had been said above to persuade those who should have to entertain the Apostles. For who would not with all willingness take in to his house men who were so courageous, that they despised all dangers that others might be saved? Above He had threatened punishment to those who should not receive them, He now promises reward to such as should receive them. And first He holds out to those who should entertain them the honour, that in so doing they were entertaining Christ, and even the Father; He who receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. What honour to be compared to this of receiving the Father and the Son? HILARY. These words shew that He has a Mediator’s office, and since He came from God, when He is received by us, through Him God is transfused into us; and by this disposition of grace to have received the Apostles is no other than to have received God; for Christ dwells in them, and God in Christ.

• From The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch (2017)

  300 The History of Christianity II õ Yet by the early 1980s, civil rights activists had come to realize that terrorism wasn’t working. Violence only seemed to play into the propaganda of the white supremacists. Nonviolent methods like strikes, boycotts, and marches started to seem more appealing. They could attract international sympathy and throw the country into such social and economic chaos that it would seem, even to white people, the Nationalists just couldn’t run the country anymore. õ A turning point for Desmond Tutu came in 1976, when residents in the black township of Soweto rioted to protest the law requiring their children to learn in Afrikaans. Tutu sent a bold letter to the Minister of Defense, Pieter Willem Botha, chastising him for defending the regime’s violent crackdown with the veneer of Christianity. õ From then on, Tutu preached against apartheid at every opportunity, both in South Africa and abroad, trying to convince other governments to stop looking the other way. He was especially keen to get white South Africans involved, because, like Martin Luther King, he knew the campaign would never work unless it was grounded in racial reconciliation. He supported boycotts and joined the chorus calling for international investors to pull out of South Africa, even if, in the short term, divestment hurt poor workers. õ Tutu embraced nonviolence not just because it was consistent with Christian principles, but because it was a pragmatic response to the South African situation. Labor strikes forced whites to recognize how dependent they were on black workers, especially as the scale of the strikes grew and spread to other sectors like student strikes and rent boycotts. By the fall of 1986, 60 percent of the black population was refusing to pay rent. õ In 1989, huge multi-racial peace marches rocked the major cities of South Africa. In 1990 the government released the most famous prisoner, the ANC leader Nelson Mandela, and finally agreed to negotiations that paved the way for multiracial democratic elections in 1994.

• From The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch (2017)

  260 The History of Christianity II õ In 1980, dissident intellectuals and workers founded Solidarity, the first trade union independent of communist control. It was a sign of how weak the regime was at this point that the government agreed to permit it. Solidarity’s main founder, Lech Wałęsa, was an electrician by trade and a devout Catholic. The movement was an ideological mix of secular people, Jews, and Christians, but Catholics contributed mightily to its nonviolent protests for free elections. õ Relations between the Church and Solidarity were not always great. The Catholic Church was used to being the main dissident group, and Catholic leaders clashed with members of Solidarity over questions of strategy—they didn’t want to push for too much change too fast—and over the role of religion in the ideology of their revolution. But over the long haul, they worked together. õ Dissidents were working in other countries, but Poland was the only case where dissidence became a mass movement, and the only case where intellectuals worked effectively with workers. It was the Catholic Church that built the bridge between them. õ This collaboration became crucial when the government imposed martial law in 1981, basically declaring war on its own people. Martial law was lifted in the summer of 1983, but political repression persisted for several years. õ Finally, however, a huge round of labor strikes forced the government to begin negotiating with a coalition of dissidents led by Solidarity. The Communist Party agreed to let go of its monopoly on power, and the elections of 1989 were the closest thing to free elections in Poland since before World War II. 261Lecture 26—The Rival Gods of the Cold War õ Solidarity-backed candidates won almost all the contested seats in the legislature. In April 1989, communist rule in Poland formally ended. Poles elected Lech Wałęsa as president the next year. õ The story of the end of the Cold War is different in every country in the Eastern bloc, and Christians played different roles in each context. The Polish story reflects the unique place of Catholicism in Polish history and identity, as well as the influence of particular individuals, especially Pope John Paul II. SUGGESTED READING Froese, The Plot to Kill God. Judt, Post War. Weigel, The Final Revolution. QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER ä How did the Soviets transform Marxism- Leninism into a substitute religion? ä If Marx predicted that religion would naturally wither away, why did the Soviets see it as so dangerous and devote so much energy to repressing it? ä What made Pope John Paul II an effective spiritual and political leader?

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

  CHRYSOSTOM. The Lord having banished that fear which haunted the minds of His disciples, adds further comfort in what follows, not only casting out fear, but by hope of greater rewards encouraging them to a free proclamation of the truth, saying, Every man who shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father which is in heaven. And it is not properly shall confess me, but as it is in the Greek, shall confess in me, shewing that it is not by your own strength but by grace from above, that you confess Him whom you do confess. HILARY. This He says in conclusion, because it behoves them after being confirmed by such teaching, to have a confident freedom in confessing God. REMIGIUS. Here is to be understood that confession of which the Apostle speaks, With the heart men believe unto justification, with the month confession is made unto salvation. (Rom. 10:10.) That none therefore might suppose that he could be saved without confession of the mouth, He says not only, He that shall confess me, but adds, before men; and again, He that shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. HILARY. This teaches us, that in what measure we have borne witness to Him upon earth, in the same shall we have Him to bear witness to us in heaven before the face of God the Father. CHRYSOSTOM. Here observe that the punishment is manifold more than the evil done, and the reward more than the good done. As much as to say, your deed was more abundant in confessing or denying Me here; so shall My deed to you-ward be more abundant in confessing or denying you there. Wherefore if you have done any good thing, and have not received retribution, be not troubled, for a manifold reward awaits you in the time to come. And if you have done any evil, and have not paid the punishment thereof, do not think that you have escaped, for punishment will overtake you, unless you are changed and become better. RABANUS. It should be known that not even Pagans can deny the existence of God, but the infidels may deny that the Son as well as the Father is God. The Son confesses men before the Father, because by the Son we have access to the Father, and because the Son saith, Come, ye blessed of my Father. (Mat. 25:34.) REMIGIUS. And thus He will deny the man that hath denied Him, in that he shall not have access to the Father through Him, and shall be banished from seeing either the Son or the Father in their divine nature.

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

  AUGUSTINE. He means evidently that there are already many mansions, and that there is no need of His preparing one. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxiii. 1) Having said, Thou canst not follow Me now, that they might not think that they were cut off for ever, He adds: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also: a recommendation to them to place the strongest trust in Him. THEOPHYLACT. And if not, I would have told you: I go to prepare, &c. As if He said; Either way ye should not be troubled, whether places are prepared for you, or not. For, if they are not prepared, I will very quickly prepare them. AUGUSTINE. (Tract. lxviii. 1) But why does He go and prepare a place, if there are many mansions already? Because these are not as yet so prepared as they will be. The same mansions that He hath prepared by predestination, He prepares by operation. They are prepared already in respect of predestination; if they were not, He would have said, I will go and prepare, i. e. predestinate, a place for you; but inasmuch as they are not yet prepared in respect of operation, He says, And if I go and prepare a place for you. And now He is preparing mansions, by preparing occupants for them. Indeed, when He says, In My Father’s house are many mansions, what think we the house of God to be but the temple of God, of which the Apostle saith, The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (1 Cor. 3:17) This house of God then is now being built, now being prepared. (c. 3.). But why has He gone away to prepare it, if it is ourselves that He prepares: if He leaves us, how can He prepare us? The meaning is, that, in order that those mansions may be prepared, the just must live by faith: and if thou seest, there is no faith. Let Him go away then, that He be not seen; let Him be hid, that He be believed. Then a place is prepared, if thou live by faith: let faith desire, that desire may enjoy. If thou rightly understandest Him, He never leaves either the place He came from, or that He goes from. He goes, when He withdraws from sight, He comes, when He appears. But except He remain in power, that we may grow in goodness, no place of happiness will be prepared for us.