Joy

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 Speak, Memory (1966)

  How utterly foreign to the troubles of the night were those exciting St. Petersburg mornings when the fierce and tender, damp and dazzling arctic spring bundled away broken ice down the sea-bright Neva! It made the roofs shine. It painted the slush in the streets a rich purplish-blue shade which I have never seen anywhere since. On those glorious days on allait se promener en équipage—the old-world expression current in our set. I can easily refeel the exhilarating change from the thickly padded, knee-length polushubok, with the hot beaver collar, to the short navy-blue coat with its anchor-patterned brass buttons. In the open landau I am joined by the valley of a lap rug to the occupants of the more interesting back seat, majestic Mademoiselle, and triumphant, tear-bedabbled Sergey, with whom I have just had a row at home. I am kicking him slightly, now and then, under our common cover, until Mademoiselle sternly tells me to stop. We drift past the show windows of Fabergé whose mineral monstrosities, jeweled troykas poised on marble ostrich eggs, and the like, highly appreciated by the imperial family, were emblems of grotesque garishness to ours. Church bells are ringing, the first Brimstone flies up over the Palace Arch, in another month we shall return to the country; and as I look up I can see, strung on ropes from housefront to housefront high above the street, great, tensely smooth, semitransparent banners billowing, their three wide bands—pale red, pale blue, and merely pale—deprived by the sun and the flying cloud-shadows of any too blunt connection with a national holiday, but undoubtedly celebrating now, in the city of memory, the essence of that spring day, the swish of the mud, the beginning of mumps, the ruffled exotic bird with one bloodshot eye on Mademoiselle’s hat. 6She spent seven years with us, lessons getting rarer and rarer and her temper worse and worse. Still, she seemed like a rock of grim permanence when compared to the ebb and flow of English governesses and Russian tutors passing through our large household. She was on bad terms with all of them. In summer seldom less than fifteen people sat down for meals and when, on birthdays, this number rose to thirty or more, the question of place at table became a particularly burning one for Mademoiselle. Uncles and aunts and cousins would arrive on such days from neighboring estates, and the village doctor would come in his dogcart, and the village schoolmaster would be heard blowing his nose in the cool hall, where he passed from mirror to mirror with a greenish, damp, creaking bouquet of lilies of the valley or a sky-colored, brittle one of cornflowers in his fist.

• From Heptaméron (1559)

  The husband rode on, and the wife remained among the rushes, more joyous at having duped and baffled him than ever she had been at home in a good bed, where she thought she was held in slavery. The hus- band searched for her all over Autun, but having clearly ascertained that she had not entered the town, he re- traced his steps, and on his way did nothing but inveigh against her and his great loss, threatening her with noth- ing less than death if he caught her ; but she was as in- accessible to fear as to the sense of cold, although the weather and the place might well have made her repent of her horrible journey. Anyone who knew not how the fire of hell heats those who are full of it would have wondered how this woman, coming out of a warm bed, could have endured such severe cold for a whole day. She did so, however, without losing courage, and re- sumed her journey to Autun as soon as night came. Just as they were about to close the town gates this pil- grim arrived, and went straightway to her saint, who was so astonished to see her in such a trim that he could hardly believe it was she. After turning her about and examining her well on all sides, he found that she had flesh and bones, which a spirit has not ; he was satisfied she was not a phantom, and they agreed so well to- gether that she remained with him for fourteen or fif* teen years. Vox a while she lived secluded, but at last she lost all fear ; and what was worse, she prided herself so much on the honour of having such a lover that she took pre- cedence at church of most of the respectable women of the town, the wives of officers as well as others. She 486 THE HEPTAMERON OF THE [Nm'el 6i. had children by the canon, and, among others, a daugh- ter, who was married to a rich merchant with so much magnificence that all the ladies of the town were indig- nant, but had not influence enough to correct such an abuse.

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

  Reply to Objection 2: Beatitude is not directed to the union but is the union itself of the soul with Christ. This union is by an operation, whereas the dowries are gifts disposing to this same union. Reply to Objection 3: Vision may be taken in two ways. First, actually, i.e. for the act itself of vision; and thus vision is not a dowry, but beatitude itself. Secondly, it may be taken habitually, i.e. for the habit whereby this act is elicited, namely the clarity of glory, by which the soul is enlightened from above to see God: and thus it is a dowry and the principle of beatitude, but not beatitude itself. The same answer applies to OBJ 4. Reply to Objection 5: Beatitude is the sum of all goods not as though they were essential parts of beatitude, but as being in a way directed to beatitude, as stated above. Whether it is fitting that Christ should receive a dowry?Objection 1: It would seem fitting that Christ should receive a dowry. For the saints will be conformed to Christ through glory, according to Phil. 3:21, “Who will reform the body of our lowness made like to the body of His glory.” Therefore Christ also will have a dowry. Objection 2: Further, in the spiritual marriage a dowry is given in likeness to a carnal marriage. Now there is a spiritual marriage in Christ, which is peculiar to Him, namely of the two natures in one Person, in regard to which the human nature in Him is said to have been espoused by the Word, as a gloss [*St. Augustine, De Consensu Evang. i, 40] has it on Ps. 18:6, “He hath set His tabernacle in the sun,” etc., and Apoc. 21:3, “Behold the tabernacle of God with men.” Therefore it is fitting that Christ should have a dowry. Objection 3: Further, Augustine says (De Doctr. Christ. iii) that Christ, according to the Rule [*Liber regularum] of Tyconius, on account of the unity of the mystic body that exists between the head and its members, calls Himself also the Bride and not only the Bridegroom, as may be gathered from Is. 61:10, “As a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels.” Since then a dowry is due to the bride, it would seem that Christ ought to receive a dowry. Objection 4: Further, a dowry is due to all the members of the Church, since the Church is the spouse. But Christ is a member of the Church according to 1 Cor. 12:27, “You are the body of Christ, and members of member, i.e. of Christ,” according to a gloss. Therefore the dowry is due to Christ. Objection 5: Further, Christ has perfect vision, fruition, and joy. Now these are the dowries. Therefore, etc.

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

  AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Mark here calls them children of the nuptials, whom Matthew calls children of the bridegroom; for we understand the children of the nuptials to be not only those of the bridegroom, but also of the bride. PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) He then calls Himself a bridegroom, as if about to be betrothed to the Church. For the betrothal is giving an earnest, namely, that of the grace of the Holy Ghost, by which the world believed. THEOPHYLACT. He also calls Himself a bridegroom, not only as betrothing to Himself virgin minds, but because the time of His first coming is not a time of sorrow, nor of sadness to believers, neither does it bring with it toil, but rest. For it is without any works of the law, giving rest by baptism, by which we easily obtain salvation without toil. But the sons of the nuptials or of the Bridegroom are the Apostles; because they, by the grace of God, are made worthy of every heavenly blessing, by the grace of God, and partakers of every joy. PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) But intercourse with Him, He says, is far removed from all sorrow, when He adds, As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. He is sad, from whom some good is far removed; but he who has it present with him rejoices, and is not sad. But that He might destroy their elation of heart, and shew that He intended not His own disciples to be licentious, He adds, But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken, &c. as if He said, The time will come, when they will shew their firmness; for when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, they will fast as longing for His coming, and in order to unite to Him their spirits, cleansed by bodily suffering. He shews also that there is no necessity for His disciples to fast, as having present with them the Bridegroom of human nature, Who every where executes the words of God, and Who gives the seed of life. The sons of the Bridegroom also cannot, because they are infants, be entirely conformed to their Father, the Bridegroom, Who, considering their infancy, deigns to allow them not to fast: but when the Bridegroom is gone, they will fast, through desire of Him; when they have been made perfect, they will be united to the Bridegroom in marriage, and will always feast at the king’s banquet. THEOPHYLACT. We must also understand, that every man whose works are good is the son of the Bridegroom; he has the Bridegroom with him, even Christ, and fasts not, that is, does no works of repentance, because he does not sin: but when the Bridegroom is taken away by the man’s falling into sin, then he fasts and is penitent, that he may cure his sin.

• From The Selected Works of Audre Lorde

  and their palmetto bug cousins aggressive ridged slowness the obstinacy of living fossils. Sweet ugly-fruit​avocados​tomatoes and melon in the mango slot hibiscus spread like a rainbow of lovers arced stamens waving but even the jacaranda only last a day. Crescent moon walking my sheets at midnight lonely in the palmetto thicket​counting persistent Canaveral lizards launch themselves through my air conditioner chasing equally determined fleas. In Gainesville the last time there was only one sister present who said​“I’m gonna remember your name and the next time you come there’ll be quite a few more of us, hear?” and there certainly was​a warm pool of dark women’s faces in the sea of listening. The first thing I did when I got home after kissing my honey was to wash my hair with small flowers and begin a five-day fast. Political Relations In a hotel in Tashkent the Latvian delegate from Riga was sucking his fishbones as a Chukwu woman with hands as hot as mine caressed my knee beneath the dinner table her slanted eyes were dark as seal fur we did not know each other’s tongue. “Someday we will talk through our children” she said “I spoke to your eyes this morning you have such a beautiful face” thin-lipped Moscow girls translated for us smirking at each other. And I had watched her in the Conference Hall ox-solid​black electric hair straight as a deer’s rein​fire-disc eyes sweeping over the faces like a stretch of frozen tundra we were two ends of one taut rope stretched like a promise from her mouth singing the friendship song her people sang for greeting There are only fourteen thousand of us left it is a very sad thing​it is a very sad thing when any people​any people​dies [image file=image_rsrc6HF.jpg] “Yes, I heard you this morning” I said​reaching out from the place where we touched poured her vodka​an offering which she accepted like roses leaning across our white Russian interpreters to kiss me softly upon my lips. Then she got up and left with the Latvian delegate from Riga. There Are No Honest Poems About Dead Women What do we want from each other after we have told our stories do we want to be healed​do we want mossy quiet stealing over our scars do we want the powerful unfrightening sister who will make the pain go away mother’s voice​in the hallway you’ve done it right the first time​darling you will never need to do it again. Thunder grumbles on the horizon I buy time with another story a pale blister of air cadences of dead flesh obscure the vowels. from The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance (1993) To My Sister Pat Parker, Poet and Comrade-in-Arms In Memoriam and to my blood sisters Mavis Jones Marjorie Jones Phyllis Blackwell Helen Lorde Making Love to Concrete An upright abutment in the mouth of the Willis Avenue bridge a beige Honda leaps the divider like a steel gazelle​inescapable sleek leather boots on the pavement rat-a-tat-tat​best intentions

• From The Selected Works of Audre Lorde

  It is the same intensity with which I experience poetry, a student’s first breakthrough, the loving energy of women I do not even know, the posted photograph of a sunrise taken from my winter dawn window, the intensity of loving. I revel in the beauty of the faces of Black women at labor and at rest. I make, demand, translate satisfactions out of every ray of sunlight, scrap of bright cloth, beautiful sound, delicious smell that comes my way, out of every sincere smile and good wish. They are discreet bits of ammunition in my arsenal against despair. They all contribute to the strengthening of my determination to persevere when the greyness overwhelms, or Reaganomics wears me down. They whisper to me of joy when the light is dim, when I falter, when another Black child is gunned down from behind in Crossroads or Newark or lynched from a tree in Memphis, and when the health orchestration gets boring or depressing or just plain too much. November 16, 1986 New York City For Black women, learning to consciously extend ourselves to each other and to call upon each other’s strengths is a life-saving strategy. In the best of circumstances surrounding our lives, it requires an enormous amount of mutual, consistent support for us to be emotionally able to look straight into the face of the powers aligned against us and still do our work with joy. It takes determination and practice. Black women who survive have a head start in learning how to be open and self-protective at the same time. One secret is to ask as many people as possible for help, depending on all of them and on none of them at the same time. Some will help, others cannot. For the time being. Another secret is to find some particular thing your soul craves for nourishment—a different religion, a quiet spot, a dance class—and satisfy it. That satisfaction does not have to be costly or difficult. Only a need that is recognized, articulated, and answered. There is an important difference between openness and naiveté. Not everyone has good intentions nor means me well. I remind myself I do not need to change these people, only recognize who they are. November 17, 1986 New York City How has everyday living changed for me with the advent of a second cancer? I move through a terrible and invigorating savor of now—a visceral awareness of the passage of time, with its nightmare and its energy. No more long-term loans, extended payments, twenty-year plans. Pay my debts. Call the tickets in, the charges, the emotional IOUs.

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

  c. St. Augustin says, ‘There cannot be any doubt that each one is made a partaker of the Body and Blood of the Lord, when he is made a member of Christ: nor can there be any doubt that such a one is not cut off from the fellowship of that Bread, if before he eat it he should die in the unity of the Body of Christ. For he cannot be deprived of the benefits of this Sacrament when he is found with that which this Sacrament signifies. But he is found with that which is signified by this Sacrament, when he is made a member of Christ and spiritually eats by believing and loving; for thus he is truly changed into Christ’s Body, that he may live with Him for ever.’ The Voice of the Holy Ghost About spiritual eating; I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all in Moses were baptised in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual food. 1 Cor. 10:1–3. There is a man to whom God has given riches and substance and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth; yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it. Eccles. 6:2. (1) The difference of persons; Jesus called together His disciples, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. And the disciples say to Him, Whence, then, should we have so many loaves in the desert, as to fill so great a multitude? And Jesus saith to them, How many loaves have you? They said, Seven, and a few little fishes. And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And taking the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He brake and gave to His disciples, and His disciples gave to the people; and they did all eat and had their fill. And they took up seven baskets full of what remained of the fragments. And they that did eat were four thousand men, besides women and children. St. Matt. 15:32–38. (2) The nature of this eating; 1. Beginners; Behold his soul that is unbelieving shall not be right in him; but the just shall live in his faith. Heb. 2:4. My just man liveth by faith; but if he withdraw himself he shall not please My soul. Heb. 10:38. 2. The advanced; He said to them, I have meat to eat which you know not.… My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, that I may finish His work. St. John 4:32, 34. He that feareth God will do good.… With the bread of life and understanding she (Wisdom) will feed him. Ecclus. 15:1, 3.

• From Barclay's Guide to the New Testament (2008)

  The words joy and rejoice are used again and again. `Rejoice,' writes Paul, `again I will say rejoice', even in prison directing the hearts of his friends - and ours - to the joy that no one can take from us. 12 Colossians Resisting a Great Heresy The Towns of the Lycus Valley About ioo miles from Ephesus, in the valley of the River Lycus, near where it joins the Maeander, there once stood three important cities - Laodicaea, Hierapolis and Colosse. Originally they had been Phrygian cities, but now they were part of the Roman province of Asia. They stood almost within sight of each other. Hierapolis and Laodicaea stood on either side of the valley with the River Lycus flowing between, only six miles apart and in full view of each other; Colosse straddled the river twelve miles further up. The Lycus Valley had two remarkable characteristics. (i) It was notorious for earthquakes. The Greek geographer Strabo describes it by the curious adjective euseistos, which in English means good for earthquakes. More than once, Laodicaea had been destroyed by an earthquake; but it was a city so rich and so independent that it had risen from the ruins without the financial help which the Roman government had offered. As the John who wrote the Revelation was to say of Laodicaea, in its own eyes it was rich and had need of nothing (Revelation 3:17). (2) The waters of the River Lycus and of its tributaries were impregnated with chalk. This chalk accumulated, and all over the countryside the most amazing natural formations built up. The biblical scholar J. B. Lightfoot writes of that area: `Ancient monuments are buried; fertile land is overlaid; river beds choked up and streams diverted; fantastic grottoes and cascades and archways of stone are formed, by this strange, capricious power, at once destructive and creative, working silently throughout the ages. Fatal to vegetation, these encrustations spread like a stony shroud over the ground. Gleaming like glaciers on the hillside, they attract the eye of the traveller at a distance of twenty miles, and form a singularly striking feature in scenery of more than common beauty and impressiveness.' A Wealthy Area In spite of these things, this was a wealthy area and famous for two closely related trades. Volcanic ground is always fertile, and what was not covered by the chalky encrustations was magnificent pasture land. On these pastures, there were large flocks of sheep; and the area was perhaps the greatest centre of the woollen industry in the world. Laodicaea was especially famous for the production of garments of the finest quality. The other trade was dyeing. There was some quality in those chalky waters which made them particularly suitable for dyeing cloth, and Colosse was so famous for this trade that a certain dye was named after it. So, these three cities stood in a district of considerable geographical interest and of great commercial prosperity.

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

  We may, however, take spiritual fruit in another sense, in likeness to material fruit, inasmuch as material fruit is a profit expected from the labor of husbandry: so that we call fruit that reward which man acquires from his labor in this life: and thus every reward which by our labors we shall acquire for the future life is called a “fruit.” In this sense fruit is taken (Rom. 6:22): “You have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting.” Yet neither in this sense do we speak of fruit now, but we are treating of fruit as being the product of seed: for it is in this sense that our Lord speaks of fruit (Mat. 13:23), where He divides fruit into thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold. Now fruit is the product of seed in so far as the seed power is capable of transforming the humors of the soil into its own nature; and the more efficient this power, and the better prepared the soil, the more plentiful fruit will result. Now the spiritual seed which is sown in us is the Word of God: wherefore the more a person is transformed into a spiritual nature by withdrawing from carnal things, the greater is the fruit of the Word in him. Accordingly the fruit of the Word of God differs from the aurea and the aureole, in that the “aurea” consists in the joy one has in God, and the “aureole” in the joy one has in the perfection of one’s works, whereas the “fruit” consists in the joy that the worker has in his own disposition as to his degree of spirituality to which he has attained through the seed of God’s Word. Some, however, distinguish between aureole and fruit, by saying that the aureole is due to the fighter, according to 2 Tim. 2:5, “He . . . shall not be crowned, except he strive lawfully”; whereas the fruit is due to the laborer, according to the saying of Wis. 3:15, “The fruit of good labors is glorious.” Others again say that the “aurea” regards conversion to God, while the “aureole” and the “fruit” regard things directed to the end; yet so that the fruit regards the will rather, and the aureole the body. Since, however, labor and strife are in the same subject and about the same matter, and since the body’s reward depends on the soul’s, these explanations of the difference between fruit, aurea and aureole would only imply a logical difference: and this cannot be, since fruit is assigned to some to whom no aureole is assigned.

• From White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America (2016)

  In Humphrey’s opinion, the “Joe Doakses,” or average viewers, got to see a bunch of “ragged hill people,” who were “obviously . . . inferior,” outsmarting equally undeserving “big shots.” Theirs was, in short, a contest between “snobs” and “slobs.” As far as the critic was concerned, the show’s creator had come up with a formula that camouflaged class conflict with laughs. Finally, he joked, the class-bashing TV series “cashes in on Groucho Marx’s theory of class struggle —or was that Karl Marx?” 14 • • • In the face of social upheaval, as so many old boundaries and prejudices shifted, Americans generally denied what they remained: highly class conscious. The interconnected civil rights movement and culture wars of the fifties and sixties were marked by social stratification. As ownership of a home in the suburbs came to represent the American dream, the most controversial housing option was, significantly, the trailer park. Segregation, then, was more than simply a racial issue. Zoning laws made it inevitable that housing would adhere to a class- delineated geography. The working class had its bowling alleys and diners, and “white trash” its trailer park slums, both of which contrasted sharply with the backyard barbecues of all-white neighborhoods in favored suburbs, zoned for the middle class. We forget that President Johnson’s Great Society programs targeted both urban ghettos and impoverished white areas of Appalachia. Vietnam has been referred to as the living-room war, yet on their black-and- white television sets in 1957, Americans had already watched a racial and class war, as angry poor whites screamed curses at well-mannered black students as they tried to enter Little Rock’s Central High School. It is for reasons such as these that the poor country boy Elvis symbolized a lot of things for the generation that came of age in the fifties. While whitening African American music and challenging conservative sexual mores, he retained a social identity that was close to the story line of The Beverly Hillbillies. Here was a son of a white sharecropper, suddenly catapulted to a place of wealth and fame; he purchased Graceland, a mansion in Memphis, where he lived with his parents. For his beloved mother he bought a pink Cadillac, and to make the house truly a home she could appreciate, he built her a chicken coop in the backyard.

• From Speak, Memory (1966)

  At first—when I was, say, eight or nine—I seldom roamed farther than the fields and woods between Vyra and Batovo. Later, when aiming at a particular spot half-a-dozen miles or more distant, I would use a bicycle to get there with my net strapped to the frame; but not many forest paths were passable on wheels; it was possible to ride there on horseback, of course, but, because of our ferocious Russian tabanids, one could not leave a horse haltered in a wood for any length of time: my spirited bay almost climbed up the tree it was tied to one day trying to elude them: big fellows with watered-silk eyes and tiger bodies, and gray little runts with an even more painful proboscis, but much more sluggish: to dispatch two or three of these dingy tipplers with one crush of the gloved hand as they glued themselves to the neck of my mount afforded me a wonderful empathic relief (which a dipterist might not appreciate). Anyway, on my butterfly hunts I always preferred hiking to any other form of locomotion (except, naturally, a flying seat gliding leisurely over the plant mats and rocks of an unexplored mountain, or hovering just above the flowery roof of a rain forest); for when you walk, especially in a region you have studied well, there is an exquisite pleasure in departing from one’s itinerary to visit, here and there by the wayside, this glade, that glen, this or that combination of soil and flora—to drop in, as it were, on a familiar butterfly in his particular habitat, in order to see if he has emerged, and if so, how he is doing. There came a July day—around 1910, I suppose—when I felt the urge to explore the vast marshland beyond the Oredezh. After skirting the river for three or four miles, I found a rickety footbridge. While crossing over, I could see the huts of a hamlet on my left, apple trees, rows of tawny pine logs lying on a green bank, and the bright patches made on the turf by the scattered clothes of peasant girls, who, stark naked in shallow water, romped and yelled, heeding me as little as if I were the discarnate carrier of my present reminiscences. On the other side of the river, a dense crowd of small, bright blue male butterflies that had been tippling on the rich, trampled mud and cow dung through which I trudged rose all together into the spangled air and settled again as soon as I had passed.

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

  c. The spiritual meaning of the praise of wine in Scripture is the joy that comes to the soul by the Blood of the Lamb, drunk according to the measure of faith. Jesus is to us a cluster of grapes, when with His Blood we drink in the sweetness of spiritual joy, which gives us forgetfulness of all the sorrow of life. 3. The Blood of Jesus is the most holy mystery of the Church; for it is that holy thing, that secret thing, in which the great power of God is hidden. In this way it has three supernatural effects: a, it routs the devils; b, it draws down grace; c, it keeps us in holiness of life till it brings us to life everlasting. a. When God saw the blood on the doors of Israel in Egypt He would not suffer the destroyer to enter. So is it with the faithful soul. St. John Chrysostom says, ‘This Blood drives away the devils and keeps them far off.’ As the elephants at Bethzacharam were made to fight by the blood of grapes and mulberries, so Christian souls defeat and crush their spiritual enemies by the Blood of our Lord. b. We have come to the Blood which speaketh better things than that of Abel; for the blood of Abel calls to God for vengeance, whereas the Blood of Jesus demands grace by right and brings it to us. St. Bernard says, ‘O Blood of Christ, worthy of the highest reverence: on the Altar, our drink; on the Cross, our ransom; in heaven, our advocate with the Father.’ c. This Blood is our eternal life. The philosopher says, ‘Corruption and old age are nothing but littleness of blood. When the body is without it then the body corrupts. Hence many die for want of blood.’ As therefore the life of the body is in the blood, so the preservation of the life of the spirit is in the Blood of Jesus. In that Blood also is our security for being brought to the deathless life of Heaven. The Voice of the Holy Ghost (3) About the usefulness of the Blood of Jesus; He that.… drinketh My Blood hath everlasting life. St. John 6:55. He struck the rock and the waters gushed out, and the stream overflowed. Ps. 77:20. 1. Living water; a. It moistens; I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land. I will pour out My Spirit on thy seed, and My blessing on thy stock; and they shall spring up among the herbs, and as willows beside the running waters. Is. 44:3, 4. Not so the wicked, not so; but they shall be like the dust which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. Ps. 1:4. The people were scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather straw. Ex. 5:12.

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

  Rebuke me not, O Lord, in Thy indignation; nor chasten me in Thy wrath. For Thy arrows are fastened in me; and Thy hand hath been strong upon me. Ps. 37:2, 3. Now, saith the Lord that made thee, O Jacob, and formed thee, O Israel: fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and called thee by thy name: thou art Mine. When thou shalt pass through the waters I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee: when thou shalt walk in the fire thou shalt not be burnt, and the flames shall not kindle in thee; for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. Isa. 43:1–3. The flame mounted up above the furnace nine- and-forty cubits; and it broke forth and burnt such of the Chaldæans as were near the furnace. But the Angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace; and he drove the flame of the fire out of the furnace, and made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew. And the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them, nor did them any harm. Then these three, as with one mouth, praised and glorified and blessed God in the furnace. Dan. 3:47–51. You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall sing praise before you, and all the trees of the country shall clap their hands. Isa. 55:12. 3. Increase of glory; The breast also that is offered … you shall eat in a most clean place, thou and thy sons and thy daughters with thee. Lev. 10:14. (3) The Sacrament of Love; Great is the mystery of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the Spirit, appeared unto Angels, hath been preached to the Gentiles, is believed in the world, is taken up in glory. 1 St. Tim. 3:16. 1. Partaking of the Spirit; He filled them with honey out of the rock. Ps. 80:17. O, how good and sweet is Thy Spirit, O Lord, in all things. Wisd. 12:1. By Him we have access in one Spirit to the Father, … in whom you also are built together into a habitation of God in the Spirit. Eph. 2:18, 22. 2. The indwelling of Jesus; He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me, and I in him. St. John 6:56. Abide in Me, and I in you. St. John 15:4. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. St. John 1:14. (3) The likeness of God; To as many as received Him He gave power to be made the sons of God. St. John 1:12.

• From The Selected Works of Audre Lorde

  There are some occasions in life too special to dissect, not only because they are everything they are supposed to be, but because they are also a sum of unexpected fantasies and deep satisfactions all come together at one point in time. Tonight the students of the Hunter College Women’s Poetry Center Club and the Returning Woman Newsletter dedicated the Audre Lorde Women’s Poetry Center. Walking into that hall, even thirty minutes late, was the beginning of exactly that kind of evening, and nothing I nor anyone else will ever do can lessen its meaning for me. Whatever happens to me, there has been a coming together in time and space of some of my best efforts, hopes, and desires. There is a tangible possibility to be built upon and strong young women committed to doing it. I wish them the power of their vision for what this center can be in their lives and in the life of a community of women’s culture in this city, the vision of a living women’s poetry as a force for social change. This evening brought together four of my deepest and longest-lasting interests—poetry, beautiful women, revolution, and me! No matter what I find out in Switzerland, no matter what’s going on in my body, this is my work. The recognition of it, the sweet strength and love in the faces tonight make me know how much what I do has meant to these women who are arming themselves to walk in places I’ve only dreamed of, and in their own step and as their own mistresses.

• From Heptaméron (1559)

  his angel Raphael, as of old to Tobias, to enable me to find a spouse for your daughter. I have in my house the most respectable young gentleman in Italy, who has seen your daughter, and is deeply in love with her. When I was to-day at prayer, God sent him to me, and he declared how much he longs for this marriage ; and I, knowing his family and his relations, and that he comes of a notable race, promised to speak to you on the subject. I know of but one inconvenience attending this match, which is, that wishing to save one of his friends whom another man would have slain, he drew his sword to part them , but it happened that his friend killed the other, in consequence of which, though he never struck a stroke, he is nevertheless a fugitive, be- cause he was present at the murder, and had drawn his sword. His parents have advised him to retire to this city, where he wears the dress of a student, and where he will remain incognito until this affair of his is ar- ranged, which it is hoped it will be before long. You see, consequently, that it would be necessary for the marriage to be secret, and that you should not object to his going every day to the public lectures, and coming home in the evening to sup and sleep in your house." " I see a great advantage to myself in what you tell me, sir," said the mother ; " for at least I shall have by me what I desire most in the world." The Cordelier produced the gallant in very good trim, and v^ith a handsome doublet of crimson satin. He was so well received that the betrothal took place without more delay, and midnight had no sooner struck than mass was said, they were wedded and bedded, and remained together until daybreak, when the bridegroom said to his bride that, in order to maintain his incognito, he was obliged to leave her and go to the college. After 454 ^^^^ HEPTAMERON OF THE {Novel 56. putting on his crimson satin doublet and his long robe, not forgetting his black silk coif, he took leave of his wife, who was still in bed, and assured her that every evening he would come and sup with her, l^ut that she must not expect him at dinner. Thereupon he went away, and left his wife the happiest woman in the world in her own esteem, for having met with so excellent a match. Away went the young Cordelier to the old father, and handed over the five hundred ducats, accord- ing to their previous agreement, and in the evening he returned to her who regarded him as her husband ; nor did he fail to make himself so beloved by her and by his mother-in-law that they would not have exchanged him for the greatest prince in the world.

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

  AUGUSTINE. (Lib. 83 Quæst. q. 59.) Or, The lamps which they carry in their hands are their works, of which it was said above, Let your works shine before men. (Mat. 5:16.) ORIGEN. They that believe rightly, and live righteously, are likened to the five wise; they that profess the faith of Jesus, but prepare themselves not by good works to salvation, are likened to the five foolish. JEROME. For there are five senses which hasten towards heavenly things, and seek after things above. Of sight, hearing, and touch, it is specially said, That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled. (1 John 1:1.) Of taste, Taste and see that the Lord is good. (Ps. 34:8.) Of smell, Because of the savour of thy good ointments. (Sol. Song, 1:3.) There are also other five senses which gape after earthly husks. AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Or, by the five virgins, is denoted a five-fold continence from the allurements of the flesh; for our appetite must be held from gratification of the eyes, ears, smell, taste, and touch. And as this continence may be done before God, to please Him in inward joy of the conscience, or before men only to gain applause of men, five are called wise, and five foolish. Both are virgins, because both these men exercise continence, though from different motives. ORIGEN. And because the virtues are so linked together, that he who has one has all, so all the senses so follow one another, that all must be wise, or all foolish. HILARY. Or, The five wise and five foolish are an absolute distinction between believers and unbelievers. GREGORY. (ubi sup.) It is to be observed, that all have lamps, but all have not oil. HILARY. The oil is the fruit of good works, the vessels are the human bodies in whose inward parts the treasure of a good conscience is to be laid up. JEROME. The virgins that have oil are they who, besides their faith, have the ornament of good works; they that have not oil, are they that seem to confess with like faith, but neglect the works of virtue. AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Or, The oil denotes joy, according to that, God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness. (Ps. 45:7.) He then whose joy springs not from this that he is inwardly pleasing to God, has no oil with him; for they have no gladness in their continent lives, save in the praises of men. But the wise took oil with their lamps, that is, the gladness of good works, in their vessels, that is, they stored it in their heart and conscience, as the Apostle speaks, Let every man prove himself, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself, and not in another. (Gal. 6:4.)

• From Barclay's Guide to the New Testament (2008)

  Second John comes to an end: `Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete' (verse 12). Third John comes to an end: `I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face' (verses 13-14). There is the closest possible similarity between the two letters. There is further the closest possible connection between the situation of these letters and that in i John. In i John 4:3, we read: `Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world.' In 2 John 7, we read: `Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is a deceiver and the antichrist.' It is clear that 2 and 3 John are closely connected with each other, and that both are closely connected with i John. They are dealing with the same situation, the same dangers and the same people. The Problem of the Second Letter These two little letters confront us with few serious problems. The only real one is to decide whether the Second Letter was sent to an individual or to a church. It begins: `The elder to the elect lady and her children.' The problem centres on this phrase the elect lady. The Greek is eklekte kuria, and there are three possible ways of taking it. (i) It is just possible, though not really likely, that Eklekte is a proper name and that kuria is a quite usual affectionate address. Kurios (the masculine form) has many meanings. It very commonly means sir; it means master of slaves and owner of possessions; on a much higher level, it means lord and is the word so often used as a title for Jesus. In letters, kurios has a special use. It is practically the equivalent of the English phrase My Dear. So, a soldier writes home, saying: Kurie mou pater, My Dear Father. In letters, kurios is an address combining affection and respect. It is therefore just possible that this letter is addressed to My Dear Eklekte. The biblical scholar Rendel Harris, indeed, went to the lengths of saying that 2 John is nothing other than a Christian love letter. This is unlikely, as we shall see, for more than one reason.

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

  (3) As the Eucharist, that is, good grace, our Lord’s Body has three effects; for grace, as the Doctors say, is the influx of the Divine goodness into the soul, by which it is made like God, pleasing to Him, and worthy of eternal life. So the Body of Jesus makes the soul: 1, like God; 2, dear to God; 3, gives it life with God for ever. 1. It makes us partakers of the Divine Nature: that is, like God by true goodness. 2. The soul, fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus, is made very beautiful, and therefore very dear to God. 3. By this Body of God, sacramentally or spiritually received, we are raised at the last day and brought safely to Heaven. The Voice of the Holy Ghost (1) About the medicine of the soul; The Most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them. Ecclus. 38:4. 1. It lightens our darkness; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed. Ps. 131:17. My eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel. St. Luke 2:30–32. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; to them that dwelt in the valley of the shadow of death light is risen. Is. 9:2. The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? Ps. 26:1. Come ye to Him and be enlightened. Ps. 33:6. Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten thee. Eph. 5:14. 2. It heals bad desires; Isaias had ordered that they should take a lump of figs and lay it as a plaster upon the wound, and that he (Ezechias) should be healed. Is. 38:21. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. Ps. 6:3. 3. It destroys death; Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, and she cried with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. St. Luke 1:41, 42. O death, I will be thy death. Osee 13:14. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her. Prov. 3:18. (2) The Manna; To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna. Apoc. 2:17. This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven. St. John 6:50. The taste thereof was like to flour with honey. Ex. 16:31. Thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil. Ezech. 16:13. By the fruit of their corn and wine and oil they are multiplied. Ps. 4:8. 1. Uprightness; What is the good thing of Him, and what is the beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect? Zach. 9:17.

• From The Selected Works of Audre Lorde

  I listened tonight to these young poets, particularly the women of Color, reading their work, and it was wonderful for me to know that the real power of my words is not the pieces of me that reside within those words, but the life force—the energy and aspirations and desires at the complex core of each one of these women—which has been aroused to use and to answer my words. Gloria, Johnnetta, and I—three of the founding mothers of the Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South Africa—within that precious space where we sit down together in my intricate life. The young poets shining like gold fire in the sun, their many-colored faces awash with pride and determination and love. Beth and Yolanda, daughter and old friend, my words coming out of their mouths illuminated exactly by who they are themselves, so different from each other and from me. The revelation of hearing my work translated through the beings of these women I love so dearly. Frances, smiling like a sunflower and really there; my sister Helen looking pleased and a part of it all; and Mabel Hampton, tough and snappy and hanging in, all eighty-three years of her! Charlotte’s* generous perfume, and I remember the sureness in her voice once, saying, “Well, we did what we had to do, and I think we changed the world!” Alexis† and her twinkling eyes, Clare’s‡ warm graciousness. And Blanchie,§ resplendent and cheeky in her tuxedo, orchestrating it all with her particular special flair, mistress of ceremonies to quite a party! December 15, 1985 Arlesheim, Switzerland So here I am at the Lukas Klinik while my body decides if it will live or die. I’m going to fight like hell to make it live, and this looks like the most promising possibility. At least it’s something different from narcotics and other terminal aids, which is all Dr. C. had to offer me in New York City in lieu of surgery when I told her how badly I hurt in my middle. “Almost everything I eat now makes me sick,” I told her. “Yes, I know,” she said sorrowfully, writing me a prescription for codeine and looking at me as if there was nothing left she could do for me besides commiserate. Even though I like her very much, I wanted to punch her in her mouth. I have found something interesting in a book here on active meditation as a form of self-control. There are six steps: 1.​Control of Thought Think of a small object (i.e., a paper clip) for five minutes, exclusively. Practice for a month. 2.​Control of Action Perform a small act every day at the same time. Practice, and be patient. 3.​Control of Feeling (equanimity) Become aware of feelings and introduce equanimity into experiencing them—i.e., be afraid, not panic-stricken. (They’re big on this one around here.) 4.​Positivity (tolerance) Refrain from critical downgrading thoughts that sap energy from good work.

• From Barclay's Guide to the New Testament (2008)

  It is at this point that the problem of Philippians arises. At 3:2, there is an extraordinary break in the letter. Up to 3: i , everything is serenity, and the letter seems to be drawing gently to its close; then without warning comes the outburst: `Beware of dogs; beware of the evil workers; beware of the mutilation of the flesh.' There is no connection with what goes before. Further, 3:1 looks like the end. `Finally, my brothers and sisters,' says Paul, `rejoice in the Lord' - and, having said finally, he begins all over again! (That, of course, is not an unknown phenomenon in preaching.) Because of this break, many scholars think that Philippians, as we possess it, is not one letter but two letters put together. They regard 3:2-4:3 as a letter of thanks and warning sent quite early after the arrival of Epaphroditus in Rome; and they regard 1:1-3:1 and 4:4-23 as a letter written a good deal later, and sent with Epaphroditus when he had to go home. That is perfectly possible. We know that Paul almost certainly did, in fact, write more than one letter to Philippi; for Polycarp, the second-century Bishop of Smyrna, in his letter to the Philippian church, says of him: `when he was absent he wrote letters to you'. The Explanation And yet it seems to us that there is no good reason for splitting this letter into two. The sudden break between 3:1 and 3:2 can be otherwise explained in one of two ways. (i) As Paul was writing, fresh news may have come of trouble at Philippi; and there and then he may have interrupted his line of thought to deal with it. (2) The simplest explanation is this. Philippians is a personal letter, and a personal letter is never logically ordered like the argument of a thesis. In such a letter, we put things down as they come into our heads; we chat on paper with our friends; and an association of ideas which may be clear enough to us may not be so obvious to anyone else. The sudden change of subject here is just the kind of thing which might occur in any such letter. The Lovely Letter For many of us, Philippians is the loveliest letter Paul ever wrote. It has been called by two titles. It has been called the Epistle of Excellent Things - and so indeed it is; and it has been called the Epistle of Joy. The words joy and rejoice are used again and again. `Rejoice,' writes Paul, `again I will say rejoice', even in prison directing the hearts of his friends - and ours - to the joy that no one can take from us. 12Colossians Resisting a Great HeresyThe Towns of the Lycus Valley