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

  State, local, and national media outlets were crowded outside the courthouse when I arrived the next morning. Dozens of Walter’s family members and friends from the community were there to greet him when he came out. They had made signs and banners, which surprised me. They were such simple gestures, but I found myself deeply moved. The signs gave a silent voice to the crowd: “Welcome Home, Johnny D,” “God Never Fails,” “Free at Last, Thank God Almighty, We Are Free at Last.” I went down to the jail and brought Walter his suit. I told him that a celebration was planned at his house after the hearing. The prison had not allowed Walter to bring his possessions to the courthouse, refusing to acknowledge that he might be released, so we would have to go back to Holman Prison to get his things before the homecoming at his house. I also told him that I’d reserved a hotel room for him in Montgomery and that it would probably be safest to spend the next few nights there. I reluctantly talked to him about my conversation with Minnie. He seemed surprised and hurt but didn’t linger on it. “This is a really happy day for me. Nothing can really spoil getting your freedom back.” “Well, y’all should talk at some point,” I urged. I went upstairs to find Tommy Chapman waiting for me in the courtroom. “After we’re done, I’d like to shake his hand,” he told me. “Would that be all right?” “I think he’d appreciate that.” “This case has taught me things I didn’t even know I had to learn.” “We’ve all learned a lot, Tommy.” There were deputy sheriffs everywhere. When Bernard arrived, we consulted briefly at the counsel table before a bailiff asked us to go back to the judge’s chambers. Judge Norton had retired weeks before the ruling from the Court of Criminal Appeals. The new judge, Pamela Baschab, greeted me warmly. We made small talk and then discussed what would happen during the hearing. Everyone was strangely pleasant. “Mr. Stevenson, if you’ll just present the motion and provide a brief summary, I don’t need any arguments or statements, I intend to grant the motion immediately so you all can get home. We can get this done quickly.” We went into the courtroom. There seemed to be more black deputies in the courtroom for this hearing than I’d ever seen in my appearances in that courthouse. There was no metal detector, no menacing dog. The courtroom was packed with Walter’s family members and supporters. There were more cheering black folks outside the courthouse who couldn’t get in. A horde of television cameras and journalists spilled out of the crowded courtroom.

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

  ORIGEN. But the attentive reader will ask, How then does the Saviour say, I came not to send peace on the earth, whereas now the Angels’ song of His birth is, On earth peace to men? It is answered, that peace is said to be to men of goodwill. For the peace which the Lord does not give on the earth is not the peace of good will. AUGUSTINE. (13. de Trin. cap. 13) For righteousness belongs to good will. CHRYSOSTOM. Behold the wonderful working of God. He first brings Angels down to men, and then brings men up to heaven. The heaven became earth, when it was about to receive earthly things. ORIGEN. But in a mystery, the Angels saw that they could not accomplish the work committed to them without Him Who was truly able to save, and that their healing fell short of what the care of men required. And so it was as if there should come one who had great knowledge in medicine, and those who before were unable to heal, acknowledging now the hand of a master, grudge not to see the corruptions of wounds ceasing, but break forth into the praises of the Physician, and of that God who sent to them and to the sick a man of such knowledge; the multitudes of the Angels praised God for the coming of Christ. 2:15–2015. And it came pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16. And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Geometer.) The shepherds were filled with astonishment at the things that they saw and heard, and so they left their sheep-folds, and set out by night to Bethlehem, seeking for the light of the Saviour; and therefore it is said, They spoke one to another, &c. BEDE. As men who were truly watching, they said not, Let us see (the child; but) the word which has come to pass, i. e. the Word which was from the beginning, let us see how it has been made flesh for us. since this very Word is the Lord. For it follows, Which the Lord hath made, and has shewn to us; i. e. Let us see how the Lord hath made Himself, and hath shewn His flesh to us.

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

  CHRYSOSTOM. Christ indeed had already manifested Himself at His birth by many oracles, but because men would not consult them, He who had in the mean time remained secret, again more clearly revealed Himself in a second birth. For formerly a star in the heavens, now the Father at the waves of Jordan declared Him, and as the Spirit descended upon Him, pouring forth that voice over the head of Him who was baptized, as it follows, And a voice came from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son. AMBROSE. We have seen the Spirit, but in a bodily shape, and the Father whom we cannot see we may hear. He is invisible because He is the Father, the Son also is invisible in His divinity, but He wished to manifest Himself in the body. And because the Father did not take the body, He wished therefore to prove to us that He was present in the Son, by saying, Thou art my Son. ATHANASIUS. (De Dec. Nic. Syn.) The holy Scriptures by the name of Son set forth two meanings; one similar to that spoken of in the Gospel, He gave to them power that they should become the sons of God; another according to which Isaac is the son of Abraham. Christ is not then simply called a Son of God, but the article is prefixed, that we should understand that He alone is really and by nature the Son; and hence He is said to be the Only begotten. For if according to the madness of Arius He is called Son, as they are called who obtain the name through grace, He will seem in no way to differ from us. It remains therefore that in another respect we must confess Christ to be the Son of God, even as Isaac is acknowledged to be the son of Abraham. For that which is naturally begotten of another, and takes not its origin from any thing besides nature, accounts a son. But it is said, Was then the birth of the Son with suffering as of a man? By no means. God since He cannot be divided is without suffering the Father of the Son. Hence He is called the Word of the Father, because neither is the word of man even produced with suffering, and since God is by nature one, He is the Father of one only Son, and therefore it is added, Beloved. For when a man has only one son, he loves him very much, but if he becomes father of many, his affection is divided by being distributed. ATHANASIUS. But as the prophet had before announced the promise of God, saying, I will send Christ my son, that promise being now as it were accomplished at Jordan, He rightly adds, In thee I am well pleased. BEDE. As if He said, In Thee have I appointed My good pleasure, i. e. to carry on by Thee what seems good to Me.

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

  Likewise, such happiness is not found in that activity of the human intellect whereby the soul reflects on itself. There are two reasons for this. In the first place the soul, considered in its own nature, is not beatified. Otherwise it would not have to labor for the attainment of beatitude. Therefore it does not acquire beatitude from the mere contemplation of itself. In the second place, happiness is the ultimate perfection of man, as was stated above. Since the perfection of the soul consists in its proper activity, its ultimate perfection is to be looked for on the plane of its best activity, and this is determined by its best object, for activities are specified according to their objects. But the soul is not the best object to which its activity can tend. For it is aware that something exists that is better than itself. Hence man’s ultimate beatitude cannot consist in the activity whereby he makes himself or any of the other higher substances the object of his intellection, as long as there is something better to which the action of the human soul can turn. Man’s activity may extend to any good whatever, for the universal good is what man desires, since he apprehends universal good with his intellect. Therefore, whatever may be the degree to which goodness extends, the action of the human intellect, and hence also of the will, reaches out toward it in some way. But good is found supremely in God, who is good by His very essence, and is the source of every good. Consequently man’s ultimate perfection and final good consist in union with God, according to Psalm 72:28: “It is good for me to adhere to my God.” This truth is clearly perceived if we examine the way other things participate in being. Individual men all truly receive the predication “man,” because they share in the very essence of the species. None of them is said to be a man on the ground that he shares in the likeness of some other man, but only because he shares in the essence of the species. This is so even though one man brings another to such participation by way of generation, as a father does with regard to his son. Now beatitude or happiness is nothing else than perfect good. Therefore all who share in beatitude can be happy only by participation in the divine beatitude, which is man’s essential goodness, even though one man may be helped by another in his progress toward beatitude. This is why Augustine says in his book, De vera religione, that we are beatified, not by beholding the angels, but by seeing the Truth in which we love the angels and are happy along with thein [LV, 110].

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

  II. On the second head it is to be noted, that to those who in these things imitate Abraham, the Lord makes seven great promises which he made to Abraham. (1) He promised to him that He would give him His blessing. (2) That He would exalt him. (3) That He would humble his enemies. (4) That He would honour him among all nations. Of these four, Gen. 12:2, 3. “I will bless thee;” mark the first. “And make thy name great;” mark the second. “I will curse him that curseth thee;” mark the third. “And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed;” mark the fourth. (5) That God would protect him in all things. (6) That He Himself would be to him as a reward. Of these two, Gen. 15:1, “The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield;” mark the first. “And thy exceeding great reward;” mark the second. (7) That God would give to him a land flowing with milk and honey, Gen. 13:15–17, “The Lord said unto Abram, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” III. On the third head it is to be noted, that the Lord gives seven good things to those who imitate Abraham. (1) He blesses them, Ephes. 1:3, “Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (2) He glorifies them, Rom. 8:30, “Whom He justified them also He glorified.” (3) He humbles their enemies, Psalm 132:14, “Turned my hand against their adversaries.” (4) He protects them, Psalm 91:14, “Because He hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high because he hath known My name.” (5) He honours them, Psalm 139:17, “How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God” [friends, Vulg.] (6) God Himself gives Himself to them for a reward, He who will be all in all, He who will be salvation, life, honour, glory, peace, joy, and all good things. (7) He gives to them the land flowing with milk and honey, that is the kingdom of heaven, the joy of the humanity and divinity making joyful. S. Matt. 25:34, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” To which kingdom may we be brought, &c. HOMILY XXVI THE SINNER SUCCOURED THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.—(FROM THE GOSPEL)“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”—S. Luke 10:30.

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

  III. On the third head it is to be noted, that the Lord makes a three-fold translation of the holy ones. (1) He translates them from the darkness of exile to the light of the vision of His glory: “Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated,” Ecclus. 44:6. Into paradise, which is the place furnishing the vision of God which is the blessedness of saints and angels. “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom thou hast sent.” (2) He translates them from death to eternal life: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren,” 1 S. John 3:14. (3) He translates them from this wretched state to the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom: “Unto the kingdom of His dear Son,” &c. HOMILY XLVIII TRUE REPENTANCE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.—(FROM THE GOSPEL)“And, behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind Him, and touched the hem of His garment,” &c.—S. Matt. 9:20. MORALLY, three things are to observed of this miracle. Firstly, a wretchedness of the sinning mind: “Behold, a woman which was diseased.” Secondly, the humility of the sinning one: “Came behind Him and touched the hem of His garment.” Thirdly, the profit of repentance: “Daughter, be of good comfort.” I. On the first head it is to be noted, that in three ways the sinner suffers from “an issue of blood.” (1) Through an excessive love of kindred: “Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money.… Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest,” Micah 3:9, 11, 12. (2) Through an issue, the flowing of carnal delights: “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness [bloods], O God, thou God of my salvation,” Ps. 51:14. (3) Through the workings of any sin, no matter what: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn,” Hos. 4:1–3.

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

  2. Life is attributed to beings inasmuch as they appear to move of themselves, and not to be moved by another. Therefore things that seem to move of themselves, the moving powers of which the vulgar do not perceive, are figuratively said to live, as we speak of the living’ (running) water of a flowing stream, but not so of a cistern or stagnant pool; and we call quicksilver’ that which seems to have a motion of its own. This is mere popular speech, for properly those things alone move of themselves, which do so by virtue of their composition of a moving force and matter moved, as things with souls; hence these alone are properly said to live: all other things are moved by some external force, a generating force, or a force removing an obstacle, or a force of impact. And because sensible activities are attended with movement, by a further step everything that determines itself to its own modes of activity, even though unattended with movement, is said to live; hence to understand and desire and feel are vital actions. But God, of all beings, is determined to activity by none other than Himself, as He is prime agent and first cause; to Him therefore, of all beings, does it belong to live. 3. The divine being contains the perfection of all being (Chap.XXVIII). But living is perfect being; hence animate things in the scale of being take precedence of inanimate. With God then to be is to live. This too is confirmed by authority of divine Scripture: I will raise to heaven my hand, and swear by my right hand, and say: I live for ever (Deut. xxxii, 40): My heart and my flesh) have rejoiced in the living God (Ps. lxxiii, 3). CHAPTER XCVIII THAT GOD IS HIS OWN LIFEIN living things, to live is to be: for a living thing is said to be alive inasmuch as it has a soul; and by that soul, as by its own proper form, it has being: living in fact is nothing else than living being, arising out of a living form. But, in God, Himself is His own being (Chap.XXII): Himself therefore is His own life. 2. To understand is to live: but God is His own act of understanding (Chap.XLV). 3. If God is living, there must be life in Him. If then He is not His own life, there will be something in Him that is not Himself, and thus He will be compound,—a rejected conclusion (Chap.XVIII). And this is the text: I am life (John xiv, 6). CHAPTER XCIX THAT THE LIFE OF GOD IS EVERLASTINGIT is impossible for God to cease to live, since Himself He is His own life (Chap.XCVIII).

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

  Christ manifested the glory of His risen nature when He came among them, “the doors being shut” (John 20:26), and when “He vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:31). For the glory of risen man gives him the power to be seen in glorious vision when he wishes, or not to be seen when he so wishes. The reason why Christ demonstrated the truth of His resurrection and the glory of His risen body by so many proofs, was the difficulty that faith in the resurrection presents. If He had displayed the extraordinary condition of His glorified body in its full splendor, He would have engendered prejudice against faith in the resurrection: the very immensity of its glory would have excluded belief that it was the same nature. Further, He manifested the truth not only by visible signs, but also by proofs appealing to the intellect, as when “He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45), and showed that according to the writings of the prophets He was to rise again. CHAPTER 239 THE TWOFOLD LIFE RESTORED IN MAN BY CHRISTAs Christ destroyed our death by His death, so He restored our life by His resurrection. Man has a twofold death and a twofold life. The first death is the death of the body, brought about by separation from the soul; the second death is brought about by separation from God. Christ, in whom the second death had no place, destroyed both of these deaths in us, that is, the bodily and the spiritual, by the first death He underwent, namely, that of the body. Similarly, opposed to this twofold death, we are to understand that there is a twofold life. One is a life of the body, imparted by the soul, and this is called the life of nature. The other comes from God, and is called the life of justice or the life of grace. This life is given to us through faith, by which God dwells in us, according to Habakkuk 2:4: “The just shall live in his faith.” Accordingly, resurrection is also twofold: one is a bodily resurrection, in which the soul is united to the body for the second time; the other is a spiritual resurrection, in which the soul is again united to God. This second resurrection had no place in Christ, because His soul was never separated from God by sin. By His bodily resurrection, therefore, Christ is the cause of both the bodily and the spiritual resurrection in us.

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

  THAT BY THE SIGHT OF GOD ONE IS PARTAKER OF LIFE EVERLASTINGETERNITY differs from time in this, that time has being in succession, but the being of eternity is all present together. But in the sight of God there is no succession: all things that are seen in that vision are seen at one glance. That vision therefore is accomplished in a certain participation of eternity. That vision also is a certain life: for activity of intellect is a life. Therefore by that sight the created intelligence is partaker of life everlasting. 4. The intellectual soul is created on the confines of eternity and time: because it is last in order of intelligences, and yet its substance is raised above corporeal matter, being independent of the same. But its action, inasmuch as it touches inferior things that are in time, is temporal. Therefore, inasmuch as it touches superior things that are above time, its action partakes of eternity. Such is especially the vision whereby it sees the divine substance. Therefore by such vision it enters into participation of eternity, and sees God in the same way as any other created intelligence. Hence the Lord says: This is life everlasting, to know thee the only true God (John xvii, 3). CHAPTER LXII THAT THEY WHO SEE GOD WILL SEE HIM FOR EVERWHATEVER now is, and now is not, is measured by time. But the vision that makes the happiness of intellectual creatures is not in time, but in eternity (Chap.LXI). It is impossible therefore that from the moment one becomes partaker of it he should ever lose it. 2. An intelligent creature does not arrive at its last end except when its natural desire is set at rest. But as it naturally desires happiness, so it naturally desires perpetuity of happiness: for, being perpetual in its substance, whatever thing it desires for the thing’s own sake, and not for the sake of something else, it desires as a thing to be had for ever. Happiness therefore would not be the last end, if it did not endure perpetually. 3. Everything that is loved in the having of it brings sadness, if we know that at some time we must part with it. But the beatific vision, being of all things most delightful and most desired, is of all things most loved by them who have it. They could not therefore be otherwise than saddened, if they knew that at some time they were to lose it. But if it were not meant to last for ever, they would be aware of the fact: for in seeing the divine substance, they also see other things that naturally are (Chap.LIX).

• From The Decameron (1353)

  These words Minuccio forthwith set to a soft and plaintive air, such as the matter thereof required, and on the third day he betook himself to court, where, King Pedro being yet at meat, he was bidden by him sing somewhat to his viol. Thereupon he fell to singing the song aforesaid on such dulcet wise that all who were in the royal hall appeared men astonied, so still and attent stood they all to hearken, and the king maybe more than the others. Minuccio having made an end of his singing, the king enquired whence came this song that himseemed he had never before heard. 'My lord,' replied the minstrel, 'it is not yet three days since the words were made and the air.' The king asked for whom it had been made; and Minuccio answered, 'I dare not discover it save to you alone.' The king, desirous to hear it, as soon as the tables were removed, sent for Minuccio into his chamber and the latter orderly recounted to him all that he had heard from Lisa; wherewith Don Pedro was exceeding well pleased and much commended the damsel, avouching himself resolved to have compassion of so worthful a young lady and bidding him therefore go comfort her on his part and tell her that he would without fail come to visit her that day towards vespers. Minuccio, overjoyed to be the bearer of such pleasing news, betook himself incontinent, viol and all, to the damsel and bespeaking her in private, recounted to her all that had passed and after sang her the song to his viol; whereat she was so rejoiced and so content that she straightway showed manifest signs of great amendment and longingly awaited the hour of vespers, whenas her lord should come, without any of the household knowing or guessing how the case stood.

• From Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women (Erotic Fiction) (2006)

  This was undoubtedly what her husband had experienced so many times before; and to think she had resented him for it! She had thought she was simply pleasing him, but no! She had been searching for something for herself all along, and now that she found it she understood perfectly why her husband had so enjoyed it. She lay very still, languidly reveling in the delicious sensations that continued to course through her body. Her husband had not reached his own moment yet, but she knew he would and felt no rush to bring him there. Instead, she savored the blissful responsiveness she felt to him. The prince moved very slowly to embrace his wife, kissing her face and neck and lips. Her body was languid as he opened her legs and rested between them. She lifted her arms to him, and he entered her body as he embraced her in a deep kiss. He marveled at how incredibly soft and wet and pliable she was. He could not recall ever feeling this aroused. His whole body shook, and she felt like a part of him, she was so wholly his. His release was more intense and powerful than he had ever experienced before, actually bringing stars before his eyes. The prince did not move for many moments, simply holding Cinderella in his arms while remaining inside her. His mind replayed the events of the night, in great detail, as if trying to unravel a mystery. A strange light came into his eyes. Why had he never thought of appealing to her senses and enticing her body to open to him, instead of merely taking her? How could he have so arrogantly disregarded the secrets to bringing her body pleasure? His own pleasure was increased tenfold with this subtler kind of taking; not to mention that his manhood soared when he witnessed the absolute power he could wield over her mind and heart and body—not the power to have those parts of her, but the power to excite and thrill and titillate. He swore to himself that he would never again miss this important and exceedingly pleasant part of their joining. And finally Cinderella really did live happily ever after! East of the Sun and West of the MoonThere once lived a man who was so poor that he could barely feed his family. They lived in a rundown cottage in a remote village, with no prospects for the future. One night, as the great North Wind came whistling through the woods, shaking the tiny cabin where they lived, an enormous white bear suddenly appeared at their door. “Good evening,” said the bear. “Good evening,” replied the man. Though he had not encountered a talking bear before, it was well-known in those parts that animals who spoke were enchanted. It was, in fact, a great honor to be addressed by such a creature.

• From Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women (Erotic Fiction) (2006)

  The feeling was so glorious that she nearly lost her footing, but at the same moment, he took hold of her, drawing her even closer to him, so there was no danger of her going anywhere. His body was exceedingly warm. His lips were demanding and insistent. His arms clutched her tighter, causing their bodies to press closer together. The water fluttered and swelled around them. In the tumult of her first kiss, the ugly duckling forgot that she was ugly, and she returned his kiss with all the passion that she felt. She realized then that she was falling in love with him, and wondered if he guessed her feelings and, if so, what he felt. Just as she was dwelling on these thoughts, he drew his lips away from hers to search her eyes. He smiled at her uncertain expression, confessing that he loved her, too. Then he kissed her again, and again, and even then again! She clung to him, never wanting the kissing to stop. But suddenly his kisses grew more passionate, and his hands were touching her everywhere. She discovered that she loved the feeling she got from pressing her naked body up against his. She felt dizzy with happiness to have his strong hands and beautiful lips upon her skin, but the kissing was becoming more and more urgent and demanding, and his body was rigidly pressing against hers. She was totally unprepared for what was happening. What’s more, she could not help wondering if his declaration of love had a part in it. With a little cry, she pulled herself away from him. She knew he cared for her in some way, but could he really love her? She would not allow herself to be taken for granted, ugly or not! For good or for bad, I must know for certain what his intentions are respecting me, she thought, and if I am agreeable to them, whatever they may be. For a moment they both stood apart, and for an instant he seemed almost angry at her. But at length, he smiled. “I will turn and face the woods while you dress,” he said kindly. “But will you wait for me?” he asked. “Yes, I will wait for you,” she promised. “Well, if it isn’t our own dear, plain little sister!” all four sisters exclaimed cheerfully. The youngest of the five smiled warmly at her sisters. “I’m sorry I’m late,” she said. “But how nice it is to see all of you again!” “I must say,” remarked the oldest sister to her younger sibling. “The years must have been good to you. I have truly never seen you looking better!”

• From Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

  WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, RICHARD III On June 5, 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City bedroom in the middle of the night while her parents slept in a nearby part of the house. Details of the audacious kidnapping were reported breathlessly and without pause by the news media, leaving much of the country aghast and riveted. When a massive investigation failed to locate Elizabeth or her unidentified abductor by summer’s end, people assumed the worst: that she had been subjected to some unspeakable ordeal and murdered. Then, nine months after she disappeared, she turned up alive, surprising almost everyone. The astonishing reappearance of Elizabeth Smart occurred in the jittery days immediately before the invasion of Iraq. Most Americans, made fretful by the uncertainties of the imminent war, were desperate for some good news and rejoiced with commensurate intensity when the girl was reunited with her family. President George W. Bush took time out from planning the assault on Baghdad to phone Elizabeth’s father and convey the nation’s collective jubilation over her safe return. Ed Smart, brimming with emotion, called the outcome a miracle. “God lives!” he declared. “The prayers of the world have brought Elizabeth home.” Like so many other Americans, Dan Lafferty found himself spellbound by the Elizabeth Smart saga, monitoring its heartrending convolutions via a small television in his cell at the Utah State Prison. Within hours of the girl’s rescue, the media disclosed that her abductor was an excommunicated Mormon. “With that small piece of information,” boasts Lafferty, “I immediately guessed that he was probably a fundamentalist, and that Elizabeth was somehow involved in a polygamy situation.” Lafferty was soon proven correct. The man who kidnapped Elizabeth turned out to be a forty-nine-year-old Utahan named Brian David Mitchell. Although he was indeed a Mormon Fundamentalist, he was not affiliated with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the faction that holds sway in Bountiful and Colorado City–Hildale) or any other established sect; he was a so-called independent, of whom there are untold multitudes currently practicing polygamy throughout the western United States, Canada, and Mexico. Thanks to the torrent of publicity generated by his 2001 trial and imprisonment, polygamist Tom Green had been the most widely recognized independent fundamentalist. But that was before Mitchell was arrested for kidnapping Elizabeth Smart and became a fixture in the news. Mitchell was not born into fundamentalism. He’d spent most of his life as a dutiful Latter-day Saint, and for three years he’d actually worked at the Salt Lake Temple, the epicenter of the establishment church, where he performed in ritual reenactments of sacred history. His wife, Wanda Barzee, was an upstanding Saint, as well, who for a period had played organ at the Mormon Tabernacle. One of Barzee’s music teachers described the couple as “the epitome of righteousness, fulfilling every church duty and assignment.” Mitchell’s unflagging zeal raised eyebrows even then, however.

• From Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women (Erotic Fiction) (2006)

  Snow White approached Doc then and, closing her eyes, gently kissed his lips. She opened her eyes to see her beautiful blond gentle prince standing before her. Then she went to where Grumpy stood and kissed his lips. There stood her dark, rougher prince. A tingle went through her as she kissed one dwarf after another and discovered their true identities. She led the princes to the bedroom and allowed them to slowly remove her clothing. She was shaking with desire as she stood naked before her seven princely lovers. She moved into the circle of princes and allowed herself to be drowned in pleasure. Night after night Snow White spent with the seven princes, and time passed quickly by. Now and then word would come to her from the castle of the queen, but this did not concern Snow White, for she was convinced that the dwarfs would keep all harm from her. One day, a servant came to deliver a message from the queen, who now claimed to have much remorse and distress over the past injustices done to Snow White. The servant presented Snow White with a gift from the queen, to prove her change of heart. But this servant had been fooled by the queen, for she still wished for Snow White’s death. Snow White accepted the gift with misgivings. She did not question the dubious nature of the queen’s offering, as she should have, but rather, was frightened by the prospect of leaving her handsome princes, should the queen demand that Snow White return to the castle. Thoughtfully, Snow White opened the queen’s gift. She started with delight when she saw the beautiful silk corset within. Thinking only of her princes and how they would react when they beheld her in the exotic little frippery, she rushed to try it on. But the moment it touched her skin, the corset, which was cursed by an evil spell, suddenly began to close in around her body, tightening of its own accord until Snow White could no longer draw a single breath. She fell to the floor in a swoon, and remained there, still as death. When the seven dwarfs returned to the cottage later that day, they found Snow White where she had fallen, seemingly dead. Overcome with grief, the dwarfs laid Snow White upon one of the beds, and then set out to build her a beautiful coffin of carved mahogany. The coffin took many days to finish, but at last, when the time came to bury her, she still looked so beautiful and full of life that none of them could bear to close the lid. They made her another coffin of glass, and into this they placed Snow White. Every day without fail the dwarfs visited her to pay homage, gazing upon her rapturously and grieving miserably for their untimely loss.

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

  This is the immediate vision of God that is promised us in Scripture: We see now in a glass darkly, but then face to face (i Cor. xiii, 2): a text absurd to take in a corporeal sense, as though we could imagine a bodily face in Deity itself, whereas it has been shown that God is incorporeal (B. I, Chap.XX). Nor again is it possible for us with our bodily face to see God, since the bodily sense of sight, implanted in our face, can be only of bodily things. Thus then shalt we see God face to face, in that we shall have an immediate vision of Him, as of a man whom we see face to face. By this vision we are singularly assimilated to God, and are partakers in His happiness: for this is His happiness, that He essentially understands His own substance. Hence it is said: When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John iii, 2). And the Lord said: I prepare for you as my Father hath prepared for me a kingdom, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom (Luke xxii, 29). This cannot be understood of bodily meat and drink, but of that food which is taken at the table of Wisdom, whereof it is said by Wisdom: Eat ye my bread and drink the wine that I have mingled for you (Prov. ix, 5). They therefore eat and drink at the table of God, who enjoy the same happiness wherewith God is happy, seeing Him in the way which He sees Himself. CHAPTER LII THAT NO CREATED SUBSTANCE CAN OF ITS NATURAL POWER ARRIVE TO SEE GOD AS HE ESSENTIALLY ISTHE property of a higher nature cannot be attained by a lower nature except by the action of that higher nature to which it properly belongs. But to see God by the divine essence is the property of the divine nature: for it is proper to every agent to act by its own proper form. Therefore no subsistent intelligence can see God by the divine essence except through the action of God bringing it about. 5. To see the substance of God transcends the limits of every created nature: for it is proper to every intelligent created nature to understand according to the mode of its substance: but the divine substance is not intelligible according to the mode of any created substance (Chap.XLIX). Hence it is said: The grace of God is life everlasting (Rom. vi, 23). For we have shown that the happiness of man consists in the vision of God, which is called life everlasting, whereunto we are led solely by the grace of God, because such vision exceeds the faculty of every creature, and it is impossible to attain it except by an endowment from God. And the Lord says: I will manifest myself to him (John xiv, 21). CHAPTER LIII

• From Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women (Erotic Fiction) (2006)

  The goose girl moaned fretfully, caught up in the rapturous surge of her mounting pleasure. Suddenly the maid wanted to help her mistress if she could. She slowly moved her hand lower, and even lower still, until she reached the secret place she knew so well, where she worked her fingers gently, round and round, faster and faster. The goose girl moaned louder, panting for air. The prince continued to thrust himself into her as he stared, fascinated, at his wife. She smiled as she continued to massage the little swollen mound, whirling it round and round, gently but firmly. She was getting closer. The maid bent down to kiss her mistress’ feverish lips. The goose girl whimpered and moaned. And still, the prince thrust himself into her. And his wife’s fingers kept going round and round. Suddenly the goose girl’s eyes grew wide, and her body trembled violently as she cried out. In a rush of emotion she embraced her maid and kissed her repeatedly. But there was still the matter of the prince. The maid looked up at her husband. “Lie down, wife,” he demanded. She shivered with anticipation, even as she suddenly burst into tears. The goose girl immediately rushed to her aid and held her close, but the prince gently pried his wife away from her. He pulled his wife into his arms, where he took her, gently and lovingly, even as the goose girl looked on with interest. He kissed his wife’s wet cheeks and attempted to soothe her, saying, “You are my rightful wife, for it is you who really wished to marry me.” He knew that the goose girl would not have made him happy, and besides, it was too late, now that he had already fallen in love with her maid. At hearing his declaration, his wife was filled with joy. She gazed at the goose girl, while her husband continued to gently make love to her. The goose girl snuggled closer to her and gently kissed her lips. The maid slowly wound her arms around the goose girl, pulling her so close that their breasts were pressed tightly together. Thrilling sensations shot through her as she divided herself between her two lovers. From the waist up, she clung to the goose girl, who whispered little endearments between kisses, and pinched her nipples teasingly. But from the waist down the maid was engaged in a much more tumultuous embrace with her husband, the prince. She clutched him with her legs as he thrust himself repeatedly into her, his eyes hungrily watching the two women clinging so fetchingly to each other. And once again, the goose girl returned a favor to her friend, by carefully reaching her hand down to the place where she and her husband were joined, and knowingly caressing her just above that opening. The maid clung desperately to both the goose girl and her husband as she screamed out her pleasure.

• From Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women (Erotic Fiction) (2006)

  Upon seeing Snow White’s hair upon the comb, the queen was filled with hope. She longed to stand before her mirror to see the results, but the prince insisted that she come straightaway with him, just as she had promised to do. She reluctantly agreed, and they arrived shortly thereafter at the cottage. And once again, upon entering the cottage, a feeling of joy and well-being came over the queen. She followed the prince this time to his bedchamber, where the wonderful little mirror now stood facing the bed. Recollections of their activities on the previous night flashed through the queen’s mind, and a wave of pleasure coursed through her at the memory. She undressed herself excitedly and lay on the prince’s bed, facing the mirror, watching as the prince came up behind her and began stroking her body. She opened her legs. It delighted her to see her body in this position in the mirror, with the prince hovering over her, admiring and touching her. He caressed her backside leisurely, teasing her, until finally she arched her hips so that the opening between her legs touched his hand. He boldly delved into the wetness there, but the queen only gasped as she continued to stare at her flushed face in the mirror. Carefully, so as not to alarm her, the prince slowly lifted the queen’s hips, adjusting her so that she was settled on her forearms and knees, with her hips at the highest point of elevation. She watched in utter astonishment, as the prince knelt behind her, staring intently at her most private place imaginable. Without embarrassment or fear (for what had she now to fear when she felt so beautiful and so entirely cherished?), the queen watched her lover’s excitement grow as he examined, pried, poked and kissed her intimate parts. She moaned with pleasure at the memory of what was to come. The prince seemed to read her thoughts, and he entered her from behind while she watched. The sight of him joining with her was almost as wonderful as the way it felt: his hardness sliding into her wet body, his large hands grasping her hips, his masculine features set in an expression of intense ecstasy. She began to move, slowly at first, but then faster and faster, frantically rubbing herself against him, all the while delighting in the way her body appeared in the mirror, with her breasts jerking and bouncing and her buttocks shaking with every single thrust. It did not occur to her at all that the bouncing and shaking was unattractive, for the curse was far away from her mind. She dropped her head upon the bed as her body shuddered with bliss.

• From Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

  By May of that year more than six thousand Saints were plodding westward through the axle-deep spring mud, drawn by the promise of Zion. The thirteen-hundred-mile emigration from Nauvoo was a grueling trial. On the journey west they were plagued with frostbite, diphtheria, scurvy, starvation, stillborn babies, tick fever, hostile Gentiles, and an epidemic of whooping cough that killed dozens of young children. More than six hundred Saints perished during that first grim winter. But Brigham proved to be a masterful manager of men, and he possessed a formidable will. On July 21, 1847, an advance party crested a ridge and caught the Saints’ first glimpse of “the valley where the broad waters of the Great Salt Lake glistened in the sunbeams.” The next morning this group, with scout Porter Rockwell leading the way, descended the western slope of the Wasatch down what is now called Emigration Canyon. At its mouth they emerged into the Saints’ new Zion, near the southern end of the vast body of water they had spied earlier that day—a lake with no outlet, and saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Although most of this bottomland was a relentlessly barren desert, along its eastern margin flowed streams of sweet, crystalline snowmelt that rushed down from the Wasatch Range through all seasons. These imposing granite mountains, moreover, served as a natural barrier that would help keep the godless at bay. All things considered, the Great Salt Lake Valley struck the scouting party as a fine site on which to erect a capital city for the Kingdom of God on earth. After conducting a two-hour tour of the immediate environs, they rode back up Emigration Canyon to share the joyous news with Brigham and their brethren. Brigham, weak and aching from tick fever, arrived in the valley with the main company of Saints on July 24, 1847, the date now venerated throughout Mormondom as Pioneer Day (and the holiday Ron Lafferty would choose, 137 years later, on which to fulfill his removal revelation). Before the sun had set that first evening, they had planted a crop of potatoes and diverted the waters of City Creek to irrigate them. A stone’s throw from the creek they began laying the foundation for a temple, at the center of what would become Salt Lake City. The long, seventeen-year journey from Palmyra was over. The Mormons had finally found their home. Many had died en route. But those who survived the hardships and completed the exodus were more devoted to the church than ever. The wafflers and whiners, the doubters, the malcontents—those of weak faith—had been filtered out by the myriad trials of the preceding years, leaving behind the truest of the true believers. The grueling emigration from Nauvoo, on top of the violence directed at them in Missouri and Illinois, had forged an exceptional bond among the first waves of Saints to arrive in Utah. Adversity had welded them into a close-knit tribe whose loyalty to their leader, Brigham Young, was unconditional.

• From Fragments (7)

  A stream of wine bring me. I know to talk, to drink I know: My mirthful madness see. TO EUROPA (52) Zeus that bull doth seem to me, Whom thou seest there: A Sidonian maiden he On his back doth bear. Now, O boy, his course he steers O'er the spacious sea. And his hoofs the billows pierce, Plying busily. In the herd no bull could be, Who would e'er not fail. If he tried across the sea. Like this one, to sail. 151 Lyric Sonffs of the Greeks TO THE ROSE (53) Rose, which spring-time loveth dearly, Spring, e'er crowned with wreaths of rose. Praising thee, my song rings clearly: From the gods thy fragrance flows; Mortals give thee joyous praises, Thee, the glory of the Graces; Thou art Aphrodite's joy. And the flowery Cupids' toy. Thou of poets art a treasure. Thou delight'st the Muses* mind. He who seeks thee e'en finds pleasure Thee in thorny paths to find. Pleasant too it is to take thee In one's hand and warm to make thee, To the temples thee to move, Thee who art the flower of Love. Where the festive banquet lingers. How could roses absent be? Think of Dawn of rosy fingers. Nymphs whose arms glow rosily, Rose-complexioned Aphrodite, Named by those in wisdom mighty. Roses sickness, death oppose; Time is conquered by the rose. Of the rose whose beauteous glory Makes old age breathe youthfully, 152 Anacreontea We shall now relate the story: *Twas when from the foamy sea Dewy Aphrodite rising, First was bom, while Zeus, apprizing All the gods of Pallas' birth, Showed his head whence she sprang forth. And the warrior-goddess frightened All Olympus, but the rose With its splendor then first brightened Every land where'er it grows; And, its cups with nectar filling, And immortal beauty instilling, Bacchus godlike it would show: From the thorns he let it grow. TO DIONYSUS (54) That god to us doth now appear. Who from young lovers takes their fear; Through him the troubled no more tire. Whom drink and dancing doth inspire. To man a wondrous charm he hath shown. Love to arouse, yet not to groan. He guards the offspring of the vine. Which in its fruit hems in the wine Imprisoned in the clustered grapes. When once from them their juice escapes, Then all without disease shall be. Then sickness shall our bodies flee, And from our glad minds disappear, As time flies on year after year. 153 Lyric Songs of the Greeks TO A DISCUS WITH AN ENGRAVING OF APHRODITE (55) Who fashioned artfully this sea In wild enthusiasm? Who on this discus cunningly Furrowed the waves* deep chasm ? Upon the Ocean's back whose art With white shows Cypris gleaming? Gods surely did his skill impart, Who was godlike visions dreaming. Her upper half alone doth show, Without a dress or cover ; The half of her that is below, The waves are passing over.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  Calandrino, hearing this, fancied himself already at it and went singing and skipping, so overjoyed that he was like to jump out of his skin. On the morrow, having brought the rebeck, he, to the great diversion of all the company, sang sundry songs thereto; and in brief, he was taken with such an itch for the frequent seeing of her that he wrought not a whit, but ran a thousand times a day, now to the window, now to the door and anon into the courtyard, to get a look at her, whereof she, adroitly carrying out Bruno's instructions, afforded him ample occasion. Bruno, on his side, answered his messages in her name and bytimes brought him others as from her; and whenas she was not there, which was mostly the case, he carried him letters from her, wherein she gave him great hopes of compassing his desire, feigning herself at home with her kinsfolk, where he might not presently see her. On this wise, Bruno, with the aid of Buffalmacco, who had a hand in the matter, kept the game afoot and had the greatest sport in the world with Calandrino's antics, causing him give them bytimes, as at his mistress's request, now an ivory comb, now a purse and anon a knife and such like toys, for which they brought him in return divers paltry counterfeit rings of no value, with which he was vastly delighted; and to boot, they had of him, for their pains, store of dainty collations and other small matters of entertainment, so they might be diligent about his affairs.