Relief

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  Because they were both men, I was more drawn to Ivan and Paul than to Maria, at least at first. I was always trying to figure out their schedules, to find them in, to visit them without troubling them. I spaced out my visits. When I ran into Maria a week later, she was standing beside a broken-down old station wagon and talking to a tall woman in coveralls. When introduced, the woman shook my hand with a hot hand she drew out of a rawhide workman’s glove. Maria invited me to climb in beside her and drive into town. During my three years at school I’d been downtown only twice; it was strictly against the rules. It was snowing. The wipers slowly and noisily creaked against the dirty windows. We peered out of the portholes they cleared as the car crept down suburban lanes past the distant yellow lights of mansions. The bald tires slid on the ice. Maria said, “Shit,” and flashed me a tiny smile at her daring, for young ladies did not say such words. Nor did anyone in that rich Detroit suburb, the home of the “auto-mobility,” drive a ten-year-old station wagon with a rusting fender and just one new door, which was painted a different color. Everything was cozy inside the car, with its blasting heat, its tinny radio, and, in the back, a can of turpentine and the rack for paintings. Outside, the snow was draping the luxuriant black pines in white. Away from her school and mine, we both relaxed. I imagined she no longer had to observe everything with the exhausting attention of someone always expected to have an aesthetic opinion. Nor did she have to behave with that deliberateness required of someone who lives in a small society where no rules are explicit but every action may be setting a precedent. After all, the art academy students were all free to do exactly as they pleased, a terrible responsibility, and even their teachers were painters with odd personal habits, including the urge to be alone. Here were sixty young people, men and women, some of them away from their rural, religious homes for the first time, and they were all expected to paint great paintings, move nearly wordlessly into and out of each other’s austere single beds, listen to Bach or Charlie Parker, and wear strange clothing that ostracized them from the prep school boys as well as from the furred gentry of the adjacent estates.

• From Vox (1992)

  20 "Can you? Well, I mean I can physically do it. " "J know what you mean." There was a pause. "I hear ice cubes," he said. "Diet Coke." "Ah. Tell me more things. Tell me about the room you're in. Tell me the chain of events that led up to your calling this number." "Okay," she said. "I'm not in the bedroom anymore. I'm sitting on the couch in my living room slash dining room. My feet are on the coffee table, which would have been impossible yesterday, because the coffee table was piled so high with mail and work stuff, but now it is possible, and the whole room, the whole apartment, is really and truly in order. I took a sick day today, without being sick, which is something I haven't done up to now at this job. I called the receptionist and told her I had a fever. The moment of lying to her was awful, but gosh what freedom when I hung up the phone! And I didn't leave the apartment all day. I just organized my imme diate surroundings, I picked up things, I vacuumed, and I laid out all the silver that I've inherited—three different very incomplete patterns—laid it out on the dining-room table and looked at it and I gave some serious thought to polishing it, but I didn't go so far as to polish it, but it looked beautiful all laid out, a big arch of forks, a little arch of knives, five big serving spoons, some tiny salt spoons, and a little grouping of novelty items, like oyster

• From The Decameron (1353)

  The honest man, without asking farther, reported Giannotto's words, as first he had occasion, to Currado, who, hearing this,--albeit he feigned to the gaoler to make light of it,--betook himself to Madam Beritola and courteously asked her if she had had by Arrighetto a son named Giusfredi. The lady answered, weeping, that, if the elder of her two sons were alive, he would so be called and would be two-and-twenty years old. Currado, hearing this, concluded that this must be he and bethought himself that, were it so, he might at once do a great mercy and take away his own and his daughter's shame by giving her to Giannotto to wife; wherefore, sending privily for the latter, he particularly examined him touching all his past life and finding, by very manifest tokens, that he was indeed Giusfredi, son of Arrighetto Capece, he said to him, 'Giannotto, thou knowest what and how great is the wrong thou hast done me in the person of my daughter, whereas, I having ever well and friendly entreated thee, it behoved thee, as a servant should, still to study and do for my honour and interest; and many there be who, hadst thou used them like as thou hast used me, would have put thee to a shameful death, the which my clemency brooked not. Now, if it be as thou tellest me, to wit, that thou art the son of a man of condition and of a noble lady, I purpose, an thou thyself be willing, to put an end to thy tribulations and relieving thee from the misery and duresse wherein thou abidest, to reinstate at once thine honour and mine own in their due stead. As thou knowest, Spina, whom thou hast, though after a fashion misbeseeming both thyself and her, taken with love-liking, is a widow and her dowry is both great and good; as for her manners and her father and mother, thou knowest them, and of thy present state I say nothing. Wherefore, an thou will, I purpose that, whereas she hath unlawfully been thy mistress, she shall now lawfully become thy wife and that thou shalt abide here with me and with her, as my very son, so long as it shall please thee.'

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  22 A capital of bronze was on [top of] it. The height of each capital was five cubits (seven and one-half feet), with a lattice-work and pomegranates around it, all of bronze. The second pillar also, with its pomegranates, was similar to these. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; and a hundred pomegranates were on the lattice-work all around. 24 Then the captain of the guard took [as prisoners] Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three doorkeepers. 25 He also took out of the city one official who was overseer of the soldiers, and seven of the king’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men who were still in the city. 26 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was led away into exile from its own land. 28 This is the number of people whom Nebuchadnezzar took captive and exiled: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, [he took captive] 832 persons from Jerusalem; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the [Babylonian] guard took captive 745 Jewish people; there were 4,600 persons in all. 31 Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin [also called Coniah and Jeconiah] king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, d showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. [2 Kin 25:27–30 ] 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a throne above the thrones of the kings who were [captives] with him in Babylon. 33 Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table all the days of his life. 34 And his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion [according to his needs] until the day of his death, e all the days of his life. Jeremiah 1 a 1:1 Jeremiah’s hometown, two or three miles north of Jerusalem. b 1:11 The almond tree was known as the “awake tree” because it was the first tree to bud in the new year (late January). It was the symbol of watchfulness. c 1:17 Gird up your loins, a phrase often found in the Bible, may be an urgent call to get ready for immediate action, or it may be a call to prepare for a coming action or event. The phrase is related to the type of clothing worn in ancient times. To keep from impeding the wearer during any vigorous activity, e.g.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  [Deut 30:1–3 ; Ps 126:1 , 2 ] 11 Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him over all the [distressing] adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold. 12 And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. [Job 1:3 ] 13 He had seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first [daughter] Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land there were found no women so fair as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. 17 So Job died, an old man and full of days. [James 5:11 ] Job 1 a 1:1 The written structure of this book is unusual because it combines prose and poetry. No other book in the Bible uses this prose-poetry-prose pattern. Chapters 1 and 2 are prose, and introduce the poetic monologues and dialogues that comprise the essence of the story of Job. The opening verse of each of the intervening chapters is also prose as is the denouement in ch 42:7–17 . A slightly longer introductory prose section is in ch 32:1–6a . Job is probably the most ancient book in the Bible and in addition to its biblical message it is highly regarded as a literary masterpiece. b 1:4 Lit house of each man his day . It has been inferred by some that his refers to Job, and that his day was Job’s birthday or some other special occasion for him. But the Hebrew wording indicates instead that his refers to each of the brothers in turn, and since there were seven of them, it follows that they held a banquet every day of the week, rotating from house to house, as is also indicated in v 5 . This is evidence both of the brothers’ prosperity and the close relationship they maintained with one another. c 1:5 Lit blessed, a euphemism for “cursed.” The very idea of cursing God was so repugnant and sacrilegious to the godly that they would not use the word in speech or thought. d 1:6 Heb YHWH (Yahweh), and so throughout chs 1 , 2 , 12 , 38 , 40 , 42 . e 1:15 Terrorizing robbers from SW Arabia. f 1:17 Marauding nomads from the Arabian desert. Much later the Chaldeans became the dominant people in the Babylonian Empire.

• From The Glass Castle: A Memoir (2005)

  I had escaped from Welch once, and now, breathing in those same old smells of turpentine, dog hair, and dirty clothes, of stale beer and cigarette smoke and unrefrigerated food slowly going bad, I had the urge to bolt. But Mom and Dad were clearly proud, and as I listened to them talk—interrupting each other in their excitement to correct points of fact and fill in gaps in the story—about their fellow squatters and the friends they’d made in the neighborhood and the common fight against the city’s housing agency, it became clear they’d stumbled on an entire community of people like themselves, people who lived unruly lives battling authority and who liked it that way. After all those years of roaming, they’d found home. • • • I graduated from Barnard that spring. Brian came to the ceremony, but Lori and Maureen had to work, and Mom said it would just be a lot of boring speeches about the long and winding road of life. I wanted Dad to come, but chances were he’d show up drunk and try to debate the commencement speaker. “I can’t risk it, Dad,” I told him. “Hell,” he said. “I don’t have to see my Mountain Goat grabbing a sheepskin to know she’s got her college degree.” The magazine where I’d been working two days a week had offered me a full-time job. What I needed was a place to live. For several years, I had been dating a man named Eric, a friend of one of Lori’s eccentric-genius friends, who came from a wealthy family, ran a small company, and lived alone in the apartment on Park Avenue in which he’d been raised. He was a detached, almost fanatically organized guy who maintained detailed time-management logs and could recite endless baseball statistics. But he was decent and responsible, never gambled or lost his temper, and always paid his bills on time. When he heard that I was looking for a roommate to share an apartment, he suggested I move in with him. I couldn’t afford half the rent, I told him, and I wouldn’t live there unless I could pay my own way. He suggested that I begin by paying what I could afford, and as my salary went up, I could increase the payment. He made it sound like a business proposition, but a solid one, and after thinking it over, I agreed. When I told Dad about my plans, he asked if Eric made me happy and treated me well. “Because if he doesn’t,” Dad said, “I will by God kick his butt so hard, his asshole will be up between his shoulder blades.” “He treats me fine, Dad,” I said.

• From Henry Miller on Writing (1964)

  I was not only in the middle of the current but the current was running through me and I had no control over it whatever. I remember the day I brought the machine to a dead stop and how the other mechanism, the one that was signed with my own initials, and which I had made with my own hands and my own blood, slowly began to function.

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  3 Bur one thing there was that Puddle still feared, and this was the girl’s desire for isolation. To her it appeared like a weakness in Stephen; she divined the bruised humility of spirit that now underlay this desire for isolation, and she did her best to frustrate it. It was Puddle who had forced the embarrassed Stephen to let in the Press photographers, and Puddle it was who had given the details for the captions that were to appear with the pictures: ‘ If you choose to behave like a hermit crab I shall usé my own judg- ment about what I say!’ ‘I don’t care a tinker’s darn what you say! Now leave me in peace do, Puddle.’ It was Puddle who answered the telephone calls: ‘I’m afraid Miss Gordon will be busy working — what name did you say? Oh, The Literary Monthly! I see—well suppose you come on Wednesday.’ And on Wednesday morning there was old Puddle waiting to waylay the anxious young man who had been com- manded to dig up some copy about the new novelist, Stephen Gordon. Then Puddle had smiled at the anxious young man and had shepherded him into her own little sanctum, and had given him a comfortable chair, and had stirred the fire the better to warm him. And the young man had noticed her charming smile and had thought how kind was this ageing woman, and how damned hard it was to go tramping the streets in quest of erratic, unsociable authors. Puddle had said, still smiling kindly: ‘ I’d hate you to go back without your copy, but Miss Gordon’s been working overtime lately, I dare not disturb her, you don’t mind, do you? Now if you could possibly make shift with me — I really do know a great deal about her; as a matter of fact I’m her ex-governess, so I really do know quite a lot about her.’ Out had come notebook and copying pencil; it was easy to talk to this sympathetic woman: ‘ Well, if you could give me some interesting details — say, her taste in books and her recreations, Pd be awfully grateful. She hunts, I believe? ’ 244 THE WELL OF LONELINESS ‘Oh, not now!’ ‘I see — well then, she did hunt. And wasn’t her father Sir Philip Gordon who had a place down in Worcestershire and was killed by a falling tree or something? What kind of pupil did you find Miss Gordon? I’ll send her my notes when I’ve worked them up, but I really would like to see her, you know.’ Then being a fairly sagacious young man: ‘Tve just read The Furrow, it’s a wonderful book!’ Puddle talked glibly while the young man scribbled, and when at last he was just about going she let him out on to the balcony from which he could look into Stephen’s study.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  5 He established it for a testimony in c Joseph When He went throughout the land of Egypt. I heard the language [of One whom] I did not know, saying, 6 “I removed the burden from his shoulder; His hands were freed from the basket. 7 “You called in [the time of] trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. [Num 20:3 , 13 , 24 ] Selah. 8 “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you— O Israel, if you would listen to Me! 9 “Let there be no strange god among you, Nor shall you worship any foreign god. 10 “I am the LORD your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 11 “But My people would not listen to My voice, And Israel did not [consent to] obey Me. 12 “So I gave them up to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in [the path of] their own counsel. [Acts 7:42 , 43 ; 14:16 ; Rom 1:24 , 26 ] 13 “Oh, that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! 14 “Then I would quickly subdue and humble their enemies And turn My hand against their adversaries; 15 Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him and cringe before Him, And their time of punishment would be forever. 16 “But I would feed Israel with the finest of the wheat; And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Psalm 82 Unjust Judgments Rebuked. A Psalm of Asaph. 1 G od stands in the divine assembly; He judges among the gods (divine beings). 2 How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah. 3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice and maintain the rights of the afflicted and destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and needy; Rescue them from the hand of the wicked. 5 The rulers do not know nor do they understand; They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction]; All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken. 6 I said, “You are a gods; Indeed, all of you are sons of the Most High. [Gen 6:1–4 ; John 10:34–36 ; Rom 13:1 , 2 ] 7 “Nevertheless you will die like men And fall like any one of the princes.” 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth! For to You belong all the nations. [Matt 28:18–20 ; Rev 11:15 ] Psalm 83 God Implored to Confound His Enemies. A Song. A Psalm of Asaph. 1 D O NOT keep silent, O God; Do not hold Your peace or be still, O God. 2 For behold, Your enemies are in tumult, And those who hate You have raised their heads [in hatred of You].

• From The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988)

  After lights out, I hobbled over to his bed and sucked his cock, which was nearly black and looked like a horse’s, the same abundant foreskin. Finally I realized I’d never get well until I saw O’Reilly and settled things. One of my fraternity brothers, a guy with perfect teeth and the knack of appreciating everything, drove me and waited while I looked out at the snow filling O’Reilly’s garden and gathering like a rabbit muff over the folded hands of the gilt Kamakura Buddha . O’Reilly nodded simply, picked at a scab on his face, and said, “Yes, I agree, you’re right, our work isn’t going well. It’s best you find someone else.” And it was all over. His outrages against me, his unfulfilled promise to cure me—all the grievances I’d been hoarding were canceled like debts voided by a new government. He didn’t owe me anything, nor I him, and on the trip back I was lonely and bruised, and I envied my friend his broad shoulders, his steady hand on the wheel, his manliness, which was so pungent I could smell it, although I couldn’t make use of it. A few weeks later O’Reilly had a breakdown and was sent to the same hospital where his beloved Annie was already a patient. When I got well, I went to the union pool and stood under the showers. I’d become pale and scrawny after two months of being in the hospital. I met a man. He was in the shower across from me, tall, older, smooth-skinned, his face more olive than his body. I’d never seen him before. He smiled at me. His smile relaxed me, as though I’d just been restored to the human race. In the locker room the man smiled at me again, not in the usual furtive way (seductive, hostile, afraid) but just as though we were already friends. He had wonderful green eyes and an engaging smile, although one tooth was a delicate biscuit brown. His shoulders reflected the overhead light. When he turned I could see that his buttocks registered in sinewy detail every motion he made; they weren’t piled high like stiff mounds of whipped cream, the way teenage boys’ butts looked. No, his hips were narrow and fluent. No one else was around in the locker room, although two or three voices boomed from the pool. The smell of chlorine was giving me a headache. We started talking, and everything I said made him nod and smile. I thought he might be laughing at me. What puzzled me was why someone so handsome would show an interest in me. As he dressed, I could see he had beautiful clothes, and that intimidated me, too. He invited me to come to his apartment for a cup of tea. It was already dark out. A cold wind was blowing steadily, sifting snow.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  16 “O Lord, by these things men live, And in all these is the life of my spirit; Restore me to health and let me live! 17 “Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such bitterness; But You have loved back my life from the pit of nothingness (destruction), For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 18 “For Sheol cannot praise or thank You, Death cannot praise You and rejoice in You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. 19 “It is the living who give praise and thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness. 20 “The LORD is ready to save me; Therefore we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our lives at the house of the LORD .” 21 Now Isaiah had said, “Have them take a cake of figs and rub it [as an ointment] on the inflamed spot, that he may recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD ?” Isaiah 39 Hezekiah Shows His Treasures 1 A T THAT time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent [messengers with] letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. [2 Kin 20:12–19 ] 2 Hezekiah was pleased and showed them his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his entire armory and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his area of dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did these men say? From where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from a Babylon.” 4 Then Isaiah said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.” 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts, 6 ‘Listen carefully, the days are coming when everything that is in your house and everything that your predecessors have stored up until this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the LORD . 7 ‘And b some of your own sons (descendants) who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ” 8 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and faithfulness [to God’s promises to us] in my days.” Isaiah 40 The Greatness of God 1 “C OMFORT, O comfort My people,” says your God.

• From Another Country (1962)

  She looked at her watch. It was ten past one. She would have to go home and she was relieved to discover that she was apprehensive, but not guilty. She really felt that a weight had rolled away, and that she was herself again, in her own skin, for the first time in a long time. She moved slowly out from beneath his weight, kissed his brow and covered him. Then she went into the bathroom and stepped into the shower. She sang to herself in an undertone as the water crashed over her body, and used the towel which smelled of him with joy. She dressed, still humming, and combed her hair. But the pins were on the night table. She came out, to find him sitting up, smoking a cigarette. They smiled at each other. “How are you, baby?” he asked. “I feel wonderful. How are you?” “I feel wonderful, too,” and he laughed, sheepishly. Then, “You have to go?” “Yes. Yes, I do.” She came to the night table and put the pins in her hair. He reached up and pulled her down on the bed and kissed her. It was a strange kiss, in its sad insistence. His eyes seemed to be seeking in her something he had despaired of finding, and did not yet trust. “Will Richard be awake?” “I don’t think so. It doesn’t matter. We’re very seldom together in the evenings; he works, I read, or go out to the movies, or watch TV.” She touched his cheek. “Don’t worry.” “When will I see you?” “Soon. Ill call you.” “Does it matter if I call you? Or would you rather I didn’t?” She hesitated. “It doesn’t matter.” They both thought, It doesn’t matter yet. He kissed her again. “I wish you could spend the night,” he said. He laughed again. “We were just beginning to get started, I hope you know that.” “Oh, yes,” she said, “I can tell.” He placed his rough cheek next to hers. “But I’ve got to go now.” “Shall I walk you to a taxi?” “Oh, Eric, don’t be silly. There’s just no point to that at all.” “I’d like to. I’ll only be a minute.” He jumped out of bed and entered the bathroom. She listened to the water splashing and flushing and looked around his apartment, which already seemed terribly familiar. She would try to get down and clean it up sometime in the next few days. It would be difficult to get away in the daytime, except, perhaps, on Saturdays. Then it occurred to her that she needed a smoke screen for this affair and that she would have to use Vivaldo and Ida. Eric came out of the bathroom and pulled on his shorts and his trousers and his T-shirt. He stuck his feet into his sandals. He looked scrubbed and sleepy and pale. His lips were swollen and very red, like those of heroes and gods of antiquity. “All ready?” he asked.

• From Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist's Memoir (2017)

  He’s going to be all right.” That night I witnessed my father drawing close to death, felt, as never before, my mother’s volcanic rage, and made a self-protective decision to shut the door on her. I had to get out of this family. For the next two to three years I barely spoke to her—we lived like strangers in the same house. And, most of all, I recall my deep, expansive relief at Dr. Manchester’s entrance into our home. No one had ever given me such a gift. Then and there I decided to be like him. I would be a doctor and pass on to others the comfort he had offered me. My father gradually recovered, and though he had chest pain thereafter with almost any exertion, even walking a single block, and immediately reached for his nitroglycerin and swallowed a tablet, he lived another twenty-three years. My father was a gentle, generous man whose only fault, I believed, was his lack of courage in standing up to my mother. My relationship with my mother was an open sore all my life, and yet, paradoxically, it is her image that passes through my mind almost every day. I see her face: she is never at peace, never smiling, never happy. She was an intelligent woman, and though she worked hard every day of her life, she was entirely unfulfilled and rarely uttered a pleasant, positive thought. But today, on my bicycle rides, I think about her in a different way: I think of how little pleasure I must have given her while we lived together. I am grateful I became a kinder son in later years.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  4 For even when we were with you, we warned you plainly in advance that we were going to experience persecution; and so, as you know, it has come to pass. 5 For this reason, when I could no longer endure the suspense, I sent someone to find out about your faith [how you were holding up under pressure], for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our work [among you] would prove to be ineffective. 6 But now that Timothy has come back to us from [his visit with] you, and has brought us good news of your [steadfast] faith and [the warmth of your] love, and [reported] that you always think kindly of us and treasure your memories of us, longing to see us just as we long to see you, 7 for this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and suffering we have been comforted and greatly encouraged about you because of your faith [your unwavering trust in God—placing yourselves completely in His loving hands]; 8 because now we really live [in spite of everything], if you stand firm in the Lord. 9 For what [adequate] thanks can we offer to God for you in return for all the joy and delight we have before our God on your account? 10 We continue to pray night and day most earnestly that we may see you face to face, and may complete whatever may be imperfect and lacking in your faith. 11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and Jesus our Lord guide our steps to you [by removing the obstacles that stand in our way]. 12 And may the Lord cause you to increase and excel and overflow in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; 13 so that He may strengthen and establish your hearts without blame in holiness in the sight of our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His a saints (God’s people). 1 Thessalonians 4 Sanctification and Love 1 F inally, believers, we ask and admonish you in the Lord Jesus, that you follow the instruction that you received from us about how you ought to walk and please God (just as you are actually doing) and that you excel even more and more [pursuing a life of purpose and living in a way that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation]. 2 For you know what commandments and precepts we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

• From Paul and Palestinian Judaism (40th Anniversary Edition) (2017)

  1 ), that those in the Spirit please God (8.8), that for those in whom Christ is, the Spirit means life (8. 10), and that God will raise those in whom the Spirit dwells (8. 11 ). Thus we see here that having the Spirit as guarantee and salvation by participation in the Spirit or in Christ (or participation with the Spirit or Christ by having them in one) are not separate themes. The force of the guarantee, in other words, goes beyond having charismata which demonstrate the presence of the Spirit. Having the Spirit results in (or is) real participation in the Spirit and the resurrected Lord, which participation provides the best guarantee of all: Christians are sons of God (Rom. 8.16; Gal. 4.7). It is even more difficult to give a definite setting for II Cor. 5. 17. The general context is Paul's relieved apologia for himself as an apostle and reflection on his work and his gospel. He had been afraid that either he would be rejected or that he would have to take very harsh (though unspeci- fied) action in Corinth (II Cor. 10.1-4; 12.21; 13.1-4), but even when he learns that the Corinthians are obedient to him (II Cor. 7.6f.) he cannot abandon his defence of himself: 'Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?' (II Cor. 3.1); 'Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart' (4.1); 'But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us' (4.7); 'So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison' (4. 16f.); 'So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord .... We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord' (5.6-8); 'Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men; but what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again .. .' (5.11f.). It is in this context of relieved reflection upon and justification of his own ministry that Paul writes an (not the) epitome of his message and his own role in God's plan: Christ died for all; therefore all have died (5. 14); one who is in Christ is a new creation (5. 17); the message of reconciliation was given to Paul (and presumably the other apostles) (5.20). We may observe here a point which will have to be fully explored later: in this passage, as in others, there is a mixture of supposedly 'mystical' terminology ('in Christ') and 'juridical' terminology ('reconciliation'). 3] Pauline soteriology Phil.

• From Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist's Memoir (2017)

  I already felt part of the old guard when these changes occurred and felt shocked the first time I saw a resident wearing red plaid trousers or other outrageous garb. But this was California, and there was no stopping such change. Gradually I loosened up, stopped wearing neckties, and enjoyed marijuana at some faculty parties, where I, too, wore bell-bottomed trousers. In the 1960s, our three children—our fourth, Benjamin, was not born until 1969—were caught up in their own daily dramas. They attended the local public schools within walking distance of our home, made friends, took piano and guitar lessons, played tennis and baseball, learned to horseback ride, joined the Blue Birds and 4-H, and built a corral for two young goats in our backyard. Their friends from smaller homes often came over to our home to play. Our house was an old Spanish-style stucco with a front door surrounded by bright violet bougainvillea and a patio containing a small pond and fountain. The formal path leading down to the road was dominated by a majestic magnolia, around which the small children rode their tricycles. There was a neighborhood tennis court half a block from my home, where twice a week I played doubles with my neighbors, or, as they got older, with my three sons. F AMILY ON WHEELS , P ALO A LTO , 1960S. I n June 1964, we visited my family in Washington, DC. We were at my sister’s home with our three children when my mother and father drove over. I sat on a sofa with my daughter, Eve, and my son Reid on my lap. My son Victor and his cousin Harvey were playing on the floor nearby. My father, sitting in an adjoining upholstered chair, told me he had a headache, and two minutes later, suddenly and wordlessly, he lost consciousness and slumped over. I could feel no pulse. My brother-in-law, a cardiologist, had a syringe and Adrenalin in his physician’s bag and I injected Adrenalin into my father’s heart—but to no avail. Only later did I remember that just before he passed out I had seen his eyes fixated to his left, suggesting a stroke in the left side of his brain, not a cardiac arrest. My mother rushed into the room and clung to him. To this moment I can hear her crying, over and over, “Myneh Tierehle, Barel” (“My darling, Ben”). My tears flowed. I was astonished and deeply moved: it was the first time I had ever witnessed such tenderness from my mother, the first time I realized how much they loved one another. When the emergency unit came, I remember my mother still crying but saying to my sister and me, “Take his wallet.” My sister and I ignored her pleas, and both of us felt critical of her for focusing on money at such a time. But she was right, of course: his wallet, cards, and money disappeared in the ambulance and were never seen again.

• From Another Country (1962)

  “We had a couple of drinks together in Benno’s.” Then she remembered Rufus’ face and felt a dim, unwilling alarm. “We talked for a while. He seemed fine.” “Oh!”—the voice was flooded with relief and made Cass remember the girl’s smile—“wait till I get my hands on him!” Then: “Do you know where he went? Where’s he staying?” The sounds from the bedroom suggested that Paul and Michael were having a fight. “I don’t know.” I should have asked him, she thought. “Vivaldo would know, they were together, I left them together—look—” Michael screamed and then began to cry, they were going to awaken Richard—“Vivaldo is coming by here this afternoon; why don’t you come, too?” “What time?” “Oh. Three-thirty, four. Do you know where we live?” “Yes. Yes, I’ll be there. Thank you.” “Please don’t be so upset. I’m sure everything will be all right.” “Yes. I’m glad I called you.” “Till later, then.” “Yes. Good-bye.” “Good-bye.” Cass ran into the children’s bedroom and found Paul and Michael rolling furiously about on the floor. Michael was on top. She dragged him to his feet. Paul rose slowly, looking defiant and ashamed. He was eleven, after all, and Michael was only eight. “What’s all this noise about?” “He was trying to take my chess set,” Michael said. The box, the board, and broken chessmen were scattered on both beds and all over the room. “I was not,” Paul said, and looked at his mother. “I was only trying to teach him how to play.” “You don’t know how to play,” said Michael; now that his mother was in the room, he sniffed loudly once or twice and began collecting his property. Paul did know how to play—or knew, anyway, that chess was a game with rules that had to be learned. He played with his father from time to time. But he also loved to torment his brother, who preferred to make up stories about his various chessmen as he moved them about. For this, of course, he did not need a partner. Watching Michael manipulate Richard’s old, broken chess set always made Paul very indignant. “Never mind that,” Cass said, “you know that’s Michael’s chess set and he can do whatever he wants with it. Now, come on, wash up, and get your clothes on.” She went into the bathroom to supervise their washing and get them dressed. “Is Daddy up yet?” Paul wanted to know. “No. He’s sleeping. He’s tired.” “Can’t I go in and wake him?” “No. Not this morning. Stand still.” “What about his breakfast?” Michael asked. “He’ll have his breakfast when he gets up,” she said. “We never have breakfast together any more,” said Paul. “Why can’t I go and wake him?” “Because I told you not to,” she said. They walked into the kitchen. “We can have breakfast together now, but your father needs his sleep.” “He’s always sleeping,” said Paul. “You were out real late last night,” said Michael, shyly.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  The young men, seeing and hearing all this, turned upon Arriguccio and gave him the soundest rating ever losel got; and ultimately they said to him. 'We pardon thee this as to a drunken man; but, as thou tenderest thy life, look henceforward we hear no more news of this kind, for, if aught of the like come ever again to our ears, we will pay thee at once for this and for that.' So saying, they went their ways, leaving Arriguccio all aghast, as it were he had taken leave of his wits, unknowing in himself whether that which he had done had really been or whether he had dreamed it; wherefore he made no more words thereof, but left his wife in peace. Thus the lady, by her ready wit, not only escaped the imminent peril [that threatened her,] but opened herself a way to do her every pleasure in time to come, without evermore having any fear of her husband." THE NINTH STORY [Day the Seventh] LYDIA, WIFE OF NICOSTRATUS, LOVETH PYRRHUS, WHO, SO HE MAY BELIEVE IT, REQUIRETH OF HER THREE THINGS, ALL WHICH SHE DOTH. MOREOVER, SHE SOLACETH HERSELF WITH HIM IN THE PRESENCE OF NICOSTRATUS AND MAKETH THE LATTER BELIEVE THAT THAT WHICH HE HATH SEEN IS NOT REAL Neifile's story so pleased the ladies that they could neither give over to laugh at nor to talk of it, albeit the king, having bidden Pamfilo tell his story, had several times imposed silence upon them. However, after they had held their peace, Pamfilo began thus: "I do not believe, worshipful ladies, that there is anything, how hard and doubtful soever it be, that whoso loveth passionately will not dare to do; the which, albeit it hath already been demonstrated in many stories, methinketh, nevertheless, I shall be able yet more plainly to show forth to you in one which I purpose to tell you and wherein you shall hear of a lady, who was in her actions much more favoured of fortune than well-advised of reason; wherefore I would not counsel any one to adventure herself in the footsteps of her of whom I am to tell, for that fortune is not always well disposed nor are all men in the world equally blind.

• From Another Country (1962)

  The women, too. They saw Ida first and might have been happy to admire her if she had been walking alone. But she was with Vivaldo, which gave her the status of a thief. The means that she had used to accomplish this abduction were beneath or perhaps beyond them, but their eyes briefly accused Vivaldo of betrayal, then narrowed against a dream or a nightmare, and turned away. Ida strode past, seeming not to see them. She conveyed with this stride and her bright, noncommittal face how far she felt them to be beneath her. She had the great advantage of being extraordinary—however she might bear this distinction, or however others might wish to deny it; whereas, her smile suggested, these people, the citizens of the world’s most bewildered city, were so common that they were all but invisible. Nothing was simpler for her than to ignore, or to seem to ignore, these people: nothing was farther beyond them than the possibility of ignoring her. And the disadvantage at which they thus were placed, for which, after all, they had only themselves to blame, said something which Vivaldo could scarcely believe concerning the poverty of their lives. So their passage raised small clouds of male and female hostility which blew into their faces like dust. And Ida accepted this spiteful tribute with a spiteful pride. “What are you humming?” he asked. She had been humming to herself for a block or so. She continued humming for another second, coming to the end of a phrase. Then she said, smiling. “You wouldn’t know it. It’s an old church song. I woke up with it this morning and it’s been with me all day.” “What is it?” he asked. “Won’t you sing it for me?” “You not about to get religion, are you?” She looked at him sideways, grinning. “I used to have religion, did you know that? A long time ago, when I was a little girl.” “No,” he said, “there’s a whole lot about you I don’t know. Sing your song.” She bent her head toward him, leaning more heavily on his arm, as though they were two children. The colors of the shawl flashed. She sang, in her low, slightly rough voice, whispering the words to him: I woke up this morning with my mind Stayed on Jesus. I woke up this morning with my mind Stayed on Jesus. “That’s a great way to wake up,” he said. And she continued: I stayed all day with my mind Stayed on Jesus. Hallelu, Hallelu Hallelujah! “That’s a great song,” he said. “That’s tremendous. You’ve got a wonderful voice, you know that?” “I just woke up with it—and it made me feel, I don’t know—different than I’ve felt for months. It was just as though a burden had been taken off me.” “You still do have religion,” he said.

• From Confessions of the Flesh (The History of Sexuality, Vol. 4) (2021)

  So in the very form of the confession, in the fact that the secret is formulated in words and these words are addressed to another, there is a specific power: what Cassian calls—using a word that will be found over and over in the vocabulary of penance and the direction of souls—virtus confessionis. The confession has a performative force that is peculiar to it: it tells, it shows, it expels, it frees. This explains why discernment—that practice by which one clears up confusions, sorts mixtures, dispels illusions, differentiates in the subject what comes from himself and what is inspired by the Other—cannot operate solely through examination of the self by the self, but also requires, at the same time, a continual confession. The examination must commence without delay (“as soon as the thoughts arise”) in an actual discourse addressed to another. Can the latter, in a position of exteriority, be a better judge? Undoubtedly. But more importantly, the speech act that is addressed to him, across the barrier of shame, precipitates the play of light and shade, and the material expulsion. The indispensable discretio—which enables one to trace the right path to perfection between the two dangers of the too-much and the too-little, this discretio, which is not a natural endowment of man, haunted as he is by the Enemy’s power of seduction—can be practiced only with the grace of God by means of this process of examination-confession: this game in which one’s focus on oneself must always be combined with “truth-telling” regarding oneself. It is then, after this discrimination focused on the origin, quality, and texture of the cogitationes, that the soul will no longer accept any but pure thoughts, thoughts leading to God alone since they come only from him. Such is the puritas cordis, a requisite condition of that contemplation that is the end of monastic life. At the beginning of book 5 of the Institutes, Cassian bases himself on a text from Isaiah where God the Almighty promises Cyrus, his instrument, that he will “subdue the nations before him,” “break down the brass gates,” “cut through the iron bars,” and give him “hidden treasures, buried riches” (45, 1–3). In an odd inflection of his commentary, Cassian interprets these smashed gates and these severed bars as the work one must do on “the foul darkness of vices” to “drag them forth to light.” As a result of this investigation (indagini) and explanation (expositioni), the “secrets of darkness” will be revealed, everything separating us from the true science will be struck down, and “we will be found worthy of being brought in purity of heart to the place of perfect refreshment.”104