Fulfillment of the Promise (Revelation 7:9-17)

“Now as man could not live in society without truth, so likewise, not without joy.”

— Thomas Aquinas

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. “

— The Apostle Paul to the Galatians

What is the Blessing? (Ephesians 2:11-22)

“A people, we may say, is a gathered multitude of rational beings united by agreeing to share the things they love. There can be as many different kinds of people as there are different things for them to love. … The better the things, the better the people; the worse the things, the worse their agreement to share them.”

— Augustine, The City of God XIX.24

Even in Exile the Nations are Blessed (Daniel 4:19-37)

“In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

That raises a terrible question. How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshiping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of this phantom God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people: that is, they pay a pennyworth of imaginary humility to Him and get out of it a pound's worth of Pride towards their fellow-men.”

—C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Do You Do Well to Be Angry? (Jonah 3:10-4:11)

“Tribes are a normal part of life. They can be as simple as a high school hockey team or a label like ‘Presbyterian.’ Our family is a mini-tribe. Tribalism turns a tribe into a center of worship. Tribes tend towards tribalism, largely because that’s what the heart does. In tribalism, the tribe then becomes not just an affinity grouping but a source of life. In short, the tribe becomes an idol. It’s easy to see tribalism in others, but it’s hard to see our own.”

— Paul Miller