| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: meanness, hypocrisy, ignorance--of esteem, genuine and earnest, for
the Holy Scriptures, and for the more moderate of the Reformers who
were spreading the Scriptures in Europe,--and all this great light
wilfully hidden, not under a bushel, but under a dunghill. He is
somewhat like Socrates in face, and in character likewise; in him,
as in Socrates, the demigod and the satyr, the man and the ape, are
struggling for the mastery. In Socrates, the true man conquers, and
comes forth high and pure; in Rabelais, alas! the victor is the ape,
while the man himself sinks down in cynicism, sensuality, practical
jokes, foul talk. He returns to Paris, to live an idle, luxurious
life; to die--says the legend--saying, "I go to seek a great
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: through faith in Christ, when we believe that our sins are
forgiven for Christ's sake. Now if the Mass take away the sins
of the living and the dead by the outward act justification
comes of the work of Masses, and not of faith, which Scripture
does not allow.
But Christ commands us, Luke 22, 19: This do in remembrance of
Me; therefore the Mass was instituted that the faith of those
who use the Sacrament should remember what benefits it
receives through Christ, and cheer and comfort the anxious
conscience. For to remember Christ is to remember His
benefits, and to realize that they are truly offered unto us.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: erect, now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a
rainbow. Her lips were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were
black as jet, her glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and
the tiny drops of perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon
white marble.
She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was
concentrated upon her.
A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the
pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,
Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of
steps leading to the gallery, and coming to the front of it she leaned
Herodias |
