Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI)

Anyone who expected that Christianity would now become a mass movement was, of course, disappointed. But mass movements are not the ones that bear the promise of the future within them. The future is made wherever people find their way to one another in life-shaping convictions. And a good future grows wherever these convictions come from the truth and lead to it.

-- Preface to the 2000 edition of Introduction to Christianity

καὶ ἡ θάλασσα οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι

As for the statement, "And there shall be no more sea," I would not lightly say whether it is dried up with that excessive heat, or is itself also turned into some better thing...For then there shall be no more of this world, no more of the surgings and restlessness of human life, and it is this which is symbolized by the sea.

Quod autem ait: "Et mare iam non est:" utrum maximo illo ardore siccetur an et ipsum vertatur in melius, non facile dixerim....Iam enim tunc non erit hoc saeculum vita mortalium turbulentum et procellosum, quod maris nomine figuravit.

-- St. Augustine, City of God, 20.16

A New Heaven and a New Earth

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them (as their God). He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, (for) the old order has passed away." The one who sat on the throne 5 said, "Behold, I make all things new." Then he said, "Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true." He said to me, "They are accomplished. 6 I (am) the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor 7 will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son" (Rev. 21:1-7)

We had some nice conversations about the fact that "the sea was no more."

Overheard from a phone conversation between Anthony and grandpa

"Grandpa, ya wanna see something?..."

[grandpa's response unheard]

"...Okay, look at yourself!"

Edward Taylor (1642-1729)

God is Gone up with a triumphant shout:
The Lord with sounding Trumpets melodies:
Sing Praise, sing Praise, sing Praise, sing Praises out,
Unto our King sing praise seraphick-wise!
Lift up your Heads, ye lasting Doores, they sing,
And let the King of Glory Enter in.

Methinks I see Heavens sparkling Courtiers fly,
In flakes of Glory down him to attend;
And heare Heart Cramping notes of Melody
Surround his Charriot as it did ascend:
Mixing their Musick, making e’vry string
More to inravish, as they this tune sing.

-- from Meditation Twenty, Sacramental Meditations

"For the good man is neither uplifted with the good things, of time, nor broken by its ills; but the wicked man, because he is corrupted by this world's happiness, feels himself punished by its unhappiness." -- St. Augustine, City of God, Book I, Ch. 7.

Reading the Ancients

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books.  Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about "isms" and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said.  the error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility.  The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face.  He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him.  But if he only knew, the great man, because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator.  The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism.  It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that first-hand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than second-hand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.
(C.S. Lewis, introduction to On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius)