The Light of Things Hoped For...

About this Episode

"U.S.S. Gloria, this is Mission Control, do you copy?"
"Houston, this is the U.S.S. Gloria, good to hear your voice
We are coming out of the eclipse now
I see the sunlight, it's beautiful
The sunlight is beautiful"

Jesus Christ, light of the world, You never did forget me.
And when I bled in darkness, You held me, still held me.
When desperate nights I cursed You, You loved me, still loved me.
Jesus Christ, You dry the tears, You break my heart of stone.
Your words are life cut marrow through the darkness to the bone
A heart of flesh You gave me; Only You can save me.
Savior! Daylight!
I am coming home!

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Episode Links

• Catechism of the Catholic Church on Hope — Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.95
• Quote by Alan Jacobs: “In a lovely book called On Hope, Josef Pieper e...” — “In a lovely book called On Hope, Josef Pieper explores Thomas Aquinas' theology of hope along these lines: the hopeful person is by definition a wayfarer (viator), because the virtue of hope lies midway between the two vices of despair (desperatio) and presumption (praesumptio). What despairing persons and presumptuous persons have in common is that they aren't going anywhere, they are fixed in place: the despairing because they don't think there's anywhere to go, the presumptuous because they think they have reached the pinnacle of achievement.” ― Alan Jacobs, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction
• Julien Baker - Appointments (Lyric video) — Julien Baker - Appointments
• The Light of Things Hoped For - Wikipedia — The Light of Things Hoped For chronicles the crew of the U.S.S. Gloria (Roper, Culp, Hoerig, Verdecchio) as they continue their study of the moons of Saturn. As the album begins, the crew has just received the command from Mission Control to return home. The mood quickly changes, however, as complications arise. Gases are emitted from the Gloria, sending the ship careening into the eclipse of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Communications cut out, and all seems to be lost. The crew reflects on what had happened and what they had lost, drawing the comparison of being away from the light of Christ. The album ends in a series of radio transmissions between the Gloria and Mission Control, and the U.S.S. Gloria emerges from the shadow of Titan and into the light, once again drawing the comparison between the Sun and Christ and the light He brings.
• Brave Saint Saturn "Heart Still Beats" — The girl in the alley kneels with exhaustion. She's guarded by the skinny guy who limps from some infection. Behind a veil of bleached thin hair, her eyes tell a story, Like a photo of Berlin, December 1944. She's looking for a handout; she's been high for several weeks now. She's too far gone for whoring, and the money just gave out... And her heart still beats inside, And the blood runs in her veins, A remanent of life remains, And her heart still beats inside.
• Brave Saint Saturn - Gemini
• Brave Saint Saturn - Atropos — Sometimes the bravest thing of all is hope.
• Daylight - Brave Saint Saturn — "A heart of flesh you gave me. Only you can save me! SAVIOR! DAYLIGHT! GOD, I'M COMING HOME! HOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMME! HOOOOOMMME!"
• SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: Despair (Secunda Secundae Partis, Q. 20) — If, however, despair be compared to the other two sins from our point of view, then despair is more dangerous, since hope withdraws us from evils and induces us to seek for good things, so that when hope is given up, men rush headlong into sin, and are drawn away from good works. Wherefore a gloss on Proverbs 24:10, "If thou lose hope being weary in the day of distress, thy strength shall be diminished," says: "Nothing is more hateful than despair, for the man that has it loses his constancy both in the every day toils of this life, and, what is worse, in the battle of faith." And Isidore says (De Sum. Bono ii, 14): "To commit a crime is to kill the soul, but to despair is to fall into hell."
• SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: Presumption (Secunda Secundae Partis, Q. 21) — But as to the hope whereby a man relies on the power of God, there may be presumption through immoderation, in the fact that a man tends to some good as though it were possible by the power and mercy of God, whereas it is not possible, for instance, if a man hope to obtain pardon without repenting, or glory without merits. This presumption is, properly, the sin against the Holy Ghost, because, to wit, by presuming thus a man removes or despises the assistance of the Holy Spirit, whereby he is withdrawn from sin.