The Living Bread

by Thomas Merton

1915 · Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The whole problem of our time is the problem of love. How are we going to recover the ability to love ourselves and to love one another? We cannot be at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we cannot be at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God. There is a distinction between a contrite sense of sin and a feeling of guilt. The former is a true and healthy thing, the latter tends to be false and pathological. The man who suffers from a sense of guilt does not want to feel guilty, but at the same time he does not want to be innocent. He wants to do what he thinks he must not do, without the pain of worrying about the consequences. The history of our time has been made by dictators whose characters, often transparently easy to read, have been full of repressed guilt. They have managed to enlist the support of masses of men moved by the same repressed drives as themselves. Modern dictatorships display everywhere a deliberate and calculated hatred for human nature as such. The technique of degradation used in concentration camps and in staged trials are all too familiar in our time. They have one purpose: to defile the human person.

Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular (2021) #1

by Brandon Thomas, Chuck Brown, Geoff Johns, Stephanie Nicole Phillips

2021 · DC Comics

After defending the seven seas for eight decades, it’s time to throw Aquaman a party! This all-star-filled anthology spans across the ocean king’s legacy, not just celebrating his own triumphs, but also those of his greatest allies and enemies. We look at his ongoing romance with Mera, his bitter rivalry with Black Manta, his brotherly conflict with Ocean Master, and the inspiration he lends to younger heroes like Tempest and Jackson Hyde, the newest Aqualad. It would not be an Aquaman celebration without also looking at how he’s changed over the years, including a brand-new tale of Bombshells Aquaman. This special brings together Aqua talent past, present, and future, including reuniting fan-favorite creative teams such as Geoff Johns and Paul Pelletier, Dan Jurgens and Steve Epting, alongside Dan Watters and Miguel Mendonca. Plus, two of the stories are prequels to two new Aquaman miniseries launching in September, kicking off another 80 years of undersea adventure!