In seventeenth-century France, Jeanne Guyon (1648–1717) writes about the suffering of the apocalypse followed by the consummation of the second coming. Guyon believed that in our earthly pilgrimage, we may find the way to union with our Savior Jesus Christ. To read her commentary on Revelation—translated into English here for the first time—is to be caught up in her conversation with the living Lord. We experience the wonder and passion of this conversation which is her authenticity at its highest level. As Guyon expresses her love to Jesus Christ, the words carry the attentive reader into the heart of God while deepening our own interior being. In her commentary on Revelation, Guyon interprets Jesus Christ’s grace needed for living faithfully during the time of suffering in the apocalypse before the advent of the new heaven and new earth in which believers experience eternal union with God. Guyon writes, “It is your universal reign that I desire, O God, and about which I am passionate. . . . So come, Lord Jesus! Let the grace of the Lord Jesus prepare us all for the second coming. Amen.”

Madame Jeanne Guyon (1648–1717), a woman of great wisdom and worship, was filled with the richness of God’s grace as she endured hardships and abuse in her married life. Blessed with children and great earthly wealth, she suffered physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually at the hands of her spiritual leaders, imprisoned unjustly for her simple yet solid faith in Christ, her Divine Confidant. Trusting in her Lord, she expressed her insights in commentaries concerning the Scriptures, seeing in them the mysteries of the holy Eucharist, the sacrificial presence of her merciful Savior. Through her intercession, we are inspired to adore the Lord, uniting our suffering to his as she did.

In this book, visual and poetic emblems of God’s love, created by Otto van Veen and Jeanne Guyon, symbolically represent spiritual meaning and, as such, offer a gift of revealed strength and purpose to the aware reader. In our age, when love seems almost forgotten, this emblem book uniting Guyon’s poetry and D’Othon Vaenius’s illustrations give us a faithful look into what might be. What if Divine love becomes part of the human endeavor and joins to human souls? Otto van Veen and Jeanne de la Mothe Guyon internalized this hope and here reveal to us their vision of the love of God bonding and becoming one with the human soul. Translated into English for the first time here, these emblems of divine love become available to postmodern readers.

Called as pope, St. John Paul II emerged onto St. Peter's balcony proclaiming, "Do not be afraid!" What theology and mystery inspired this surprising proclamation? John Paul II's quest for holiness was grounded in the mystical insight that we participate in God. We seek the Beatific Vision, the Face of God, through which we are transformed in theosis or divinization. This infusion of grace perfects and unites us. In this book readers will find engaging theology intermixed with spiritual direction and lectio divina meditations. Utilizing Aquinas' method of scriptural interpretation, we are offered ways of seeking spiritual fulfillment to behold the Beatific Vision. Fr. Tom Kuffel shares personal experiences from his time studying and working in Rome, Nebraska, and Alaska. Reflecting on his own priesthood, his fascinating narratives encourage our own spiritual growth. Readers find fresh ways of engaging Scripture through St. John Paul II's New Pentecost, encouraging new interpretations of Vatican II.

This book aims to uncover and explore the ideas of notable people in the story of Christian universalism from the time of the Reformation until the end of the nineteenth century. It is a story that is largely unknown in both the church and the academy, and the characters that populate it have for the most part passed into obscurity. With carefully located bore holes drilled to release the long-hidden theologies of key people and texts, the volume seeks to display and historically situate the roots, shapes, and diversity of Christian universalism. Here we discover a diverse and motley crew of mystics and scholars, social prophets and end-time sectarians, evangelicals and liberals, orthodox and heretics, Calvinists and Arminians, Puritans, Pietists, and a host of others. The story crisscrosses Continental Europe, Britain, and America, and its reverberations remain with us to this day.