Through the Church Fathers: January 10

Today’s reading moves us from the earliest moral catechesis of the Church, through Augustine’s searching critique of human education, and into Aquinas’s most famous demonstration of God’s existence. The Didache confronts us with the stark contrast between the way of life and the way of death, grounding Christian ethics in concrete obedience, disciplined worship, and ordered community—where baptism, prayer, Eucharist, and discernment of teachers are inseparable from holiness of life. Augustine then exposes the tragic irony of human learning: that people will guard grammatical precision while neglecting the eternal law written on the conscience, caring more about eloquence than righteousness, and reputation more than love (Psalm 141:5). Aquinas completes the day by showing that belief in God is not a blind leap but a rational conclusion, demonstrated from motion, causation, contingency, degrees of perfection, and the ordered governance of the world—leading us from visible effects to the invisible First Cause whom all call God (Romans 1:20). Together, these readings teach us that Christian faith forms the whole person: conscience, reason, worship, and life ordered toward God.

Readings:

The Didache, Chapters 5–11

Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions, Book 1, Chapter 18 (28–29)

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 2, Article 3

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