Through the Church Fathers: January 11

Today’s readings bring us face to face with how the early Church understood faith as something lived, ordered, and grounded in the very being of God. In the Didache, the Church lays out practical wisdom for discerning true teachers, caring for the poor, gathering rightly on the Lord’s Day, and remaining watchful as we await Christ’s return—showing that doctrine and daily life were never separated. Augustine then looks back on his own childhood in The Confessions, exposing how even youthful innocence is already bent toward disordered love, yet sustained entirely by God’s gracious gifts. Aquinas finally lifts our eyes higher still, teaching that God is not composed of parts, accidents, or divisions, but is utterly simple—pure being itself—so that every good we experience finds its source in the one, undivided God who holds all things together (Matthew 6:33; James 1:17).

Readings:

The Didache, Chapters 12–16

Augustine, The Confessions, Book 1, Chapters 30–31

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

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