Through the Church Fathers: January 14

Faithfulness is learned in ordinary obedience long before it is tested in extraordinary trials. In today’s readings, Polycarp exhorts the Philippians to steadfastness, patience, and moral clarity, reminding the Church that true doctrine is guarded not only by confession, but by prayer, fasting, chastity, and love lived out under pressure. Augustine then reflects on his own youth, exposing the quiet danger of ambition unchecked by holiness, where success in learning masked a heart still untended toward God. Aquinas brings these voices into sharp theological focus by showing that God is not one being among others, nor contained within any category, but stands wholly apart as the source of all being—so that perseverance, repentance, and holiness alike rest not on human order or effort, but on the God who transcends every genus while sustaining every soul.

Readings:

Polycarp of Smyrna, The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (Chapters 7–14)

Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions, Book 2, Chapter 5

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 3, Article 5

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