Through the Church Fathers: January 15

Faithfulness begins long before the fire is lit. In today’s readings, the Church at Smyrna bears witness to the quiet courage of Polycarp as persecution gathers strength, showing how prayer, hospitality, and submission to God’s will prepare a soul for martyrdom before a single threat is spoken. Augustine then turns inward, exposing the earlier battleground of desire, pride, and the hunger for approval that shaped his youth, reminding us that the same heart that must one day stand firm before rulers must first learn to resist the subtler tyranny of sin. Aquinas brings these testimonies into sharp focus by teaching that God is altogether simple—undivided, uncompounded, and wholly Himself—so that the strength seen in Polycarp and the repentance confessed by Augustine do not arise from fractured human resolve, but from the simple, unchanging God who gives being, courage, and grace without division.

Readings:

The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at Smyrna Concerning the Martyrdom of the Holy Polycarp (Chapters 1–7)

Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions, Book 2, Chapter 3 (Sections 6–7)

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Book 1, Question 3, Article 7

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