Clement of Alexandria, Augustine’s Letter 84, Aquinas Q50 A5 — Whether Any Habit Is in the Will)

The human soul bends toward what it loves most—Clement warns me not to hide behind displays of wisdom, for the true adornment of the Christian is humility and restraint, even down to the sandals on our feet. Augustine then writes with the gentleness of a bishop and the precision of a theologian, guiding a troubled friend through the tension between action and contemplation—between the outer work of charity and the inward rest of grace. Aquinas closes the day by explaining that the will, too, carries habits just as the intellect does, for we grow into the good not by accident but by steady choosing. Virtue becomes second nature when the will learns to delight in the good itself (Philippians 2:13).

Readings: Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Chapter 12 (“On Shoes”)

Augustine, Letter 84

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 50, Article 5

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Clement of Alexandria begins with the sanctity of marriage, teaching that the marital act is not for indulgence but for partnership with God in creating and shaping life. To misuse that union, he warns, is to rebel against the order of nature itself. True chastity is not abstinence but purpose—a life in which desire serves reason and reason serves God (Genesis 1:28; 1 Corinthians 6:15–20).

Augustine, writing to Novatus, speaks of a different discipline: the surrender of what we love for the sake of the gospel. His letter reveals the ache of ministry, where obedience sometimes means letting go of comfort and companionship. Yet this sacrifice, he says, yields a greater family in Christ, for what is given up for Him is never truly lost (Matthew 19:29).

Aquinas completes the theme, showing that even the will itself must be trained. Though naturally drawn to the good, the will needs habits—virtues that align desire with reason—so that doing good becomes not struggle, but stability. The moral life, he reminds us, is not spontaneous; it is learned, practiced, and perfected through grace (Philippians 2:13).

Readings:

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 2, Chapter 10 — On the Procreation of Children

Augustine of Hippo, Letter 84 — To Novatus

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 50, Article 5 (Whether any habit is in the will)

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Temperance, vigilance, and order—the same virtues that shape our waking lives, Clement of Alexandria says, should guide our sleep. When the day ends, the disciple’s rest must not become indulgence. A simple bed, a light meal, and a watchful heart prepare the soul for prayer even in silence. For the Christian, sleep is not escape but renewal—an act of readiness for the next call of God (Luke 12:35–36; 1 Thessalonians 5:7–8).

Augustine carries that same spirit of discipline into the intellect. In his final letter to Jerome, he insists that truth can never be served by deceit, even when the motive seems noble. Scripture alone, he writes, is infallible; all other teachers, himself included, must submit to its judgment. Between these two great minds, the correspondence ends not with victory, but with charity—a model of how love must rule even in disagreement (Galatians 2:11–14; Matthew 5:37).

Aquinas closes the day by defining habit as a quality of the soul—a stable readiness to act well or ill. Virtue, he says, is not momentary enthusiasm but the formed strength of grace and repetition. The same habit that steadies the hand of the craftsman must also shape the heart of the saint (Philippians 2:13).

Readings:

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus), Book 2, Chapter 9 — On Sleep

Augustine of Hippo, Letter 82 — To Jerome, My Brother in Christ

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 49 (Combined articles — Of Habits in General, as to Their Substance)

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