Through the Church Fathers: December 1

Today’s readings trace the endurance of the soul’s formation—from the early Church’s defense of the body’s goodness, to Augustine’s vision of baptismal grace, to Aquinas’s anatomy of habit. Irenaeus reminds us that holiness is not skin-deep, but the restoration of God’s image within. Augustine shows that even a baptized child belongs wholly to Christ through the Spirit’s work, not human effort. And Aquinas concludes that virtue, like muscle, fades when unused but is rekindled by divine grace. Together they teach that the soul’s beauty is neither painted nor performed—it is patiently formed.
Readings:
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 2, Chapter 33
Augustine, Letter 98 (To Boniface—On the Baptism of Infants and Parental Sin)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 53 (Combined articles—Of the Corruption and Diminution of Habits)
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