Today’s readings press us to see how finitude, freedom, and obedience are meant to work together under God rather than against Him. Ignatius exhorts the Magnesians to live not in name only but in truth, calling them to harmony under their bishop, unity in love, and readiness to die into the passion of Christ, since life and death are set before every believer as real and present choices. Augustine then exposes the social contagion of sin, confessing that his theft was not driven by desire for the fruit itself but by the perverse pleasure of shared rebellion, showing how companionship can deepen corruption when love is misdirected. Aquinas completes the picture by teaching that no creature can be essentially infinite, because every created thing receives its being in a limited way, while God alone is infinite in essence as being itself. Together, these readings reveal that disorder enters when finite creatures seek fullness apart from God, but true life is found where obedience, humility, and love are ordered back to the One who alone is without limit.

Readings:

Ignatius of Antioch, The Epistle to the Magnesians, Chapters 1–6

Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions, Book 2, Chapter 8 (Section 16)

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 7, Article 2

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