When holiness is misunderstood, it becomes dangerous. Augustine warns against rewarding disobedience among monks who abandon their vows, reminding us that spiritual office must never be treated as an escape from discipline but as its reward (Letter LXI). Clement of Alexandria explores the virtue of temperance, using the image of wine and water to symbolize how the Word and Spirit mingle in us—wine must be used rightly, not worshiped as pleasure itself (The Instructor, Book 2, Chapter 2). Aquinas completes the triad with his reflection on courage, showing that true bravery begins strong but steadies under trial, seeking not danger itself but the good that danger protects (Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Question 45, Article 4). Together, they reveal that strength without order—and desire without restraint—quickly becomes ruin.

Readings:

Augustine, Letters, LXI

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 2, Chapter 2

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Question 45, Article 4

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The Word becomes both teacher and physician—Christ instructs by law and prophets, forming us in the divine likeness. Augustine writes to Crispinus, appealing for unity and truth against division; Aquinas turns to love as the hidden cause of fear, showing how love perfects and sanctifies the soul (Psalm 1:1–3; John 14:27; 1 John 4:18).

Readings:

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, Chapters 11–12 (“That the Word Instructed by the Law and the Prophets” and “The Instructor Characterized by the Severity and Benignity of Paternal Affection”)

Augustine, Letter 51 to Crispinus

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 43, Article 1 (“Whether Love Is the Cause of Fear”)

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The Word that restrains and heals—the one who threatens sin also saves through mercy. Clement shows Christ’s dual voice of discipline and love; Augustine recalls how unity depends not on uniformity but on charity; and Aquinas explores how daring can either glorify God or defy Him, depending on reason’s rule (Proverbs 8:4–6; Romans 5:3; Matthew 11:28).

Readings:

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, Chapter 10 (“That the Same God, by the Same Word, Restrains from Sin by Threatening and Saves by Exhorting”)

Augustine, Letter 54 to Januarius

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 45 (Combined articles—Of Daring, its Nature, Cause, and Moral Character)

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Divine justice is never cruelty; it is love in action. In the second half of Clement’s Instructor, God’s rebuke is revealed as mercy—discipline that shapes the soul toward holiness. He heals as He wounds, striking only to save. Augustine’s Letter 37 to Simplicianus captures this same humility: the bishop of Hippo submits his writings to the judgment of a spiritual father, asking that what is good be approved and what is flawed be corrected—a portrait of learning that still bows before grace. Aquinas follows with the mystery of divine fear: that it springs from love itself. We tremble not because God is harsh, but because His goodness is weighty. Perfect love, far from erasing fear, transforms it into reverence that endures forever (1 John 4:18; Psalm 19:9).

Readings:

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, Chapter 9 (Part 2)

Augustine, Letter 37

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 43, Article 1

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The Fathers never feared to call God both good and severe. Clement of Alexandria shows us why: divine love rebukes precisely because it desires healing. The Instructor, Christ Himself, uses correction, fear, and compassion to bring souls back from ruin, much like a physician who cuts to cure. Augustine, in Letter 50, thunders against the pagan magistrates of Suffectum, whose idolatry led them to massacre Christians. He shames them with irony—offering to rebuild their lifeless Hercules if only they will restore the lives they took—and then turns their cruelty into a call to repentance. Aquinas, in Summa Theologica, reminds us that every fear grows from love: we fear only the loss of what we cherish. To love rightly, then, is to fear rightly—not the loss of worldly goods, but the loss of God Himself (Psalm 19:9).

Readings:

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, Chapter 9 (Part 1)

Augustine, Letter 50

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 43, Article 1

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True goodness is not softness—it is the stern love that disciplines. Clement of Alexandria insists that God’s justice and goodness are one, for correction and compassion spring from the same divine heart. The Word prunes, not to wound, but to make the soul bear fruit.

Augustine’s pastoral letter recounts how fear of God purifies false devotion. He reminds us that worship without holiness is idolatry in disguise. When the people of Hippo turned from drunken feasts to psalms and prayer, joy became obedience, and discipline became delight.

Aquinas brings these themes together: to fear God is not to dread His nature but to revere His righteousness. Fear’s object is evil, not good—but holy fear guards the good from being lost. What begins as trembling ends in trust.

Readings: Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, Chapter 8 – “Against Those Who Think that What Is Just Is Not Good” Augustine, Letter 29 (A.D. 395) – “The Abolition of a Drunken Festival” Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 42, Article 1 – “Whether the Object of Fear Is Good or Evil”

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The early Christian vision of goodness is richer than mere kindness—it is moral harmony born of divine love. Clement of Alexandria rebukes those who see the justice of God as cruelty, showing that correction is itself a form of mercy. The Instructor’s sternness is the surgeon’s hand that heals the soul.

Augustine, in his letter to Alypius, writes of reforming his people’s hearts by abolishing a drunken festival. He replaces riot with reverence, teaching that Christian joy must be sober and spiritual. His pastoral courage becomes a mirror for the Church’s sanctification.

Aquinas explains that fear’s true object is not good, but evil—the loss of good being evil’s shadow. Fear, rightly ordered, leads the soul away from sin and toward its highest love. To fear the Lord is to recognize both His holiness and our dependence on Him.

Readings: Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, Chapter 8 – “Against Those Who Think that What Is Just Is Not Good” Augustine, Letter 29 (A.D. 395) – “The Abolition of a Drunken Festival” Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 42, Article 1 – “Whether the Object of Fear Is Good or Evil”

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Clement saw divine training — paideia — as the process of growing from fear to wisdom. The goal was never to terrify but to teach. Augustine knew this too, warning that the world’s pleasures can drown the soul more swiftly than pain ever could. He pleads with Licentius to listen to the voice that calls him out of bondage. Aquinas closes our week with a profound balance: fear is not opposed to love but perfected by it. To fear God rightly is to fear losing Him. Thus even our trembling becomes holy, for it preserves our communion with the One who drives out all lesser fears (1 John 4:18).

Readings: Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, Chapter 7 Augustine, Letter 26 (conclusion) Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 41, Article 4

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