I hear a single charge running through these readings: truth entrusted once and for all must be both accurately received and courageously proclaimed. Tertullian insists that the apostles were neither ignorant nor secretive; they received direct instruction from Christ, were strengthened by the Spirit, and preached openly—so attempts to invent a hidden, superior gospel collapse under the weight of Scripture and common testimony. Augustine draws us inward: the gift of the Spirit is the engine of our ascent, not spatial motion but the inward lifting of love that makes us restless for God until we find our rest in him. Thomas Aquinas (Question 15, Articles 3–4) ties the pastoral knot: the will is formally ordered to the end, yet right consent in a concrete agent normally includes assent to the means as shaped by reason; full moral responsibility belongs to the higher faculties even as the lower appetites influence assent. Together these readings move from apostolic authority to inner renewal to ethical formation—one living truth, manifold implications. (Matt. 13:11; Matt. 16:18–19; John 13:23; John 19:26–27; Matt. 17:1–6; Luke 24:27; John 16:12–13; Acts 2; 1 Cor. 9:20–22; 2 Cor. 12:2–4; Gal. 2:11–14; Psalm 122:1)

Readings:

Tertullian, The Prescription against Heretics, Chapters 22–24

Augustine, The Confessions, Book 13, Chapter 9

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1–2, Question 15, Articles 3–4

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