In these readings, we confront the uncomfortable truth that spiritual blindness is not always loud or malicious—sometimes it is learned, disciplined, and even admired. Hermas is shown the towering vision of the Church rising from the waters, built patiently by God while many stones are tested, rejected, or set aside, reminding us that endurance and purity matter more than proximity. Augustine reflects on his years as a teacher of rhetoric, confessing how easily brilliance and ambition can coexist with moral compromise, even while God quietly preserves flashes of fidelity amid the smoke of vanity (Psalm 119:37). Aquinas then draws us upward, clarifying that God’s knowledge of all creatures is neither vague nor mechanical but perfectly distinct, fully actual, and eternally present—without reasoning, succession, or uncertainty—because God knows all things by knowing Himself (Hebrews 4:13).

Readings: The Shepherd of Hermas — Vision 3 (Chapters 1–4) Augustine, The Confessions — Book 4, Chapter 2 (Section 2) Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica — Part 1, Question 14 (Articles 5–7 Combined)

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