What looks like a sin in a holy man may be a sign, and a custom is not yet a law. Augustine says the deeds ascribed to God and the saints, which seem wicked to the inexperienced, are figurative, and the kernel is charity. It is not the use of a thing that is blamed, but the lust of the user. The ointment on the Lord’s feet is not the ointment of a banquet. Hosea’s keeping company with a harlot is not abandoned manners. The plurality of wives among the fathers was blameless then, for the sake of offspring, and could not be done now except through lust. Men who know only their own customs conclude that there is no absolute right. The precept stands against them: whatever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them. In the Confessions he begs the Truth, not his own darkness, to speak. He went astray and remembered. He returns burning to the fountain, and the words of the books are very deep. Aquinas asks what may be said of the one who is both. God is man and man is God, because the Person is one and the natures are not mixed. There is one being, two wills without contrariety, and two operations concurring in the one work. The human action merited, for Himself and for the members.

Today’s Readings:

Augustine — On Christian Doctrine, Book 3, Chapters 12–14 (Sections 18–22) Augustine — The Confessions, Book 12, Chapter 10 (Section 10) Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 3, Questions 16–19

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