Truth is not pagan property. Augustine will take music, letters, even a heathen report about the Muses, and then refuse the idols, the amulets, and the fear that mice in the boots mean tomorrow’s ruin. Cato already knew the difference. The Confessions then recites a psalm. Before the first line, attention holds the whole. As the lines are said, memory lengthens and expectation shortens, until the whole action has passed into memory—and that is the shape of a life, and of the age of the sons of men. Aquinas names the life that is after the seeing of truth. The intellect gazes. Love moves it. Delight finishes it. God is the principal object. The virtues clear the room. They are not the vision.

Today’s Readings:

Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 2, Chapters 18–20 (Sections 28–31)

Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapter 28 (Section 38)

Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Question 180 (The Contemplative Life)

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