Today’s readings confront division at its root and answer it with love, humility, and depth of meaning in Scripture itself. Clement of Rome warns the Corinthians that removing faithful presbyters and fueling factionalism is not merely disorderly but destructive to the body of Christ, reminding them that schism always arises from pride and is healed only through repentance and love that seeks the common good (Psalm 32:1–2). Augustine of Hippo deepens this diagnosis by confessing how his own early education trained his emotions to weep over fictional tragedies while remaining blind to his own spiritual death, revealing how misdirected loves distort judgment and form habits that must later be unlearned by truth itself (Psalm 78:39). Thomas Aquinas then explains why Scripture itself speaks with layer ...