Clement of Alexandria opens today’s reading with a fierce rebuke of vanity. In The Instructor, Book 2, Chapter 13, he mocks the obsession with jewels and gold—those childish trinkets that enslave rather than adorn. True wealth, he says, is not worn but shared: “He who gives to the poor lends to God.” Virtue, not ornament, makes the soul beautiful. A Christian’s pearl is Christ Himself, the Word who shines in simplicity and generosity. The wise soul trades gold for mercy, fashion for faith.

In Letter 90, Augustine of Hippo receives a plea from Nectarius of Calama, who begs for mercy on his city after a violent uprising. The old bishop appeals to Augustine’s sense of justice and compassion—urging that punishment be tempered with discernment, that the innocent not perish with the guilty. True authority, he reminds us, is past ...