You cannot serve two masters—and that warning echoes across all three of today’s readings.

In Second Clement (Chapters 6–10), we are confronted with the stark opposition between this present world and the world to come: one urges greed, corruption, and compromise; the other calls us to holiness, endurance, and repentance. The homily presses us with athletic urgency—strive for the incorruptible crown, guard the seal of baptism, repent while the clay is still soft in the Potter’s hands (Matthew 6:24; Matthew 16:26; Isaiah 66:24; Luke 16:10). This is not casual Christianity. The present age is fleeting; eternal life belongs to those who keep the flesh holy and persevere.

Augustine, in Confessions 5.9 (Section 16), brings that warning into painful autobiography. Struck with fever and near death, he realizes he was on the ...