Faith is not preserved by nostalgia but proven when the same Spirit who strengthened the ancients is seen at work in later witnesses, calling the Church to endurance, right desire, and a clearer vision of the good. In The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, we hear the Church defend the living power of the Holy Spirit through the testimony of Perpetua herself—her unyielding confession before her father, the tenderness and agony of motherhood in prison, and the vision that taught her suffering, not escape, was the path appointed to her, revealing that what appears terrifying is often the very means by which God perfects His servants. Augustine then reflects on the nature of sin, showing that evil is never loved for its own sake but arises when good things—honor, beauty, friendship, power—are loved out of order, displacing G ...