Desire, love, and will are brought into sharp focus today as the Church wrestles with where the heart truly rests: Hermas insists that God’s commandments are not impossible burdens but become light when the heart is filled with the Lord rather than fear of the devil; Augustine calls the soul away from loving mutable things for their own sake and urges it to love all things in God, where alone there is rest through Jesus Christ; Aquinas anchors both voices by clarifying that the will of God is identical with His being, eternal and unchanging, so that all divine willing flows from fullness rather than need.

Readings:

The Shepherd of Hermas — Commandment 12

Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 4, Chapter 12 (Section 18)

Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 19, Article 1

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