St. Michael's Lent 2026 - Reading #9 - Asceticism
Reading
Why are the good scourged with the wicked? Partly, Augustine says, because the good went silent.
"Accordingly, this seems to me to be one principal reason why the good are chastised along with the wicked, when God is pleased to visit with temporal punishments the profligate manners of a community. They are punished together, not because they have spent an equally corrupt life, but because the good as well as the wicked, though not equally with them, love this present life; while they ought to hold it cheap, that the wicked, being admonished and reformed by their example, might lay hold of life eternal. And if they will not be the companions of the good in seeking life everlasting, they should be loved as enemies, and be dealt with patiently. For so long as they live, it remains uncertain whether they may not come to a better mind."
Watchmen are appointed to rebuke — and even the unofficial watchman is not guiltless.
He aims straight: "These selfish persons have more cause to fear than those to whom it was said through the prophet, 'He is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.' For watchmen or overseers of the people are appointed in churches, that they may unsparingly rebuke sin. Nor is that man guiltless of the sin we speak of, who, though he be not a watchman, yet sees in the conduct of those with whom the relationships of this life bring him into contact, many things that should be blamed, and yet overlooks them, fearing to give offence, and lose such worldly blessings as may legitimately be desired, but which he too eagerly grasps. Then, lastly, there is another reason why the good are afflicted with temporal calamities--the reason which Job's case exemplifies: that the human spirit may be proved, and that it may be manifested with what fortitude of pious trust, and with how unmercenary a love, it cleaves to God."
Name what needs naming — gently, in love.
Reflection
We see what should be named and confronted in the people around us, and we look away — shrinking from the labour, ashamed to offend, afraid to lose friendships. We spare damnable sins to protect our comfort, our advancement, our reputation for being easy to get along with. And so we share the temporal scourge, because our silence was love of this life, not love of the sinner.
Fatherhood is exactly such a placement. You are the appointed watchman of a specific set of souls, and "his blood will I require at the watchman's hand" is addressed to men with your job description.
Augustine is careful: there is a silence of charity, waiting for the seasonable moment. But most of our silence is not strategy; it is selfishness wearing strategy's uniform. Here last week's vigilance meets this week's asceticism: the hardest fast is fasting from approval. Name what needs naming in your house, gently, in love, this week. The line held in private conversation is still the line held.