Kept Clean by Faith Words from St. Irenaeus

St Irenaeus wasa defender of the faith that propelled him to become a doctor of the chruch. At a young age, he heard the preaching of St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John the Beloved. St. Polycarp would later take Irenaeus as his own disciple. He preached in Gaul during the time of harsh persecutions while evangelizing to the Celtic and Germanic cultures. He did this by learning their language. He defended th faith against gnosticism. A reflection in honor of his feast day comes from his Apostolic Preaching.

The way of all those who see is single and upward, illumined by the heavenly light, but the ways of those who do not see are many, dark, and divergent; the one leads to the kingdom of heaven, uniting man to God, while the others lead down to death, separating man from God. Thus it is necessary for you and for all who are concerned about their salvation to make your way by faith, without deviation, surely and resolutely….

Holiness of body is the abstention from all shameful things and from all lawless deeds, while holiness of soul is to keep the faith in God whole, neither adding nor subtracting from it…. [Godliness] will be preserved in beauty and due measure when truth is continually in the soul, and holiness in the body. For what use is it to know the truth in words, only to defile the body and perform evil deeds? Or what profit indeed can come from holiness of body, if truth is not in the soul? For these rejoice together and join forces to lead man to the presence of God. Therefore the Holy Spirit says through David, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly (Ps 1:1), that is, the counsel of the nations that know not God….

 
Therefore, lest we suffer any such thing, we must keep the rule of faith unswervingly and perform the commandments of God, believing in God and fearing him, for he is Lord, and loving him, for he is Father….

Faith is established upon things truly real, that we may believe what really is, as it is. And believing what really is, as it is, we may always keep our conviction of it firm. Since, then, the conserver of our salvation is faith, it is necessary to take great care of it.