Thursday, November 13, 2025
Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
 Mobile beyond all motion
The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.
If Aristotle was a physician he might have prescribed a three-fold vitamin for daily life, for a life in which the Kingdom of God will be discerned “among you.” Each day, the doctor would say, take into yourself a little goodness, a little truth and a little beauty. Let the daily doses accumulate and, at least once a week, give thanks for what’s happening within you and around you.”
In a very short time this goodness, truth and beauty will begin pouring out of you and into the world. This is necessary to make room for more goodness and more truth and more beauty, and it also keeps you from becoming addicted and possessive of what you have been given.
The doctor might not say it, but although this experience is what makes life worth living, it is elusive. For one thing, the definition of these three gifts of God is subject to the eye and heart of the beholder. And it will be very tempting to listen to the definitions of others and begin chasing what might not be right for you.
The key is to listen to God instead of others.
There will be those who will say to you,
‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘Look, here he is.’
Do not go off, do not run in pursuit.
For just as lightning flashes
and lights up the sky from one side to the other,
so will the Son of Man be in his day.
And listening to God, which seemed like a piece of cake in the early days of your life, gets more confusing later, because there are so many other voices. But as you keep on listening, the confusion fades.
The revelation of your words sheds light,
giving understanding to the simple.
Let your countenance shine upon your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
Let my soul live to praise you,
and may your ordinances help me.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.
In Philippians Paul guides us toward the road of goodness, truth and beauty, telling us to be thinking on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. The acronym for this octagonal wisdom, that I’ve loved for fifty years, is the nonsense word TNRPLAEP. Try it. Say it out loud. Crazy how cool it is, eh?
Goodness, truth and beauty are building blocks of wisdom. Wisdom is God’s gift to any of us who want to claim it. In the Old Testament Book of Wisdom, the author praises the Spirit’s wisdom with nearly numberless adjectives:
Intelligent
Holy
Unique
Manifold
Subtle
Agile
Clear
Unstained
Certain
Helpful
Loving the good
Keen
Unhampered
Beneficient
Kindly
Firm
Secure
Tranquil
All-powerful
All-seeing
And pervading all other spirits.
I imagine the author of this book overwhelmed with the words pouring into his mind and out of his pen. God is alive, and magic is afoot. He can barely keep up. I can barely keep up with him!
Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion,
and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.
For she is an aura of the might of God
and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty;
nothing that is sullied enters into her.
She is the refulgence of eternal light,
the spotless mirror of the power of God,
the image of his goodness.
And she, who is one, can do all things,
she renews everything while herself enduring.
How do we experience our own eternal souls? In our receiving and passing on of wisdom:
She passes into holy souls from age to age,
as she produces friends of God and prophets.
As the Holy Spirit in its wisdom overwhelms and beatifies us, we praise her goodness, truth and beauty.
She is fairer than the sun
and surpasses every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be more radiant,
for light is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
Indeed, she reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well.
On the desk in front of me a picture appears of our grandson Miles five years ago biting into a thick slice of bright red watermelon. His eyes are closed. His smile extends from ear to ear. I can taste the watermelon juice running down his cheeks.
There’s nothing more to say.
 (Wisdom 7, Psalm 119, John 15, Luke 17)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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