Seventeenth Meditation

(The Dark Night, book II: chapter 8-9)


"I learned both what is secret and what is manifest, for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me. For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent and pure and most subtle. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness." (36)


Purging The Past

Old ways are like mud on the panes
Of glass that form her memory;
Expired knowledge, like dark stains,
Distorts her view with history.

The light of Christ is pure and clear;
Passing through all, it's not contained.
Within this light, truth will appear,
In minds transparent and unstained.

This clear knowledge exceeds what could
Be reached with reason's keenest mind.
Within wisdom, what's understood,
Leaves all natural reason blind.

As infused wisdom supersedes
Her memory's old ways and norms,
Familiar knowledge recedes --
This clash causes her mental storms.

The clamor of the storms can last
Till memory is purged of past.


May the brilliant light of Christ cleanse our memories to prepare the way for Wisdom.

36. Wisdom 7:21-26


(c) Paul Buis, 2004