St Paul tells the Corinthians:
“I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

That could have been the motto of St John Henry Newman.
He was one of the brightest minds England ever produced —
a scholar, preacher, poet, and thinker —
but what mattered most to him was not cleverness, but faith.

He loved truth more than comfort.
He followed conscience more than popularity.
And he found, in the end, that the only wisdom worth having is the wisdom of the Cross.

Newman began as a brilliant Oxford clergyman.
He searched Scripture, the Fathers, the history of the early Church —
and step by step he was drawn toward the Catholic faith.
It cost him friends, reputation, and security,
but when his conscience was sure, he obeyed.

True conscience is not doing what we like;
it is hearing the quiet voice of God and following it,
even when it leads us where we would rather not go.

In the Gospel, Jesus says:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea…
When it is full, they sort the good from the bad.”

Newman would have smiled at that image.
He knew the Church is a great net — full of saints and sinners together.
It’s not perfection that keeps us inside, but mercy.
Our task is to let grace change us,
so that when the catch is drawn in, we may be found faithful.

He once wrote: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”
That isn’t about following fashion —
it’s about conversion, letting God turn the heart, again and again, toward holiness.

St Paul reminds us that the world’s wisdom fades,
but God’s wisdom is revealed to the humble.
Newman knew that too.
He said: “The Christian has a deep, silent, hidden peace which the world sees not.”
That peace was his reward for trusting God’s plan,
even when he could not see the next step.

You and I may never have Newman’s intellect,
but we can share his obedience.
Each of us has a mission — some definite service that God has entrusted to us alone.
It may seem small: a kindness, a prayer, a quiet act of fidelity.
But nothing done for God is ever wasted.

Newman’s famous prayer says it best:

“God has created me to do Him some definite service.
He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission.”

That mission unfolds one step at a time —
and so he prayed:

“Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom;
Lead Thou me on.
I do not ask to see the distant scene — one step enough for me.”

Today, let’s ask St John Henry Newman to teach us his three great virtues:
love of truth,
obedience of conscience,
and trust in God’s providence.

Because in the end, wisdom is not found in books,
but in belonging to Christ crucified —
the One who is Truth itself,
the Light that kindly leads us home.