Friday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 23, 2022

Ecclesiastes 3, 1-11

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every thing under the heavens.  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

In the ancient world, there was a vastly held belief in fate, and that a person’s destiny was predetermined by forces not even the gods could control or influence.  This belief co-existed with that of the apparently chaotic nature of the universe from which people attempted to protect themselves with charms, amulets, and spells.  Because the destinies of every person and all events were preordained by higher forces, they were essentially written into the fabric of the universe and so could be read by prophets and soothsayers.  These would peer into the entrails of sacrificed animals and into the depths of the sky at the movements of the planets and stars in order to understand the present and to forecast the future.  Sometimes the gods would speak through oracles of what had been decreed.  Qoheleth’s “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every thing under the heavens”, should be read against this background.  That is, not as confirming a determinist universe, but as describing an orderly universe created and ruled by Almighty God. 

“A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.”  Qoheleth sees the regularity of the events in human life as a kind of cycle.  The time to plant gives way to a time to uproot, which later gives way to another time to plant.  This does not bring about an improvement in one’s lot, but a maintenance of it.  Looking at these verses in spiritual terms, however, we know that the time of planting is the initial reception of the gift of Faith, or the first hearing of the words of the Gospel.  The Lord himself uses the image of planting to teach about this.  The time for “uprooting” is the time for rejecting beliefs contrary to the teachings of Christ and for acting in accord with his commandments.  “The time to kill” means the killing of the power the devil has over us, while the “time to heal” is for going to Confession and being absolved of sin, as well as for living penitentially.  The other times are to be understood in similar ways.  

“The time to be born” is the time for baptism, while “the time to die” means dying to sin.  This in turn gives way to a new “time to be born”, to live the life of Christ here so as to prepare for eternal life in heaven.  In this we can see how far unaided human wisdom can go, and how much further divine Revelstion can take it.