Friday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 25, 2020

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. What advantage has the worker from his toil? I have considered the task that God has appointed for the sons of men to be busied about. He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without man’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

The verses for today’s first reading have entered into common currency and have even been used as the text for popular songs.  They possess a simple symmetry with an almost hypnotic rhythm.  The words encompass the whole of human life and provide a reassuring regularity for it.  Both text and style suit each other admirably.  This is, altogether, one of the clearest and most memorable examples of Hebrew poetry.

These verses also illustrate how the Israelites perceived the order of the universe, one of the qualities that made them unique among ancient peoples.  The Babylonians, for instance, believed that the universe existed in an order, but a fairly fragile one, and that the order applied to the sun and the moon and the seasons, but not to the will of their gods.  The Israelites believed that the order of the universe whether regarding the heavenly bodies or an individual’s life was subject to the order God had created and that this order expressed his own being.  Indeed, we can read the Old Testament, particularly, as the story of God maintaining the order of the universe while the humans he has created attempt to wreck it.

These verses pertain to human life, in the literal sense, but the Christian can see deeper into them and thus understand how this maintenance of order by God pertains to the mysteries of salvation.  “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.”  There is a time for the Son of God to come among us, and for him to die for our sins.  There is a time to plant the faith and a time to harvest the faithful soul, or, a time to found the Church on earth and a time to bring it into heaven.  There is a time to tear down the kingdom of the devil and a time to build up the kingdom of God.  There is a time to weep for our sins and a time for rejoicing in the kingdom of God.  There is the season of Lent for us to mourn in and the season of Easter to be glad in.   

“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.”  A time for scattering the enticements of the world and a time to build oneself up in the virtues.  A time of nearness to God at the beginning of our conversion and a time of feeling distant from him that strengthens our desire for him.  A time to seek the truth about God and a time to lose oneself in the love of God.  A time to keep our meditations to ourselves and a time to share them.  A time to rend our garments in penance and a time to sew the garments of others in performing good works, which cancel a multitude of sins.  A time to be silent when we are just learning the basics about the Gospel and a time to speak when our faith has matured.  A time for beginning to love God and a time when we are mature when we hold as loss everything that is not God (Philippians 3, 8).  A time of war when we enter into spiritual combat to subdue temptations and undue worldly desires and a time of lasting peace when lie in the embrace of our loving God.

“What advantage has the worker from his toil?”  That is, beyond keeping his life and providing for his family.  “God has appointed for the sons of men to be busied about.”  The advantage is that the worker — us — are engaged with God in maintaining the order of the world.  The last verse of this reading, given above, is not a good translation of the Hebrew.  The King James Version has a better one: “He hath made every thing beautiful in its time; also He hath set the world in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.”  That is to say, God does not compel the worker to engage in this work merely through the worker’s need for sustenance, but he gives the worker a sense of the worth of his work and the good that it does.  At the same time, though within the workings of God Providence, no one can fathom it.  As mortal beings, all we can do is to marvel at it.