Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 25, 2008 - Thursday in the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
[Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 and Luke 9:7-9]Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!.......What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun.
After seeing and hearing so much political rant about CHANGE in this election year, it is almost refreshing to hear Qoheleth say "It's no use! Why bother? Been there, done that!" One can imagine Qoheleth standing on the steps of the capitol building and shouting at both houses (and candidates!) that they're wasting their time trying to change anything! "Nothing is new under the sun!" The profoundly pessimistic (by almost any age's standards) outlook in Ecclesiastes has its sparkling moments as we will see Friday in the famous "a time for...." section, but even this "moment" reflects an attitude that everything will be what it will be no matter what we humans try to do. It flies in the face of "progress" which is the optimistic secular religion of the scientically oriented Western culture in which we live. I am put in mind of the song, Que sera, sera! It might be easy to dismiss Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) as simply a disgruntled and grumpy biblical party-pooper, occasionally entertaining! I think he offers us a chance to "purify" our own efforts to "shape" the future! What is it that we truly need to be doing for one another? Should we live only in "the present" and leave the "future to God?" There's a hint of that in the Sermon on the Mount ("Sufficient for the day is its own trouble!") If the pyramids could be covered over by sand for centuries, what accomplishments of our own will be of lasting value? Maybe this is all a bit too much to ponder on a daily basis. Yet, it all concerns what we call "hope!" What can we "hope" for? Why vote? Why get up in the morning and face the day? Why go to school? Why preach the gospel in an indifferent or hostile secular culture? Another song, I think it's from the musical, SWEET CHARITY, says, "There's gotta be something better than this!" That's a good reply to Qoheleth, and it's an underlying theme of the gospel! AMEN
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