Word to the Wise
Friday, September 23, 2016 - Friday in the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eccl/Qoh 3:1-11 and Luke 9:18-22]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....[Ecclesiastes/Qoheleth]
SEPTEMBER 23, 2016 ST. PIUS OF PIETRELCINA, ofm.cap. (PADRE PIO)
Many of us who were young adults in the mid-1960's can recall the appearance of a song by Pete Seeger which we know by the refrain, "Turn, turn, turn!" It is based completely on today's passage from Ecclesiastes! An older song that conveys the same sentiment is, "Que sera, sera! Whatever will be will be." Philosophers and theologians debate the subject of determinism which holds that free will is an illusion and all decisions are "determined" by God or outside physical factors. I don't think that Ecclesiastes is arguing for the philosophy of determinism, or even for some kind of passivity in the face of life which can seem overwhelming. I do believe this teacher is arguing for living in the present.
On retreats, I remind the participants that each of them comes to the retreat at a particular moment in time and in their own lives. The ancient Greeks distinguished between chronos (meaning the time in seconds, minutes, etc) and kairos, meaning the point at which we find ourselves in life - the "time of our lives," as it were. Now I don't want to read ancient Greek concepts into our passage today but simply to say that kairos can help us understand what an "appointed time" can be. Perhaps we find a similar idea in the expression about "an idea whose TIME has come." We express it, too, when we speak of "timing" in doing certain things.
The depths of God's providence do allow for us to see that there is a rhythm to some things in life, and even the noblest of achievements can be buried under sand or serve as stones for newer things. Ecclesiastes says it well toward the end of today's passage: "God 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." AMEN
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