Word to the Wise
Saturday, September 24, 2016 - Saturday in the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eccl/Qoh 11:9-12:8 and Luke 9:43b-45]Rejoice, O young man while you are young and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart, the vision of your eyes. Yet understand that as regards all this God will bring you to judgment. Ward off grief from your heart and put away trouble from your presence, though the dawn of youth is fleeting. [Ecclesiastes/Qoheleth]
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2016 SATURDAY IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
[Ecclesiastes/Qoheleth 11:9 - 12:8 and Luke 9:43b-45]
Rejoice, O young man while you are young and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart, the vision of your eyes. Yet understand that as regards all this God will bring you to judgment. Ward off grief from your heart and put away trouble from your presence, though the dawn of youth is fleeting. [Ecclesiastes/Qoheleth]
I spent many happy years in full-time or part-time campus ministry, and even now I do my itinerant preaching ministry from a Dominican campus ministry community two blocks from a very large state university. I am surrounded, on my daily morning walk, by students going to and from class (cell phones held out in front of them with earphones firmly placed). On Sundays, when I am home, I am able to celebrate the Eucharist in the campus ministry parish. Youth is all around me. At 73, I wonder why they all look younger to me each year? But I think Ecclesiastes has a point - youth is not forever, enjoy it while you can!
I have had more than one student tell me that the course of study they are taking is the one their parents were willing to support and not the one they would REALLY like to follow. This conflict of visions can be a difficult challenge. The "ways of your heart, the vision of your eyes" can seem impractical to ambitious parents. Even if parents aren't involved, students wonder what will get them a job that will support the lifestyle they envision for themselves when the undergraduate days are over! I am continually impressed, however, with the faith of the students I meet. That faith will sustain them not only in these "fleeting" days of undergraduate study but through more challenging days of graduate study and career/parenthood.
Ecclesiastes reminds youth and us older folks that no matter what, God is involved in all of this and our achievements and mistakes are all part of God's merciful providence. It is not overly pessimistic to remember this. AMEN