Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 27, 2018 - Thursday in the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eccl/Qoh 1:2-11 and Luke 9:7-9]What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us. [Ecclesiastes]
SEPTEMBER 27 ST. VINCENT DE PAUL
I remember, I think, Doris Day singing in a movie the song, "Que sera, sera! Whatever will be, will be...." The whole book of Ecclesiastes, also known as Qoheleth, has a tone of weary resignation, but it does have beautiful moments as we will see in the scriptures for Friday - A time to be born....etc.. Many of us would dispute the assertion that there is nothing new under the sun. Perhaps that may be interpreted as our needing to discover what is already there and use it, like genetic treatments for cancer. But there are some things that we do that reflect our own desires and we create monsters that come back to haunt us, like certain chemicals we mix together for deadly purposes.
So, Ecclesiastes' "What's the use?" philosophy can only go so far. The gospel continually challenges us to create the world anew and make it a better place than our "lesser angels" have made it. Pope Francis' wonderful encyclical on our "common home," LAUDATO SI, is worth reading in this regard. In the meantime, we can give Ecclesiastes some thought and see if he is touching on any of our own experience. AMEN