Faith

The final chapter (of the book and our life) – Saturday, 25th Week in Ordinary time – Ecclesiastes 11:9 – 12:8

The closing chapter of the book has a word for the youth. While it may seem to advocate the pleasures and joys that celebrate that age, it also comes with a statutory warning. While youth is to be enjoyed and one is truly to rejoice in this gift, while youth is not to be found in ascetic living, while the heart beats for more and the eyes seek to follow its desires, such desires and flirtations of youth must be legitimate pleasures for there is more to life than what we can see; there is eternity and an eternal God to reckon with.

To be young does not mean that God’s laws are to be scattered in the wind. While youth is it be celebrated, to seek its pleasures as if they were the be all and end all of life would be hebel (vanity); that whisp of smoke and one is left clinging on to nothing. It is before the judgement seat of God that one day we will have to stand and give an account for all of our life. For we are called to live not merely for this life; our life is also lived for eternity.

God is not a name to be merely called in old age, he is a God of all ages. Perhaps we think that faith and God are the calling of our old age, when time will drag and activity will cease. In our youth, we may embrace a self-imposed ignorance of God’s laws because it may be convenient to our deeds, but this will and must be accounted for in the life to come. As youth we discount the reality of eternity and the eternal God. While this is natural and understandable it must also be called out for it is regrettable; for this life is but a brief prelude to eternity.

But youth will slip away and old age stare us in the face. Old age advances and its effects are rather obvious. This truth of life is now revealed by the preacher in poetic form. Deconstruct the poetry in verses 3-5 and it reads something like this; The arms and hands that keep the body now begin to tremble. The legs and knees begin to sag. Teeth are lost and chewing is more difficult. The eyes are dimmed. The ears become weaker and weaker.
Sleep becomes more difficult and one is easy wakened. Singing and music are less appreciated. One becomes more fearful in life. Hair becomes white. The once active become weak. The passions and desires of life weaken and wane. At the end of an advancing life heaven beacons and with the last sod of earth that covers the grave all will be forgotten as the mourners go back to their routine life

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A season for everything, a reason for everything – Friday, 25th Week in ordinary time – Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

The book of Ecclesiastes represents a reaffirmation of the central idea held in ancient wisdom; that we as humans need to acknowledge the limits of human understanding. We as humans must stand in awe of God, in awe of his great plan in our lives; that is the beginning of wisdom for us. We are called to live life under the ‘son of God’ rather than just life under the sun

Reading this book, one may come to a false conclusion that the author denies the sovereignty of God, that is not true. What he does deny is the ability of finite man to grasp the meaning of life. For the ‘preacher’ who is the author of this book, man’s perspective is limited, so limited that he cannot make any pronouncements on the meaning of things. It is impossible for man to formulate any theory with regard to the individual occurrences of life.

Humans have an innate tendency to search for a reason for everything that happens in life. For the author of the book, life as we know it is repetitive and the best way to approach the ambiguity of life is to be accept it for what it is; not to over analyse it nor try to avoid it. The Preacher began with a search for meaning in wisdom, pleasure, and possessions. In the end he discovered that we should enjoy the life that God has given us.

The text of today can be broken into two parts. The first part is verse 1-8 which could well be entitled ‘a season for everything’ and verses 9-15, of which some part of our reading is included, could be well entitled ‘a reason for everything.’ In today’s text the author of Ecclesiastes says that there is a time for every matter under heaven. When he speaks of time he uses the word in the sense of an occurrence; or that simply everything occurs. He describes the different seasons and facets of life which are beautiful. Yet it also casts a dark shadow because it reminds us of the inevitability of trouble and evil, and of the relentless monotony of life.

The reptation of the word ‘time,’ used 29 times in the first eight verses, are intended to indicate this sense of boredom in the monotony of all things, rather than of their variety. He lists 28 different activities in eight verses but whatever may be our skill and initiative, our real masters seem to be these seasons. The poetic quality of the list shows that even the tragic and dark aspects of our life can be artfully and powerfully presented. This list also shows us the need to take full advantage of the time God gives us. Many a man loses his soul, as Saul did his kingdom, by not discerning his time. Esau came too late; so did the foolish virgins. Let us take a few lines that may be misunderstood due to the issues of translation

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Tuesday, September 13, 2022 – 24th week in Ordinary Time
Sr. John Chrysostom – Memorial
1 Cor 12:12-14,27-31a; Ps 100; Lk 7:11-17.

What Paul began in yesterday’s admonition of the Corinthians; he completes today in a positive tone. Yesterday, he pointed out that the Corinthians had forgotten their relationship to each other, leading to factions while celebrating the “Lord’s Supper”. Today, he highlights the theme of the corporate body. This corporality is not something that Paul discovers but is found already in the OT, where God refers to Israel collectively as “my firstborn son” (Ex 4:22; Cf Jer 31:9) and as scholars point out is possibly the background to the 10th Plague where the “firstborn” was slaughtered.

Just as the Sinai Covenant made Israel God’s People (Ex 6:7, etc.) so too in baptism, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves of free persons, and we were all given to drink of the one Spirit.” Therefore, “Now you are Christ’s Body, and individually parts of it.” Thus, in the OT, while it was the Covenant that bound them together, in the NT, it is the New Covenant (Lk 22:20), sealed in Jesus’ blood that makes us a new people through baptism. It is then, the Spirit of Christ that unites us as a body, attaching us to Christ our Head (Cf Col 1:18). From this we arrive at the thrust of the reading; namely, that Christ, as Head, has played his part and we. As members of his body, all have different functions to play, since we are “individually parts of it”. In this is Paul’s genius, for while the OT spoke of Israel as a corporate entity, it never really spoke of each Israelite as contributing to this body “as individual parts”; only Paul speaks of the contribution that each of us has to make, telling us that this contribution is necessary for the Bod’s functioning as a whole. This body is the Church and “God has designated” different tasks to different people. Thus, in the context of the Corinthian divisions (and ours, today), factions not only destroy the body but do not allow it to function properly. The reading is, then. Primarily, for the Corinthians and for us, to do our part to keep this body healthy and functioning optimally.

The Gospel points out how Jesus continually does his part for people, and by extension, for his Body. The scene is one of a funeral and Jesus notices the mother of the boy who has just died. This is her “only son” and she is also a “widow”. Jesus is “moved with pity” and tells the mother “do not weep”. His reassuring words are useless – who would tell a mother not to weep for her dead son- unless Jesus also did something; and something he surely did. He does three things. First, he touches the coffin, something that would make him impure (Num 19:11,13). Luke mentions that “at this the bearers halted”, signalling almost (at least symbolically) that death is stopped in its tracks. Second, he spoke to the dead man, recalling Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones, where Ezekiel’s word brings the bones back to life (Ezek 37). Finally, we are told, that the dead man didn’t just wake up from death, but started to speak, a sign that the resuscitation was effective. Finally, Jesus, Luke tells us, “gave him to his mother”, a reminder of Elijah, who did the same in 1Kgs 17:23, thus making a parallel between the great prophet Elija and Jesus.

Luke also notes about the people that, “Fear seized them all, and they glorified God exclaiming, ‘a great prophet has arisen in our midst’”. Prophets were regarded as God’s “mouthpiece”, and therefore, what they said and did, came directly from God. There is a tone of a replacement motif here, where Jesus replaces the practice of the Law. While the Law designated a person unclean if he/she came in contact with a corpse, the question being raised here is, ‘What about if the corpse came back to life?’ This is possibly the reason why “Fear seized them all”, for now onwards they would have to reinterpret the practice of the Law.

Paul reminds us that as a ‘Body”, we ought to “strive for greater spiritual gifts”. Jesus reminds us to re-examine the way we interpret our Law and Catechism. You and me are important to the Church’s health and flourishing, but only if we can see in each other the element of mutual importance. Open our eyes Lord… and open our hearts!

Written by Fr Michael D’Cunha  and reproduced with his permission 

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A preacher in need of Prozac – Thursday, 25th Week in ordinary time – Ecclesiastes 1:2-11

The Book of Ecclesiastes is one of the most unusual and perhaps one of the most difficult book in the Bible to understand. It is usually called “skeptical” Wisdom or “dissenting” Wisdom. As one commentator put it, “It almost appears that the author is suffering from a bout of clinical depression and is in need of Prozac.”

A quick summary of the book would read like this. “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (1:2). While there is a time for everything (3:1), those times are beyond our understanding. Instead of trying to ascertain the meaning of life, we will do better just to seek happiness and to experience the joys of food, drink, and pleasure, which are gifts from God (3:10-15; 9:7-10). Furthermore, life has a chaotic quality, so that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all” (9:11). Death is the inevitable end—and the great equalizer. The day of death is better than the day of birth (7:1) and no one has “power over the day of death” (8:8). “Neither do (the dead) have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten” (9:5).

See, the book seems to have a spirit of hopeless despair! It has no praise or peace; it seems to promote questionable conduct. And yet, the Teacher is not a nihilist. He shows us the futility and foolishness of a life lived without an eternal perspective. Like the author of Proverbs, the Teacher recognises a certain reliable order that God has put in creation, a time and a season for everything (3:1-8). And the Teacher advocates humility, which is closely related to the fear of the LORD.

In the search for this answer, the Preacher searches the depths of human experience, including despair. He thoroughly examines the emptiness and futility of life lived without eternity before coming to the conclusion of the necessity of eternity. The question in Ecclesiastes isn’t about the existence of God; the author is no atheist, and God is always there. The question is, whether or not God matters!

Ecclesiastes, like Proverbs, is classified as a Wisdom book. It is known in the Hebrew Scriptures as Qoheleth. The word Ecclesiastes is derived from the Greek word, ekklesia. The Hebrew word, Qoheleth, means a person who is qualified to address a public assembly, and the Greek word, ekklesia, means a public assembly. The early church adopted the word ekklesia to speak of the church, the assembly of believers.

The first verse ascribes authorship to Qoheleth, “the son of David” leading many to presume that he is Solomon, to whom the preceding book, Proverbs is attributed. Although the book is traditionally ascribed to Solomon, it appears to have been written later than Solomon’s time, after Aramaic became the common language, sometime after the sixth century. The author of Ecclesiastes is ‘the Teacher’, a sage who has lived long and had grown weary of life’s vicissitudes.

The book begins with the word “Vanity (hebel) of vanities, all is vanity” This verse sets the tone for the book of Ecclesiastes. The word hebel suggests something ephemeral; something fleeting, a wisp of vapour, a puff of wind, a mere breath. The words breath and vapour capture something of the sense of it, because they are short-lived and have so little substance. Qoheleth uses hebel 35 times in this book (five times in this verse) to speak of the meaninglessness and the absurdity of life. If there is one word that summarises the message of this book, hebel is it.

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When Jesus became a ‘follower’ – Feast of St Matthew- Apostle and Evangelist – Matthew 9: 9-13

We celebrate today the feast of St Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist. The Gospel of today tells us that as Jesus passed on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and said to him, “follow Me.” Matthew simply obeys; he arose and followed Jesus. From the Gospel of St Mark, we know that Matthew is also called Levi, son of Alpheus. We are told that Matthew was a tax collector or as the older texts have it, a publican. The publicani were tax-gatherers, and were so called because they dealt with public money and with public funds.

At the time of Jesus, tax collectors were not only notorious sinners; they were also regarded as the most visible Jewish collaborators with the Romans against their fellow Jews. This was not their only sin as they were also notorious extortioners. Roman tax collectors bid among others for the tax-collecting contract. For example, many tax collectors might want to have the tax contract for a city like Capernaum. The Romans awarded the contract to the highest bidder. The man in charge collected taxes, paid the Romans what he promised, and kept the remainder. Therefore, there was a lot of incentive for tax collectors to over-charge and cheat any way they could.

Tax collection was enforced with the help of the Roman soldiers who were assigned to each tax collector. It was an effective way of collecting taxes, the tax collector was a local who knew the in’s and out of his fellow citizens while the soldiers provided the muscle for ensuring the collection without any incident. It is for this reason that when a Jew entered the customs service he was regarded as an outcast from society: he was disqualified as a judge or a witness in a court session, was excommunicated from the synagogue, and in the eyes of the community his disgrace extended to his family; how Alpheus must have suffered as a consequence of his sons decision.

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