A TIME FOR EVERYTHING
In the light of Christ, the famous passage from Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything becomes much more positive than in the thought of the author. He is puzzled, for God does everything at the right time yet the endless cycle of change bewilders people and he doesn’t know how to see the right moment, for God has put timelessness in his heart. But the Christian knows that he goes forward to a future in God; to him change means the riches of variety and the opportunity to see the right time and to use it well in the service of the Kingdom.
Jesus asks of each of us today not what others say about him but who he is for us and what he means to us. The answer he is waiting for has not to consist in long declarations but the living response of our lives.
First Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.
But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I’ve had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going. I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That’s it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It’s God’s gift.
Gospel: Luke 9:18-22
One time when Jesus was off praying by himself, his disciples nearby, he asked them, “What are the crowds saying about me, about who I am?”
They said, “John the Baptizer. Others say Elijah. Still others say that one of the prophets from long ago has come back.”
He then asked, “And you—what are you saying about me? Who am I?”
Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” Jesus then warned them to keep it quiet. They were to tell no one what Peter had said.
He went on, “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the religious leaders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and on the third day be raised up alive.”
Prayer
God, in your wisdom
you order the course of time
and you lead the world and people
to their destiny in you.
You do all things well.
Make us see with eyes of faith
the opportunities you give us every moment.
Help us to use our time and life
and all your good gifts
to build up your kingdom stone by stone,
until you complete it in your own good time
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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