Going from Good to Better
by Fr. David M. Knight
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Twenty-Fifth Week of the Year
Saint Wenceslaus, Martyr; Saint Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs
Lectionary 454
Eccl 11:9—12:8/Lk 9:43b-45
Ecclesiastes 11:9 to12:8 tells us to have fun while we are young, because everything is going to go downhill when we are old. An ancient and still popular university graduation hymn and beer-drinking song captures its spirit:
Gaudeamus igitur, juvenes dum sumus.
Post jucundam juventutem; post molestam senectutem,
Nos habebit humus.
Let us rejoice while we are young. After a pleasant youth and unpleasant old age, the ground is going to get us.
Christians, however, see life going from good to better. As physical strength declines, spiritual strength grows. For us, old age is—or can be and should be—the time when we reveal the reward and result of living by the divine life of God. Those who have used the “Gifts of the Spirit” for many years—wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, fortitude and ‘fear of the Lord’— will experience and make visible to others the “Fruit of the Spirit”—love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, fidelity, generosity, gentleness and self-control. This is the ministry of the old. (See Isaiah 11:1-3; Galatians 5:22-23.)
Qoheleth is not all despair. He does offer a redeeming perspective: “Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come.” And in closing, he tells us to leave everything in God’s hands:
Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.... Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, good or evil.
Ecclesiastes doesn’t give final answers, but he does raise provocative questions. If we seek the answer to them in what is now revealed, we will find joy.
In Luke 9:43-45 Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for the ultimate answer to all of life’s disturbing questions. He tells them: “Pay close attention.... The Son of Man must be delivered into human hands.”
This upset all their preconceptions about the Messiah. They knew God would give him victory. They assumed it would be during his lifetime, since they did not think beyond that. So they could not deal with his prediction of defeat and death. And “they were afraid to question him about the matter.”
How much do we “question” Jesus about our own death? And about our resurrection, the ultimate reason why life makes sense? If we are afraid to think deeply about death, we will be stuck in superficial knowledge about resurrection. This makes our understanding of life superficial.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn; they will be comforted.” Every “sad” question has a “glad” answer. If we have the courage to look for it.
Initiative: Open your eyes. See with faith what appearances conceal.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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