{"id":10794,"date":"2012-09-27T17:30:53","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T22:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?p=10794"},"modified":"2017-01-24T17:56:10","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T22:56:10","slug":"for-something-old-and-something-new-thoughts-for-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2012\/09\/for-something-old-and-something-new-thoughts-for-thursday.html","title":{"rendered":"For Something Old and Something New (Thoughts for Thursday)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Thursdays I serve as lector at the parish near my office. I\u2019ve been the Thursday reader for a couple of years now and these days, I don\u2019t even look ahead at the readings beforehand. There are two reasons for this. A) I like to be surprised and B) I found that I was often surprised anyway, as the readings for the day are often changed by the pastor to reflect the memorials for saints that the Daily Readings I found at the USSCB weren\u2019t picking up on.<\/p>\n

So now, I just say a prayer that I will read well, and then I head on up and dive in. Today, I was happily surprised to read aloud the words from my favorite Old Testament book, Ecclesiastes. I hope I wasn\u2019t grinning too much as I launched into the classic beginning of Qoheleth\u2019s riddle of life,<\/p>\n

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
\nvanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
\nWhat profit has man from all the labor
\nwhich he toils at under the sun?
\nOne generation passes and another comes,
\nbut the world forever stays.
\nThe sun rises and the sun goes down;
\nthen it presses on to the place where it rises.
\nBlowing now toward the south, then toward the north,
\nthe wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.
\nAll rivers go to the sea,
\nyet never does the sea become full.
\nTo the place where they go,
\nthe rivers keep on going.
\nAll speech is labored;
\nthere is nothing one can say.
\nThe eye is not satisfied with seeing
\nnor is the ear satisfied with hearing.<\/p>\n

What has been, that will be;
\nwhat has been done, that will be done.
\nNothing is new under the sun.
\nEven the thing of which we say, \u201cSee, this is new!\u201d
\nhas already existed in the ages that preceded us.
\nThere is no remembrance of the men of old;
\nnor of those to come will there be any remembrance
\namong those who come after them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For his homily, our pastor mentioned how in the Hebrew scriptures, this book, along with the others we know as the Wisdom Books, are called \u201cWritings\u201d and are reserved for the last section of their canon.<\/p>\n

This is, he said, because they represent \u201cthe present day,\u201d as the Torah, or Laws (the first section) represent the past and the second section, the Prophecies, represent the future. \u00a0Re-reading passages from Ecclesiastes, I\u2019m always struck by how they seem to apply to situations as if they were written last week. So fitting them into \u201cthe present\u201d section makes sense to me.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Psalm (90) put a nice spin on the first reading as well,<\/p>\n

In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You turn man back to dust,
\nsaying, \u201cReturn, O children of men.\u201d
\nFor a thousand years in your sight
\nare as yesterday, now that it is past,
\nor as a watch of the night.<\/p>\n

R.\u00a0In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You make an end of them in their sleep;\"\"<\/a>
\nthe next morning they are like the changing grass,
\nWhich at dawn springs up anew,
\nbut by evening wilts and fades.<\/p>\n

R.\u00a0In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teach us to number our days aright,
\nthat we may gain wisdom of heart.
\nReturn, O LORD! How long?
\nHave pity on your servants!<\/p>\n

R.\u00a0In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
\nthat we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
\nProsper the work of our hands for us!
\nProsper the work of our hands!<\/p>\n

R.\u00a0In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Keep in mind that Qoheleth also taught,<\/p>\n

Enjoy life with the wife you love, all the days of the vain life granted you under the sun. This is your lot in life, for the toil of your labors under the sun. Anything you can turn your hand to, do with what power you have; for there will be no work, no planning, no knowledge, no wisdom in Sheol where you are going.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would have loved to see the look on \u2018ol Q\u2019s face when Jesus descended into Hell to release the captives. \u201cThank God you\u2019ve come! I was thinking we were going to be here forever. If I had to listen to Adam and Eve tell that story about the serpent one.more.time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway, I learned something new today about the Hebrew Scriptures<\/a> and thought I would share it with you, dear readers.<\/p>\n

I also want to inform you that I may be a little quiet over the next few days. I\u2019ll be gone readin\u2019 and prayin\u2019, as I do from time to time. I\u2019ve picked up Journal of a Soul<\/em> by Blessed John XXIII. Blame Deacon Bill Ditewig<\/a>, as he tipped me off to this work by sharing this little jewel found in the appendices of Good Pope John\u2019s journal, under the label Mirror of Piety<\/em>,<\/p>\n

Every time the boy Angelo Roncalli entered the presbytery of his parish priest at Sotto il Monte, Father Francesco Rebuzzini, his glance fell on an incription, framed and hanging on the wall, the words of which were said to be by St. Bernard, and which were never forgotten by him.
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Peace within the cell; fierce warfare without.
\nHear all; believe a few; honor all.
\nDo not believe everything you hear;
\nDo not judge everything you see;
\nDo not do everything you can:
\nDo not give everything you have;
\nDo not say everything you know.
\nPray, read, withdraw, be silent, be at peace.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can say that again. For even if it can\u2019t be proved that Bernard of Clairvaux ever actually said them, or wrote them down, these thoughts make all kinds of sense.<\/p>\n

And so I will be going off to get to know better the man who called The Council, without which I probably never would have become a Catholic. As it is, I sat in the pews for 18 years because I love my wife, and promised to raise our children as Catholics, etc. But if Mass had only been in Latin? I don\u2019t think I\u2019d have ever sat through Mass, let alone swim the Tiber.<\/p>\n

Besides, I need to get to know better the guy who said stuff like this, and meant it, when he opened the Council, on October 11, 1962.<\/p>\n

In the daily exercise of Our pastoral office, it sometimes happens that We hear certain opinions which disturb Us\u2014opinions expressed by people who, though fired with a commendable zeal for religion, are lacking in sufficient prudence and judgment in their evaluation of events. They can see nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world. They say over and over that this modern age of ours, in comparison with past ages, is definitely deteriorating. One would think from their attitude that history, that great teacher of life, had taught them nothing. They seem to imagine that in the days of the earlier councils everything was as it should be so far as doctrine and morality and the Church\u2019s rightful liberty were concerned.<\/p>\n

We feel that We must disagree with these prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as though the end of the world were at hand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amen! Isn\u2019t that like a breath of fresh air? It\u2019s like d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again. Color me gone, sitting at the feet of this man, for a few days.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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