Celebración de la palabra

Friday September 25

Friday of 25th Week of Ordinary Time

A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

Introduction

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.

Opening 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.

Reading 1 ECCL 3:1-11

There is an appointed time for everything,
and a time for everything under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;
a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
What advantage has the worker from his toil?
I have considered the task that God has appointed
for the sons of men to be busied about.
He has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without man's ever discovering,
from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

Responsorial Psalm PS 144:1B AND 2ABC, 3-4

R. (1) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
my mercy and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I trust.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
LORD, what is man, that you notice him;
the son of man, that you take thought of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days, like a passing shadow.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

Alleluia MK 10:45

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Son of Man came to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 9:18-22

Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"
They said in reply, "John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, 'One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'"
Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Peter said in reply, "The Christ of God."
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said, "The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised."

Commentary

Today’s reading from Qoheleth is the famous song of the seasons. There is an appointed time for everything under the sun—planting and reaping, birth and death, war and peace. This is an endless cycle from which no one escapes. Human beings would love to break through all of this, but to no avail. The large plan remains unfathomable. With all its beauty, this song of the seasons is not written from an optimistic point of view.
Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus is, on the other hand, a remarkable breakthrough. While his contemporaries may speculate about the identity of Jesus, Peter cuts through it all. He recognizes Christ as the Messiah, the anointed one, the promised one destined to deliver his people from bondage and oppression. In Luke this is not a recognition of Jesus as divine, but it is an important step forward in the faith life of the apostles. Jesus loses no time in seeking their confidence in this matter and then immediately sets things awry in speaking of his forthcoming suffering.
The plan of God in the case of Jesus was clarified only with the giving of the Spirit with his resurrection. And that revealed plan of God has been at the center of the Christian life through two thousand years. With Qoheleth there are still many things in life we do not understand; but those things that are of the greatest moment have been made known to us in knowing God and in knowing Christ whom God has sent.

Points to Ponder

Qoheleth and his endless cycles
The futility of the search for meaning
The redemptive plan of God in Christ

Intercessions

– Lord, there is a time to pray and a time to act, Make us find the time for both, we pray.
– Lord, there is a time to think of our neighbor. Make us serve our brothers and sisters, we pray:
– Lord, there is a time to work for your kingdom. Whatever we do, make us serve that kingdom, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

This is the time, Lord our God,
to give you praise and thanks
for your gifts of life and love
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
With this bread and this wine
we offer you through him the present day,
the joys and failures of the past
and the future we can but see
in visions and dreams of hope.
We are certain of you
on account of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Birth and dying,
laughter and tears,
sickness and healing –
God, these are precious gifts
which come from your hands.
Fill all these with the life and love
and the lasting presence of him
who is our bread of life, Jesus our brother,
that every day may become
a blessed day of the Lord.
We ask you this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Blessing

There is a time for everything. There is a time for our job and our family life, for meeting friends, for resting and recreation. Yet, whatever we do, we do in the name of the Lord. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.