Reflection
Turn, Turn, Turn
Back in 1959, Pete Seeger wrote a song that the vocal group, the Byrds, made famous: “Turn, Turn, Turn.” The lyrics are taken verbatim from first eight verses of Ecclesiastes, but then — “A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late,” which effectively turned a 2,000-year-old Wisdom text into a subtle plea against war.
As the autumn colors begin to appear, today’s readings remind us of the beauty in the unfolding of all kinds of change. Ecclesiastes, an essential text from the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, reads almost like a philosophical or theological treatise on life by one who has gleaned wisdom through many years of experience. In the end, of course, it reflects a stance that “all is vanity.”
I was very inspired this year on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. A story appeared in the news about Kevin Dowdell, a lieutenant in the elite FDNY Rescue Unit 4, who disappeared in the South Tower on that horrific 9/11 morning. Kevin was an extraordinary Catholic man, generous and courageous firefighter, loving husband and father of two sons. The anecdote narrated how every so often, when the two were little guys, they would accompany their Dad in the safety of the fire truck. Kevin always taught his sons to take action. He’d tell them not to be bystanders.
“Don’t sit on the sidelines, guys. Make things happen. Do things.”
From the time the words were first written in the Old Testament, to the turbulent 1960s to today, the words of our first reading today remind us of this cyclical nature of life, and how we can hold out hope for what’s to come. Life has times that we mourn and times that we dance. What is constant is God’s love for us through all of these times. The words also remind us of what precious gifts we have in time, both in sorrow and joy.
Maybe today is a good day for me to turn, turn, turn. That’s the meaning of METANOIA — i.e., conversion, or transformation. “But who do you say that I am? …and on the third day, raised to new life.”
