Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 10, 2024

Time: We are beginning the fourth week of Lent, daylight savings starts today and we have been in Wheaton, Illinois for 10 months. The reading from Ecclesiastes tells us “…there is time for everything under the sun.” I have been reflecting on the mystery of time and am drawn to “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance,” and “God has also set eternity in the human heart…”

I am aware of how close the Spirit of God is with me. Praying this text, out loud if you wish, once or twice slowly, may surprise you how near God is in whatever “time” you are in.

A reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-14.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
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 refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil?

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.