Br. John Thomas Fisher, O.P., on Ecclesiastes and God's Purpose

"A little over nine centuries before the birth of Christ, King Solomon is said by tradition to have written the Book of Ecclesiastes. It took Pete Seeger almost three millennia to compose a song out of a snippet of the third chapter. A decade later, after The Byrds covered it, King Solomon could be credited for a hit song ringing from the hippie subculture (or just Forest Gump enthusiasts) and now able to be stuck in the heads of all. The song is mind-numbing at this point, and I'm ashamed to say it, but when I was an altar boy at various funerals I couldn't help but hearing Turn! Turn! Turn! in my ears as the lector got up.

"There's certainly a difference in the intent of the era that composed this tune and the intent of King Solomon. The former proposed an idea that the entirety of existence is under a giant pendulum, that all events, joyful and sorrowful alike, come to equilibrium in relative haste. This idea gave us phrases like 'what goes around comes around,' 'everything is circular,' or whatever other faux-far-eastern wisdom a long haired blond living in his grandmother's basement can conjure up in a given afternoon."

In a recent commentary, Brother John Thomas Fisher, O.P., reflected on the times mentioned in the Book of Ecclesiastes as God's appointed times and on how abandoning our own wills to His will allows us to see all events in our lives in accord with His ultimate purpose (even when we don't understand it).

To access Br. John Thomas' complete post, please visit:

Dominicana: King Solomon, Flower Children, and Abandoning Our Wills (26 SEP 14)