[M.733] "There is a time to love and a time to hate" [3.8]. Who can accept these words about love with pure ears and attribute nothing sordid when referring them to oneself? Perhaps our ears need [J.417] the divine touch of Jesus; his true word will cleanse our souls' capacity for hearing from all filth which stands in the way. Then we might clearly understand love which is worthy of all praise as well as the appropriate time to love and to hate. In my opinion both have their respective utility and proper time; if they were no longer required, there would simply be no occasion for them.
I first think we need to understand the significance of love and hate in order to grasp the appropriate time for each of them. Love [ philtron ] is intrinsic to the concupiscible part of the soul and is aroused by pleasure and passion; hatred is alienation from anything unpleasant, a turning away from stressful situations. We can use both these dispositions either to our advantage or detriment because each person's life functions according to the principle of virtue or vice. Whenever love moves us, we unite our souls to it and alienate ourselves from what we hate. Whether the soul inclines to good or evil, the soul is fused to the object of its love. Whatever this object happens to be, [J.418] and should hatred be present in the soul, it causes withdrawal either from good or evil. Therefore we should consider what is lovable and worthy of hate that we may use this affection of the soul at the right time, alienate ourselves from evil through hate and be strengthened by the good. Would that human nature be instructed in this before all else--I mean the good--and not be separated from it! Our lives would not admit passion if right from the beginning we knew the beautiful. But since we have allowed our irrational senses to first act as criteria for the beautiful, in similar fashion we are nourished from the beginning with regard to judgment of beings. For this reason we have difficulty discerning the good through our senses because they strengthen the way of life with which we are accustomed.
Beauty which appears to men whether by the eyes or pleasure to the eyes through color is in either inanimate [M.736] or animate objects. Our ears enjoy melodious sounds, taste is for juices and scent for aromas; weight and that which is not rational belong to touch, the realm of feeling where undisciplined pleasure dominates. Because senses immediately come to birth within us and [J.419] provide nourishment right from the beginning of existence, our irrational life has much in common with the senses and assumes characteristics we observe in beasts. However, when infantile behavior hinders the mind from acting properly, a more irrational aspect of sense perception afflicts it. For this reason the false, aberrant use of our faculty of love becomes the principle and foundation of an evil life. Since our human nature is two-fold, spiritual and sensual, our life is consequently two-fold: the corporal aspect belongs to sense perception while the spiritual belongs to our incorporeal life. Similarly, beauty and its opposite cannot hold sway together in our lives; the spiritual belongs to the spirit, and sense perception belongs to our sensory and corporal nature.
Since sense perception comes into being at our first birth, our minds await a return to mature age so that it might appear, however so little, in a person. And so the senses gradually dominate our minds and always have a strong affinity with any thought our minds put forth; we accordingly judge as good or bad whatever sense perception accepts or rejects. Therefore it is difficult for us [J.420] to comprehend the true good because we are preoccupied with sense criteria which constrict the beautiful by enjoyment and pleasure. Just as we cannot see the beauty in heaven when the sky is darkened, so the soul's eye cannot see virtue obscured by pleasure's mist. Because our senses are attracted to pleasure, our minds are impeded from attending to virtue. Thus pleasure becomes the principle [ arche ] of evil because our minds assent to an irrational judgment of the good when influenced by the senses. If the eye claims that beauty consists in the lovely color of appearances, it draws the mind in that way. It is the same for the other sense perceptions; anything delighting the senses is considered good. If it were possible to discern for the mind what is good right from the beginning, we would not be subject to our irrational senses and be transformed into beasts reduced to slavery. Thus confusion results with regard to anything worthy of love in our nature along with that which we perceive as wrong. Ecclesiastes says "There is a time to love and a time to hate." Such words discern the nature of things and show what [J.421] we must love [M.737] and hate.
Youth is the age which seethes with passion, the time when we are enamored with its attractions. Ecclesiastes cries out against this time of youth and presents us with another time for having a pure love pure which neither harms nor degrades the soul. Just as thirst resulting from a serpent's bite afflicts a healthy body [ dipsas , a serpent whose bite is supposed to cause violent thirst]--for no one would say that this person is naturally thirsty--so youth's misdirected love is not love but a sickness which produces a burning, poisonous sting. Not all love [ philia ] is opportune, but only that love [ agapeton ] which is worthy of our attention. However, knowledge of these matters remains unclear unless we attain a solution by careful reflection. Some goods which men pursue are true and are so named while others are fraudulent. Some do not pertain to fleeting pleasure nor are they useless when pertaining to beauty but at all times, through all things and in all things an [opportune love] is beneficial [J.422]. It is truly good, always the same and never associated with evil. Such are the characteristics which upon close scrutiny, pertain exclusively to the divine, eternal nature. All the other type of beauty perceived by the senses come from our erroneous opinions; lovely appearances lack substance because they are in a state of flux and transition by a deceptive attitude and a foolish understanding held by uneducated persons who regard such beautiful things as real. Therefore anyone who embraces instability does not seek that which endures forever. Ecclesiastes, as though on a lofty vantage point, cries out to human nature "There is a time to love and a time to hate." He does this because there are other good things which are beautiful and worthy of our participation.
Such is the nature of the good of which we partake which by necessity transforms anyone who shares it. A sweet fragrance becomes part of a person's mouth while nothing else can be worse than the bad odor of garlic. Since every filth of sin is foul-smelling, the virtue of Christ on the other hand is a pleasant odor [2Cor 2.15], for a loving disposition unites a person with the object of his love. We become [J.423] what we love, either a good or foul odor of Christ. The person who loves beauty will become beautiful once he has been transformed by the good [M.740] he received. The ever-existing [God] desires to give himself to us as food in order to transform us into what he is. "My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" [Jn 6.55]. Thus the person who loves this flesh is not sensual, and he who is well disposed to this blood will be cleansed from physical blood. The Word's flesh and the blood of the person in this flesh do not constitute one grace only; rather, it is sweet for whomever tastes it, yearned for by whomever desires it and lusted after [ erasmion ] by whoever loves it [ agaposin ].
If a person is attracted by a love for something non-existent, it is inevitable that he associates himself with it. Since truth and falsehood are present in whatever exists, we must familiarize ourselves with vanity in order to understand it when compared with that which truly exists. And so, all holy persons cry out from afar to whomever deviates from the right path and travels on the wrong road, "Get off that road on which you are travelling" [J.424] on which are robbers, thieves and murderers lying in wait. This cry warns the traveller to avoid a perilous route and to keep himself safe, for the great Ecclesiastes [Christ] cries out from above to human nature travelling on that impassible road. As the prophet says [Ps 106.40], "Why do you wander throughout your entire life, oh men? Why do you love vain, insubstantial things, and cling to what lacks substance? There is another steady, safe road. Love it, walk on it through love, for its name is truth, life, light, incorruptibility and so forth. The road on which you are now walking is deserving of hatred and avoidance. It lacks light, is beset by darkness, leads to a cliff, a pit, wild beasts and a lair of robbers." Therefore he who said "There is a time to love" shows what truly deserves our love, and by ascribing a time to hate he teaches what we must avoid.
When learning that [God's] nature is lovable, we tenderly embrace it and remain firm in our judgment [J.425] about that which is beautiful and the consuming love [ to philtron ] directed to persons whom the great David admonished, "Oh sons of men, how long will your hearts be heavy? Will you love vanity and seek falsehood" [Ps 4.3]? We must love one thing alone, that which the law of the Decalogue speaks, "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul and mind" [Dt 6.5]. There is one object deserving of our hated, the inventer of evil, the enemy our lives of whom the Law says, "You shall hate your enemy" [Mt 5.43]. The love of God strengthens the person who loves, whereas a disposition towards evil brings destruction upon anyone who loves it. Thus prophecy says "I will love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my firm support, [M.741] my refuge and my deliverer" [Ps 17.2-3]. On the other hand we read "He who loves iniquity hates his own soul. [God] shall rain down snares upon sinners" [Ps 10.5-6]. Therefore the time to love God is one's whole life, and the time to be alienated from evil is also one's entire life. Even a person who distances himself from loving God ever so slightly does not resemble him because [J.426] he is separated from love. The person outside God is necessarily outside the light because God is light [1Jn 1.5]; he is not in the light, incorruptibility and every good thought and deed belonging to God because the person not sharing these attributes partakes of their opposites and enters darkness, corruption, utter ruin and death.
Ecclesiastes briefly distinguishes between a time to love and a time to hate, thereby revealing their opposite natures. "There is a time to love," that is, to apply oneself to the good, and "There is a time to hate" or to consider the nature of evil. Each is the root and beginning of sin which perverts the soul's disposition and turns it away. "No one is able to serve two masters; either he will hate one and love the other" [Mt 6.24]. This distinction which allows evil to hold sway demonstrates the necessity of alienation [from evil] by hatred and to be governed by the good which unites a person [to God] through love. Should anyone cling to hated, he condemns that which must be loved and changes both the opportunity to love [J.427] and hate to his own ruin. The person who condemns anything will in turn be condemned by it, and he who embraces ruin brings it upon himself. Therefore the distinction between virtue and vice enables us to understand the opportunity which present. Ecclesiastes explains continence and pleasure, temperance and intemperance, modesty and arrogance, benevolence and maliciousness and anything else of this sort for imparting profitable advise. Thus we have a time to love continence and to hate pleasure that we may refrain from licentious behavior and be devout. Strife, gain, love of glory and so forth do not benefit love but prevent us from maintaining a pleasant disposition.
We have learned in passing that every movement of the soul to the good originates from our Maker. However, the sinful use of such movements begets inclinations [J.428] towards evil because our free will is beautiful when directed against evil with a view to its destruction. On the other hand, the organ of virtue repels [M.744] unpleasant or hateful things when armed against opposing forces; it becomes a weapon in the hands of sin when arrayed against the good. Hence, every aspect of God's creative grace is beautiful in us and must not be rejected if accepted with gratitude. The ungrateful use of these things causes passion in the creature and prevents unity with God; it allows opposite traits to usurp the place of God with other gods. The belly becomes a god for gluttonous persons [Phil 3.19] who make idols out of this madness, and those who have the eyes of their souls darkened in this present age make vain glory their god. Let me repeat: anyone who submits his reason to slavery has made it a god by his own passion. This person would not suffer misfortune unless he appropriated evil through love; if we have properly understood the opportune time for love and hatred, let us love one and make war against the other.
[J.429] "There is a time for peace and a time for war" [3.8]. Observe the battle line of the conflicting passions, the law of the flesh drawn up against the law of your mind which makes it captive to the law of sin [Rom 7.23]. Observe the various implements of battle and see how vast is the array drawn up against your city. The enemy sends out scouts, dispatches traitors, lays snares by the road, sets ambushes and traps, summons allies, prepares war machines, slingers, archers, a band of soldiers for hand to hand combat, cavalry and the like. You are certainly familiar with the traitor, scout, those setting snares, slingers, spear throwers, archers, soldiers fighting in hand to hand combat, the cavalry and similar foes which shake the wall of our souls. The person who considers these things must arm himself, summon allies, see if there might be foes [J.430] among subjected peoples, watch out for snares by the road, protect himself against weapons from behind shields, ward off soldiers in close combat, dig a trench against horsemen, erect breastworks and protect our walls against assaults so that war machines may not shake them. There is no need to explain each point, that is, how the enemy of each city founded by God tries our strength by scouts and implants traitors in our midst.
Such is the first assault of temptation, the beginning of passion, which these words serve to clarify. Such is the one who spies on our strength and observes our assaults in order to stir up our desire. The enemy examines your strength [M.745] for seeing whether you are strong and ready or weak and lax. If his sight does not make you sink nor slacken your resolution and if you shake him off by remaining free from passion, you immediately frighten the spy by acting like a phalanx of arms bristling with spears, I mean your thoughts prepared [J.431] to confront the informant. If this sight weakens sense perception and an image enters the mind through our eyes, then the mind or commander of our inner resources will be subdued since he not only lacked fortitude or was youthful but was lazy and dissolute. As a result, many traitors from the crowd, that is, our thoughts, will be summoned to assist the spy. These traitors are the ones of whom the Lord says, "A man's foes shall be of his own household" [Mt 10.36]. He refers to the utterances of his heart which can defile him [Mt 15.18] as we clearly learn from the Gospel. These words clarify our enemy's devices who sets an ambush to fall unexpectedly upon the travellers of the road of this life. Those who assume the pretext of friendship and goodwill in order to persuasively debase a person and destroy him by lying at the roadside, extol pleasure and are first to lead the way to the theater. They cloak evil with benevolence and imitate friends, [J.432] calling themselves brothers and friends to utter destruction. Of them it is written "Every man will surely supplant, and every friend will walk craftily" [Jer 9.4].
A proper understanding of these traps may be represented by the array of slingers, archers and spearmen. Insolent, hot-tempered, and abusive persons manifest their hostility with arrogance instead of weapons or stones. They provoke us by casting and slinging words; they wound with spears the hearts of persons lacking the protection of armor and can pass right through anyone not on guard. The passion of vanity and haughtiness resembles the pride of horses, an indisputable fact. Horses carry their necks high, inflated as they are with arrogant words, for they stomp with their hooves any person showing moderation. Of them scripture says "Let not [J.433] the foot of the proud come against me" [Ps 35.12]. We may rightly call greed the war machines which crumble the harmony of our walls. Nothing is so strong and powerful in the enemy's arsenal as the war machines of avarice. If people take special care to fortify their souls with the harmonious arrangement of other virtues, war machines still make frequent entrance. We are clearly aware that temperance can bring down avarice, and that faith and an accurate perception of [divine] mysteries as well as self-control, humility and the like can strike down this [M.748] persistent, undefeated evil within. Some persons who are strong, self-controlled and ardent in their faith can check the manner [of evil's entry] and moderate it through habits. Nevertheless, they are unable to resist the sickness [of avarice] by themselves.
If we properly understand the enemy's solid mass, we would see that it is time to make war. No one would be courageous against the enemy's battle array without the Apostle's armor [Eph 6.14]. Indeed, everyone is familiar with that divine armor, an inflexible phalanx against our adversaries' weapons. The Apostle divides the virtues into various kinds and fashions the proper armor from each one. By faith he entwines righteousness and fortifies the breastplate with heavy armor to protect [J.434] the soldier. One piece of armor cannot be disjointed from another because the entire suit provides safety. Neither can faith save without works of righteousness nor does justice provide salvation unless yoked to faith. For this reason the armor about the heart is entwined with faith and righteousness for the soldier's protection; we understand the heart as this breastplate. A valiant man arms his head with hope, signifying a sublime hope for the good soldier like a helmet crest held on high. The shield covering the weapon is faith which arrows cannot penetrate; without a doubt, the arrows cast by our enemy are various assaults of the passions. The defensive arms fortifying us against the brave enemy's right hand is the Holy Spirit who strikes fear into the adversary yet saves the person who puts him on. The Gospel's entire teaching secures our feet, leaving no part of the body bare and susceptible to blows.
[J.435] If we have gained knowledge about the enemy against whom we must fight and take up arms, we ought to learn about another part of the text, that is, when to make a treaty of peace. Who is the good commander? He enables me to win favor by peaceful means. Who is the leader of this army? The divinely inspired scriptures clearly depict the battle array of angels belonging to the heavenly army: "There was a multitude of the heavenly host praising God" [Lk 2.13]. Daniel saw a thousand thousands and thousand times ten thousand worshiping him [Dan 7.10]. The prophets testify to this, calling him the Lord of all the armies and Lord of hosts [Ps 23.10]. And to Joshua Nave, the powerful one in battle, he said, "I am the commander of the [M.749] army [of the Lord]" [Jos 5.14]. If we have understood the assistance we receive in battle and the leader of our allies, let us make a truce with him, fly to his powerful aide and become friends in order to secure his assistance. The great Apostle [Paul] teaches us how to gain intimacy with him and how to be united in friendship saying, [J.436] "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God" [Rom 5.1]. And, "We are ambassadors for Christ as though God besought you by us [saying], 'Be reconciled to God'" [2Cor 5.20]. As long as our shameful deeds made us sons of wrath [Eph 2.3] we were among those who opposed the right hand of the Most High. The Apostle says of him "He is our peace" [Eph 2.14], words which form the end and summation of all temporal reality. We who had once been God's adversaries have learned to accomplish all things in time in order to establish peace with ourselves and with him. If the virtues truly belong to the army of peace with which we must be associated, it would not be outside the sense of the text which refers the name of every virtue to the Lord of virtues.
Why do we linger over this text when it is sufficient to simply lay bare the meaning of its words? Although they excite the soul of one who was first trained in these lofty teachings, the text again leads him to a lofty understanding as follows. What great advantage lies in store for a person who labors in these things? What does Ecclesiastes mean when he says, "What do [J.437] human endeavors accomplish which are of no value" [cf. Ecc. 3.9]? Man tills the ground, sets sail, undertakes military endeavors, engages in selling, obtains possessions, suffers penalties, makes a profit, involves himself in legal matters and engages in combat. He puts misfortunes behind him and wins a victorious acquittal; he is both miserable and happy, remains at home and wanders off to distant lands. When considering life's various toils, what benefit do we see for a person who consumes himself in these pursuits? He denies himself of life, for darkness veils all his endeavors. Deprived of such things, he goes about without clothing and has only his conscience. Then a voice says to man wandering in this life's pursuits, "What profit have you gained from your many laborious exertions? Where are your illustrious buildings? Where is your buried money, bronze idols and voices singing their praises? Behold, all you have now are fire, stripes, [M.752] unbribed judgment and a true examination of your life's deeds."
What greater profit now remains for the person in his labors? Ecclesiastes adds, "I have seen the business that [J.438] God has given to the sons of men with which to be busy" [3.10]. God made all things exceedingly beautiful in its time, and for all eternity he put in mens' hearts the fact that they might never discover what God has done from the beginning right to the end. Why does he say such things? "I have known," Ecclesiastes says, "the source of distraction for human nature after I have received these occasions from the divine benevolence. God made all things for man's good; he endowed man with reason to distinguish the good in order that he may recognize the right occasion to use each benefit which enables him to perceive the beautiful." Since reason deviated from the correct judgment of created things by having trespassed from what had been ordained through evil counsel, man exchanged the occasion to perform useful actions for evil ones. This resembles a table which talented craftsmen have carefully laid out to make a meal enjoyable and full of good cheer along with choice cutlery for carving meat and silver soup spoons [J.439]. Then some of the invited guests cut themselves with a sword or a similar weapon; they strike either their own eye or another's, for they did not respect what was placed before them. It is said that a host suffers abuse if a person fails to conform according to the reason for which the guests were invited; instead, he introduces an evil use for passion among those who are unwilling to partake of it. Ecclesiastes claims to know that God's actions are good if we use them at the proper time, but our deviation from right judgment leads us to do evil. What do I mean? What is sweeter than the function of our eyes? Whenever passion affects our vision, anything beneficial offers an occasion for evil or an improper use of passion. Thus our free choice can make all other beings created by God [J.440] either good or evil, and for this reason Ecclesiastes says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time, and he has put eternity in mens' hearts" [3.11].
But because eternity signifies a certain extension of thought which contains all creation, the text points out that every created being is embraced by God. Everything which God made in eternity he put into the human heart for the good that we might contemplate their Creator by reason of their greatness and beauty. Yet persons who benefited from them [M.753] do not necessarily suffer affliction if they use them profitably. Because of this Ecclesiastes says "Man cannot find out what God had done" [3.11]. This statement signifies that the human soul's deception is reinforced so that a person is ignorant of the good creation which God has made with a worthwhile goal in mind in all the things from the beginning of creation until their fulfillment when evil shall be no more. Evil does naturally arise from the good; if the Creator and Author of the universe is good, then the substance of all things are good.
"I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live" [3.12]. These words recapitulate everything we have already said. If the right use of what had been divinely created in time defines the good for human life, it is the one joy born from good works which endures among other beautiful things. Observance of the commandments now imparts joy to our good works through hope; then the enjoyment of good things enlivens those persons worthy to receive their eternal hope. As the Lord says to those who have done good, "Come, blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you" [Mt 25.34]. As food and drink sustain the body, so the soul must look to the good, a true gift of God on which we have fixed our eyes. For such is the meaning of "It is God's gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil" [3.13]. Just as human nature obtains physical strength through eating and drinking, so the person who looks to the good (for the true good is he who is good alone) has [J.442] the gift of God in all his labor. This is nothing other than to always have our eyes fixed on the good which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
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