Something ever new under the sun

From Fr. Ronald Knox, a sermon entitled “The Risen Christ,” from Pastoral and Occasional Sermons.

There is nothing new under the sun. — Ecclesiastes 1:9
Behold, I make all things new. — Apocalypse 31:5

When Easter comes, the Church delights to remind herself of that newness which is in the risen Christ. […] We are beginning all over again, making all things new. And we have a right to do so, for in the order of grace there is perpetual novelty. In the order of nature there is perpetual affectation of novelty, which never comes to anything; there is nothing new, the wise man reminds us, under the sun, however much, at the moment, things look different. Whereas in the order of grace there is no change apparent, but in truth it is a perpetual spring, inexhaustible in its fecundity.

There is no novelty in the order of nature, for the same kinds return, the same laws are followed, the same material resources are drawn upon, the same stores of energy are tapped. The cosmic order of nature is bordered by an entropic curve that is the ever-present, yet indecisive, mark of its temporal origins. The order of grace appears changeless just as eternity appears motionless to time. Yet the order of grace is founded in the very life of God, and this eternity is a wisdom that “is more mobile than anything that moves.” (Wisdom 7:24) The life of God is in itself formally infinite. Therefore, there is in principle no limit to the ways in which it can be imitated or participated. Charity, the participation in the life of God beyond the order of nature, is therefore a share in what is “inexhaustible in its fecundity,” the Beauty ever ancient, ever new.