Our first reading comes from a fascinating book of the
Bible—Ecclesiastes. We heard the
basic refrain from this text this morning: “Vanity
of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” Ecclesiastes would be a good reading
when we have a case of the Mondays as it basically asks the question, “What is
the point?!”
The
author seeks fulfillment in a variety of ways—money, power, pleasure and
wisdom. Yet in each case he is
left feeling empty and exclaims, “Vanity
of vanities!”
In
his book You Can Understand the Bible
Peter Kreeft (whose books I highly recommend to learn more about our faith),
explains that Ecclesiastes asks the question that the rest of the Bible
answers.
There
is a point to our existence. We are called to know, love and serve
the Lord. While God wants us to
experience peace and contentment, each of us feels a longing that no earthly
experience can fulfill. Even in
our faith, the graces we receive are signs that there is something more.
The
author of Ecclesiastes didn’t know the reality of heaven. There is more to this life!
May we seek the peace only Christ can give and trust that while
everything earthly is vain, God’s grace gives our life meaning now and for all
eternity.
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