THURSDAY 25TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR II
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11, Luke 9:7-9
IF NOT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD
Reading the first reading of today reminds me of the opinions of some existential philosophers during my philosophical studies in the seminary. Like Qoheleth today, many of them have a very natural and realistic view of life which they stressed to the limit of denying the existence of God.
Many Christians would be surprised that such a book would even find it's way into the bible. According to Qoheleth, there is no meaning in life, everything is vanity. Life is just a recycling of things. Things happen and happen again, human beings die and they are gone, nothing is new.
This can easily be seen as the thought of a pagan who does not believe in God.
On a second thought, it is good for us Christians who believe in God to think about the words of Qoheleth today. The world is truly meaningless if we do not know God here on earth. Things just happen like a repetition if we do not have anything beyond this world to hold on to. Life and every material thing is truly vanity, thus no need to crave after them by all means. For those who believe in God, life is beautiful because there is something to look up to after our life here on earth.
Herod Antipas in the gospel reading discovered that his persecution and beheading of John the Baptist does not make life seem meaningless to Jesus and the Apostles who continued to preach the word of God. Life is meaningful and interesting, but only for those who look up to God. God help us. Amen.
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP
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