Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ecclesiastes 1:2-11; Luke 9:7-9)
There is a story about a young man who was seen pouring beer
from a can into a sink. When asked why
he was doing that, the youth replied that he wanted to “eliminate the
middleman.” There is something of this
empty logic in today’s first reading.
Qoheleth sees every pursuit as “vanity” or, some would say,
“show.” No human action seems for him to
have value of itself. As the young man
mentioned above cannot find value in enjoying a can of beer, so Qoheleth sees
the futility of all action.
Surely, however, some acts have positive value. Done with love, our helping others bring us
closer to God. In fact, all actions that
are not bad in themselves or done with an evil intent, make us better people
nearer to the Lord. A life replete with
these kind of actions is good and even wonderful. We should find Qoheleth admitting as much as
he unfolds his thoughts.
