I have often heard a similar line from today's 1st reading in the movies, stories that I read and even from people in real life. These are words of desperation of a person after having worked and done everything and yet in the end nothing seems to amount to anything at all. When we give in to despair, a defeatist attitude and forget the truth that God can always make everything work for good then we can also ask ourselves the same question. Why do we work so hard and for what is it all about. Is it just about the money, the fame, power, sense of self fulfillment or just for the sake of being useful and doing something. Nothing is wrong with all these things for as long as we keep the balance or not let it rule over us. As we go through our life we find that we live like most people do. Living a good and abundant life is what we ought to do. This is what God wants us to have so as to reflect His goodness. As in John 10:10, " ...I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly." All of these abundance will turn into vanity if we fail to put God in the center for in the end it is all that will matter. Amen. Hallelujah!
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11
2 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! 3 What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?...
We are destined for much greater things that we can see right now. Thus we should set our goals higher than what people normally aim for in this life. Let us not reach the end of our lives regretting what we should have done or not and do what we have to do right now. We marvel at the capability of the human mind to function the way it was made to be but how much more can we not be amazed at how the mind of the Lord works from whom all things come. As humans we can not even go past a hundred years old and too lucky to be able to make it to that age nowadays. Everything passes away but what we can depend on to last for a lifetime through eternity is to fortify our soul with wisdom of heart. Time will come when there is no more room for sadness once we've decided for happiness for we have a God who prospers those who offers all his/her work for the Lord. God is Almighty and Powerful. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He has the final say on all things. Nothing is beyond His power and might. Isn't it a very nice thing to know that this very same God has also been our refuge and strength in every age. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 , 17bc
R: In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
3 You turn man back to dust, saying, “Return, O children of men.” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night. (R) 5 You make an end of them in their sleep; the next morning they are like the changing grass, 6 which at dawn springs up anew, but by evening wilts and fades. (R) 12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart...Prosper the work of our hands!
We can say all the nice things about God and believe everything about Him and think that we are the better Christians but if we remain as the spectators of our faith rather than doers then we are no different from Herod. He also came to a point when he questioned and searched for answers but he never crossed that line and did not move forward. We should be bold enough to cross that dividing line not just once but throughout our lifetime. It's like we should always pray to God as in this song, "give us faith for one step more" and another until we reach to the point of being the best Christian. If we continue to let our chances pass us by and always miss out on all the opportunities that God is always sending our way to develop a deep and personal relationship with Him then we'll all end up greatly perplexed and no matter how hard we try to keep on seeing Him, we'll never find Him because our minds can only process what it is trained to do which is think. If our thinking has become defective then no amount of thinking can make us come up with the right answers. The time to act is now before it's too late when our minds has become so influenced by the perverse thoughts of this present generation, or worse when our brain has deteriorated and no longer functioning as effectively as it should be. Just like Herod in today's gospel he heard a lot of things from all over but can't decide and discern the truth. It is so frustrating when we are confused and undecided because we are unsure of what the truth is when it is plain simple that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Light. We don't want to end up like Herod, perplexed, we would rather be sure and confident that we have a God who will never forsake nor abandon the moment we decide for Him. Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 9:7-9 7
Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; 8 others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.” 9 But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.
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