Catholic Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 25 September 2014

Catholic Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 25 September 2014
Meditations: Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.]
    There’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke.
What’s there to show for a lifetime of work,
    a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?
One generation goes its way, the next one arrives,
    but nothing changes—it’s business as usual for old
        planet earth.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
    then does it again, and again—the same old round.
The wind blows south, the wind blows north.
    Around and around and around it blows,
    blowing this way, then that—the whirling, erratic wind.
All the rivers flow into the sea,
    but the sea never fills up.
The rivers keep flowing to the same old place,
    and then start all over and do it again.
Everything’s boring, utterly boring—
    no one can find any meaning in it.
Boring to the eye,
    boring to the ear.
What was will be again,
    what happened will happen again.
There’s nothing new on this earth.
    Year after year it’s the same old thing.
Does someone call out, “Hey, this is new”?
    Don’t get excited—it’s the same old story.
Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.
    And the things that will happen tomorrow?
Nobody’ll remember them either.
    Don’t count on being remembered.
25th Week in Ordinary Time
All things are vanity! (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
Wait a minute! Aren’t the Scriptures supposed to be encouraging and joyful? After reading Qoheleth’s complaints, you may be wondering how the Book of Ecclesiastes even ended up included in the Scriptures! But surprising as it may be, this frustrated and annoyed writer could be considered a great hero of faith.
Most scholars today believe that Ecclesiastes was written some time in the two to three centuries before Christ. The author wrote under the name “Qoheleth,” which means “preacher” in Hebrew, but it’s not certain who he was. One thing is certain, however: he didn’t mince words when he considered the state of human life!
Qoheleth was brutally honest when he described the cycle of life. He didn’t sugarcoat the sometimes meaningless labors and injustices that we face. He didn’t smile and pretend that everything was fine. He confronted life’s inconsistencies, acknowledged them, but continued to believe in God and to trust him to make sense out of things. Now that’s a heroic example of faith!
Imagine if Qoheleth had had the benefit of knowing Christ! In light of the resurrection, all the twists and turns of life begin to make sense. All of the longing for something more can be fulfilled now that heaven has been opened. Our challenges have meaning and purpose because we know that the universe really is going somewhere!
This is where you stand today. You know about Christ! You are a child of the resurrection! Think of how much broader that makes your perspective. You can take a long, hard look at your life and the world around you and still proclaim, “No matter how meaningless things seem, no matter how fleeting or confusing, I know that my Redeemer lives! I know he is with me!” The troubling evidence before you doesn’t have to shake your faith; it’s just the beginning of eternal life.
So don’t be afraid of the chaos of life. Go ahead, and ask the tough questions. Just make sure you’re asking the right Person. And then open your ears to hear the hope-filled answers he wants to give you.
“Father, it can be hard to believe when I think about all the things that don’t seem fair in life. But I trust you. I choose to believe that you have it all under control!” Amen!
Psalms 90:3-11 So don’t return us to mud, saying,
    “Back to where you came from!”
Patience! You’ve got all the time in the world—whether
    a thousand years or a day, it’s all the same to you.
Are we no more to you than a wispy dream,
    no more than a blade of grass
That springs up gloriously with the rising sun
    and is cut down without a second thought?
Your anger is far and away too much for us;
    we’re at the end of our rope.
You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed
    since we were children is entered in your books.
All we can remember is that frown on your face.
    Is that all we’re ever going to get?
We live for seventy years or so
    (with luck we might make it to eighty),
And what do we have to show for it? Trouble.
    Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard.
Who can make sense of such rage,
    such anger against the very ones who fear you?
12-17 Oh! Teach us to live well!
    Teach us to live wisely and well!
Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?—
    and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
Surprise us with love at daybreak;
    then we’ll skip and dance all the day long.
Make up for the bad times with some good times;
    we’ve seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
Let your servants see what you’re best at—
    the ways you rule and bless your children.
And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us,
    confirming the work that we do.
    Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!
Luke 9:7-9 Herod, the ruler, heard of these goings on and didn’t know what to think. There were people saying John had come back from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, still others that some prophet of long ago had shown up. Herod said, “But I killed John—took off his head. So who is this that I keep hearing about?” Curious, he looked for a chance to see him in action. 
____________________________