Recently I spent an hour with one of my dear friends. The room was quiet as we spoke together. Now in her eighties, she is no longer able to walk about freely and falls are frequent. She told me that her memory is going, making it difficult to carry on a conversation for very long since the topic quickly vanishes from her mind.
Together we gazed out of her large window at the beautiful trees that grew in the front yard. With a sigh we both realized that Jesus was beginning to take her into the wilderness of his Heart, that place of unknowing where we all are eventually invited to restfully trust in him as he leads us to glory.
“But as it is written:
‘What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him’” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NABRE).
Questions about life’s meaninglessness, about the way in which our days pass like vapor, about how all that we do and accomplish seems to vanish without a trace as we age, these burden not just the heart of Qoheleth in today’s First Reading, but at certain points in our lives these questions haunt us too. I once heard that the book of Ecclesiastes identifies the question to which the whole of Revelation is the answer. In this quickly changing world, all that our life has been seems to slip through our fingers, and our heart longs for life, true life, life that is a treasure that neither moth nor rust can destroy.
“You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever” (Psalm 16:11).
Both Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians and the Psalmist see life as a great river rushing toward a goal prepared for us by God where we will find joy and delight at his right hand forever. How different is this message from the distressing observations of Ecclesiastes in our First Reading today:
“One generation passes and another comes,
but the world forever stays.
The sun rises and the sun goes down;
then it presses on to the place where it rises.
Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north,
the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.
All rivers go to the sea,
yet never does the sea become full.
To the place where they go,
the rivers keep on going” (Eccl 1:4-7).
There is something cyclical in this description of continual, unending, “coming and going” of things. In this reading there is no sense of the enduring, of divine gift and guidance and mission, of an end which has been ordained for all things by God. Instead, the more things change, as the saying goes, the more things stay the same, endlessly repeating to seemingly no purpose.
Today many experience life in this way. Not being grounded in the fertile soil of God’s action and love, much of what constitutes activity in our world seems to have no real meaning. I believe that during the pandemic many began to feel this way. The tasks they had been doing in their jobs were now no longer satisfying to them, no longer seemed purposeful, no longer worth devoting their whole life to. They began to seek something more meaningful to do with their careers.
It is ultimately only God who truly defines us and the purpose of our lives, their unending purpose.
This discouraged sigh of Qoheleth whose voice we hear in Ecclesiastes may escape also now and then from your heart. However, Saint Paul encourages you not to give in to this sense of futility and hopelessness. Instead, take on Paul’s own strength, faith, and hope when he cries out, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6 NABRE).
Recientemente pasé una hora con uno de mis amigas queridas. El salón era silencioso mientras conversamos juntos. Ahora que tiene ochenta años, ya no puede caminar libremente y se cae frecuentemente. Me dijo que está perdiendo la memoria, ya que se le dificulta mantener una conversación por mucho tiempo porque el tema desaparece rápidamente de su mente.
Juntos miramos por la ventana grande a los hermosos árboles que crecían en el jardín de enfrente. Con un suspiro, ambos nos dimos cuenta de que Jesús estaba comenzando a llevarla al desierto de su Corazón, ese lugar del desconocimiento donde finalmente todos estamos invitados a confiar tranquilamente en él mientras nos conduce a la gloria.
“Sin embargo, como está escrito:
Ningún ojo ha visto, ningún oído ha escuchado,
ninguna mente humana ha concebido,
lo que Dios ha preparado para quienes lo aman’” (1 Corintios 2:9).
Las preguntas sobre el sinsentido de la vida, sobre la forma en que nuestros días pasan como el vapor, sobre cómo todo lo que hacemos y logramos parece desvanecerse sin dejar rastro a medida que envejecemos, estas preguntas no solo agobian el corazón de Qohelet en la Primera Lectura de hoy, sino durante ciertos puntos en nuestras vidas estas preguntas también nos persiguen a nosotros. Una vez escuché que el libro de Eclesiastés identifica la pregunta a la cual todo el Apocalipsis es la respuesta. En este mundo que cambia rápidamente, todo lo que ha sido nuestra vida parece escurrirse entre nuestros dedos, y nuestro corazón anhela la vida, la vida verdadera, la vida que es un tesoro que ni la polilla ni el óxido pueden destruir.
“Me has dado a conocer la senda de la vida;
me llenarás de alegría en tu presencia,
y de dicha eterna a tu derecha” (Salmo 16:11).
Tanto Pablo en su Primera Carta a los Corintios como el Salmista ven la vida como un gran río que se precipita hacia una meta preparada por Dios para nosotros donde encontraremos gozo y deleite a su diestra para siempre. Cuán diferente es este mensaje de las angustiosas observaciones de Eclesiastés en nuestra Primera Lectura de hoy:
“Pasa una generación y viene otra,
pero la tierra permanece siempre.
El sol sale y se pone;
corre y llega a su lugar,
de dónde vuelve a salir.
Sopla el viento hacia el sur y gira luego hacia el norte,
y dando vueltas y más vueltas, vuelve siempre a girar.
Todos los ríos van al mar, pero el mar nunca se llena;
regresan al punto de donde vinieron
y de nuevo vuelven a correr” (Ecl 1:4-7).
Hay algo cíclico en esta descripción del continuo, interminable, “ir y venir” de las cosas. En esta lectura no hay sentido de perdurabilidad, de don divino, de guía y de misión, de un fin que ha sido ordenado por Dios para todas las cosas. En cambio, cuanto más cambian las cosas, como dice el refrán, más cosas permanecen igual, repitiéndose sin cesar aparentemente sin ningún propósito.
Hoy muchos experimentan la vida de esta manera. Al no estar arraigado en la tierra fértil de la acción y el amor de Dios, mucho de lo que constituye la actividad en nuestro mundo parece no tener un significado real. Yo creo que durante la pandemia muchos empezaron a sentirse así. Las tareas que habían estado haciendo en sus trabajos ahora ya no les satisfacían, ya no parecían tener un propósito, ya no valía la pena dedicar toda su vida a eso. Comenzaron a buscar algo más significativo que hacer con sus carreras.
En última instancia, es solo Dios quien verdaderamente nos define y el propósito de nuestras vidas, su propósito sin fin.
Este suspiro desanimado de Qohelet cuya voz escuchamos en Eclesiastés puede escapar también de vez en cuando de tu corazón. Sin embargo, san Pablo los anima a no ceder a este sentimiento de futilidad y desesperanza. En lugar de eso, toma la fuerza, la fe y la esperanza de Pablo cuando clama: “Estoy convencido de esto: el que comenzó tan buena obra en ustedes la irá perfeccionando hasta el día de Cristo Jesús” (Filipenses 1,6).
Kathryn James Hermes, FSP, is the author of the newly released title: Reclaim Regret: How God Heals Life’s Disappointments, by Pauline Books and Media. An author and spiritual mentor, she offers spiritual accompaniment for the contemporary Christian’s journey towards spiritual growth and inner healing. She is the director of My Sisters, where people can find spiritual accompaniment from the Daughters of St. Paul on their journey. Website: www.touchingthesunrise.com Public Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/srkathrynhermes/ For monthly spiritual journaling guides, weekly podcasts and over 50 conferences and retreat programs join my Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/srkathryn.
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Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife and mother. She is blessed to be able to homeschool, bake bread and fold endless piles of laundry. When not planning a school day, writing a blog post or cooking pasta, Kate can be found curled up with a book or working with some kind of fiber craft. Kate blogs at 
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Susan Ciancio has a BA in psychology and a BA in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, with an MA in liberal studies from Indiana University. For the past 19 years, she has worked as a professional editor and writer, editing both fiction and nonfiction books, magazine articles, blogs, educational lessons, professional materials and website content. Thirteen of those years have been in the pro-life sector. Currently Susan freelances and writes weekly for HLI, edits for American Life League, and is the executive editor of Celebrate Life Magazine. She also serves as executive editor for the Culture of Life Studies Program—an educational nonprofit program for K-12 students. You can reach her at 
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