Sept. 24, 2020: Thursday of 25th Week

Sept. 24, 2020: Thursday of 25th Week

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity! What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:2-11)

There are moments in our lives when we feel empty. It seems everything we have done for personal development, work, or family seems pointless. So in frustration, we say, "What's the point?"

St. Therese of Lisieux responded to this exasperation with the following wisdom, “In the evening of life I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I am not asking you, Lord, to count my works.” For a disciple of Jesus, the point or the purpose of our lives is not so much to win or earn a better relationship with God by doing more and trying harder. Faith is not about what we can do for God; it is a relationship grounded in the Father who sees his children trying to find him and trying to be close to him. 

In order to illustrate this point, St. Therese used an image of an infant who is trying to climb upstairs to reach her father who is standing at the top. The infant longs to be with the father but the baby is barely able to crawl. Seeing this pitiable state, the father runs down to pick up his child into his arms and take her upstairs. 

At the end of life, everything we have accomplished and accumulated will fade away like the sandcastles built by children near the seashore. The only thing that remains with us is our love for God. Our only hope is to be brought to the Father's side; we offer our empty hands to hold on to His Hands. 

While we are living on earth, we offer our empty hands to Him every moment, longing to hold His Hands so that He can guide us to His Will.