At the time of his death, human reasoning alone did not provide salvation or eternal peace to “Kohelet,” author of Ecclesiastes, and it will not to us. However, Ecclesiastes reveals where we can find the answer: “God will bring you to judgment. Ward off grief from your heart and put away trouble from your presence, though the dawn of youth is fleeting.”
Image by Thomas Meurer
By Norm McGraw
Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Ecclesiastes 11:9—12:8
Luke 9:43B-45
When I started writing reflections a few years ago, I mentioned that I had been an agnostic for a significant portion of my adult life. Looking back on that period, I think that I had a solid subconscious belief that I could determine the existence of God through human reasoning only. Man’s growth in scientific knowledge led me to believe that I could discover answers to the most complex religious questions through the power of my mind alone.
But accepting and believing in the very concept of a Supreme Being is beyond human reasoning. It requires leaping across the abyss of doubt, trusting in an act of faith, and surrendering to the grace of an all-knowing, all-loving God.
Today’s readings for Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth week in ordinary times reflect this belief. The readings are from Ecclesiastes, Psalm 90, and the ninth chapter of the gospel of St. Luke. Ecclesiastes, a book of the Old Testament, is presented as the biography of its author, “Kohelet,” narrated in the third person. Some scholars believe the author was really King Solomon, written at the end of his reign (around 935 B.C.), and edited later by King Hezekiah, the thirteenth king of Judah (716 B.C.-687 B.C.). Others believe the book was written much later, between 450 B.C. and 180 B.C.
Ecclesiastes comments on the limitations of human power, especially regarding death: “Before the evil days come. And the years’ approach of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them; Before the sun is darkened, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, while the clouds return after the rain; When the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, …” Continuing later, “And the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it.”
At the time of death, human reasoning alone did not provide salvation or eternal peace to “Kohelet,” and it will not to us. However, Ecclesiastes reveals where we can find the answer: “God will bring you to judgment. Ward off grief from your heart and put away trouble from your presence, though the dawn of youth is fleeting.”
In other words, surrender to the grace of God.
The responsorial psalm re-enforces this point by expressing how God is our salvation: “In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.”
The reading from the ninth chapter of Luke presents an example from God on how we should accept His plan, even though we may not initially understand it. Luke gives a very detailed account of the significant aspects of the life of Jesus Christ and his ministry. The ninth chapter recounts some of his miracles, his transfiguration (becoming radiant in glory on a mountain), sending out the twelve apostles on the ministry, and most importantly, foretelling his death. As Luke states in verse 44, “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”
Later in Luke’s gospel, we read that Jesus was crucified but resurrected three days later. This divine example reinforces Ecclesiastes’s view of our need to entrust our lives to God.
Though it may not seem logical, when we surrender to His grace, we can leap across the chasm of uncertainty to land safely in a peaceful state where we know that God will always love us. He has prepared everlasting life for us. Paradoxically, the answer to the complex question of whether He exists is remarkably that simple.