Thursday of 25th Week, Year II: reflection

Theme: Ephemeral things cannot give everlasting satisfaction

Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2–11

Dear friends in Christ, through today’s first reading, the Church invites us to reexamine the things we are using to satisfy the yearnings of our hearts to know if they would give us the satisfaction that will last forever or not.

To satisfy the yearnings of his heart, the preacher in today’s first reading embarked on my ventures. He tried using wisdom and the pursuit of knowledge to satisfy his heart (Sirach 1:16–18), but it dawned on him that the more he acquired knowledge, the more he discovered that he needed to acquire more. At the end, acquisition of knowledge did not give him the satisfaction his hearts yearned for. Worse still, he discovered that the same death awaits both the wise and the foolish.

Then, he gave himself to the pursuit of pleasure to see if it will give him the satisfaction his heart yearned for (Sirach 2: 1–3). He ate and drank himself to stupor, but the more he ate, the more he desired to test new things. Worse still, he noticed that the same death awaits both the well fed and the hungry.

Then, he turned to hard work as a means of satisfying the longing of his heart (Sirach 2:4–6). He built mansions and bridges, but the more he built them, the more new ideas of improving the ones he built continued to pour into his head and, thus, leaving him with little or time to enjoy his labour. This venture caused him great troubles and worries than satisfaction.

He subsequently devoted himself to amassing wealth in order to satisfy his soul. He married many wives, owned slaves, and had empires, yet, all his wealth caused him more stress and distraction than he desired.

Having tested many material things, he concluded that material things cannot give lasting satisfaction to the longing of man’s heart. He, therefore, declared all material things and their pursuit as vanity upon vanity, as we read in today’s verses.

Dear friends, the lesson is very simple: material things are ephemeral and can only give temporal satisfaction; they can only secure our safety here on earth but not beyond death. But the lasting satisfaction/fulfilment which our hearts yearn for can only be found in God who is everlasting and in doing His will.

We should know that ‘oriri na onunu nke uwa abughi ebe ndu di; ikpa aku na mma nke uwa abughi ebe ndu di. Ndi di n’aka Chukwu, ihe anya na-ahu na-eduhie uwa, uwa amaghi na Chukwu nke igwe bu ebe ndu di.

May God grant value to your good efforts this Thursday, Amen

Fr Isaac C. Chima.