The Ultimate Reason We Have Been Put on Earth

In today’s first reading, Ecclesiastes 1: 2-11, Qoheleth reminds us that “[a]ll things are vanity! What profit has [a person] from all the labor which [one] toils at under the sun? One generation passes and another comes….There is no remembrance of [the people] of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.”  So what is life all about? And how vain is it for those who believe they are here on earth to make a name for themselves, to build “empires” with their pictures and names plastered all over them? Yet, we know that people spend a lifetime pursuing such honors and accolades. We also know that some peoples’ names are remembered for better or for worse: the “Herods,” the “Hitlers”, the “Napoleons,” the “Caesars,” the “Bushes,” the “Clintons,” the “Carters,” the “Obamas,” the “Mitchels,” the “Trumps,”  the “Dianas,” the “Bing Crosbys,” the “Martin Luther Kings,” of this world  and so on.  However, the majority of peoples will pass through this world without being remembered except by their immediate family and loved ones.  Some of these people will be remembered for the evil they promoted and others for the good they accomplished and the justice they pursued. For what and by whom will you and I be remembered?

“Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity” except the Way, the Truth, and the Life; except the faith journey of Ruth and Esther, Naomi and Judith,  Mary, Elizabeth and the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas, Aquila and Priscilla and so many other women and men who gave, and give,  their lives to proclaim the Kingdom and carry on the mission of Christ given to them and all of us by our Creator God. Yes, we all have one purpose given to us by the Lord God before we were born naturally through our biological births and spiritually in baptism and confirmation: to build the Kingdom of love, mercy and justice for all; to be reconcilers with God and one another.  Like Jesus, we are to live in this world as a passing reality. Like Jesus, we are to die and rise to new life here and in eternity, where, like Jesus, we will be glorified through the blood of Christ by the One who paid our ransom with His life. All else is vanity!