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Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time Ecclesiastes 1:2–11
Today we begin reading the Book of Ecclesiastes,
also called Qohelet.
It is a book of wisdom.
But it is not easy wisdom.
Qohelet looks at life with open eyes.
He looks at work.
Pleasure.
Friendship.
Old age.
Success.
Failure.
And above all, death.
For Qohelet, death is the great question.
It seems to end everything.
The book begins with famous words:
Vanity of vanities.
All is vanity.
The Hebrew word is hevel.
It means breath.
Vapor.
A mist you can see for a moment on a cold morning,
and then it disappears.
That is how Qohelet sees human life.
Short.
Fragile.
Hard to grasp.
Unpredictable.
The wise die.
The foolish die.
The rich die.
The poor die.
The just die.
The wicked die.
All go to the grave.
So Qohelet asks:
What does a person gain from all his toil under the sun?
That question is still ours.
People work for years.
They rise early.
They come home tired.
They repeat the same routine again and again.
School.
Work.
Bills.
Food.
Sleep.
Then the next day begins again.
Sometimes life can feel like a circle.
The sun rises.
The sun sets.
The wind blows.
The seasons return.
Nothing seems new.
Nothing seems lasting.
This can make the heart tired.
It can lead a person to ask:
What is the meaning of all this?
Why do I work?
Why do I struggle?
Why do I live?
Qohelet also says something painful:
People are forgotten.
We live.
We die.
And after a few generations, most names disappear.
Even those who are remembered for a longer time
may one day be forgotten too.
Qohelet does not hide this sadness.
He forces us to face it.
And that is why this book is important.
It does not give cheap comfort.
It does not pretend that life is easy.
It asks the questions many people carry silently.
But the answer to Qohelet’s search comes fully in the Gospel.
Jesus reveals where we come from,
why we live,
and where we are going.
We come from God.
We journey toward God.
We are not only a breath under the sun.
We are loved by God,
called by God,
and made for eternal life.
Without Christ, life can look like vapor.
With Christ, even ordinary days can become a path toward the Father.
For He is the Way,
the Truth,
and the Life.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Content License
© 2025 Krakus.
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
(Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial).