ACCEPT OURSELVES AS WE ARE

XVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Ecc 1:2, 2:21-23

All is vanity

The book of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) is a book very different from all other books of the Bible. Its words sound like the words of a philosopher looking at the reality of life with very human eyes. Seeing man and all that surrounds him, he does not see anything to be proud of, and he claims: "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity." (Qoheleth 1:2)

According to Qoheleth (the Teacher), we must not live in a dream world and we cannot allow ourselves to be carried away by it. We must accept ourselves as we are, full of limitations and mortal.

Why to pretend to be gods, if we are simple creatures sharing the same fate of all other creatures? Our feet must be well set on the ground. This is the reality: When death takes us away, we will carry nothing with us. Our dreams, our efforts and our own achievements, whatever they may be, like dry leaves will be carried away by the wind. We will be forgotten. We will be no more. "All is vanity"

Remember! You are just a human being!

In the Imperial Rome, the great victories were celebrated with the general and his troops entering the city in triumph. In the general's chariot, holding the crown of victory over his head, stood a slave repeating to him time and again: Remember! You are just a man! We are not gods! We may look up to heaven and dream of establishing there our home, but our feet are on the ground, where we belong.

Jesus Christ is the way

Within our hearts, there is a very strong desire for eternal life and for a share in divinity. However, we can never reach there. We are just mortal human beings, who in spite of all their search cannot find the way to heaven. And we must become well aware of the vanity of our attempts. On our own, we cannot save ourselves. Only God can save us. Surely, he is the one who put in our hearts the deep desire for eternity; but the only usefulness of this desire is to make us ready to accept God's invitation and to open our hearts to him. Only he can give us the way; and the way is Jesus Christ, God's own beloved son.