A man was promised one wish, and he wished that he could have a newspaper one year into
the future, and his wish was granted, and he read through the newspaper, the headlines,
the main stories, and when he turned to the business section, he saw that the value of
his stocks had increased one hundredfold.
He was a rich man.
As he read further, he turned to the obituary page, and he found his own name.
He had died two days earlier.
The point of the gospel is, what profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the
loss of his soul?
That first reading is from Ecclesiastes about Koheleth, and Koheleth's famous line is,
Vanity of vanities, all things are vanity.
It's all a chase after wind.
It's a person who's seen it all, done it all, and tradition for centuries had identified
Koheleth with Solomon.
Solomon was raised in the palace.
He had everything, money, power, sex.
As king, he had it all.
But at the end of his life, he recognized that there's nothing new under the sun.
Vanity of vanities, the wealthiest man in the world says it's all a chase after wind.
And one spiritual writer extracts like five spiritual principles that seem to be identified
with Koheleth.
The first spiritual principle is that life is hard.
Like Christian initiation.
At our initiation, we're signed with the cross.
It's not just a pious symbol, but it means that the cross is a part of our job description.
The uninitiated are always frustrated by the presence of suffering.
They're constantly frustrated by the cross.
But for the Christian, God leads us through the suffering.
To life is hard.
To life, to the fullness of life.
Another principle is you're going to die.
And like in the culture of death, the interesting thing is that there's a denial of death,
or an ignoring of death.
Like Woody Allen has this line, he says, I'm not afraid to die.
I just don't want to be there when it happens.
Well, and...
To recognize that we're going to die is to recognize that our life, that my life, is
not about this world.
It's not about anything under the sun.
It's really about the eternal God.
It's not about passing vanities.
Like one priest, Father Grosscheltz, says that all the fuss we make about material things
and this body, he says, it's like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Because this body is going to die.
So not to fuss unnecessarily over it.
The third spiritual principle is you are not that important.
It's kind of like cold water, a slap in the face, a wake-up call.
For children, the world revolves around them and their needs.
But as we grow older, we realize that we are not the center of the universe.
There was a program on television, Man vs. Wild.
And this man was trained in survival.
And he would go out into the jungle and deal with dangerous animals.
Live and try to survive.
Under difficult conditions.
But he had a great respect for the environment.
And so we recognize that this world is a theater of redemption.
That there's a greater thing going on than just me as an individual.
But God is working his divine providence through the world.
So life is hard.
You're going to die.
You're not that important.
Fourthly, you are not in control.
Saint Ignatius illustrates this principle.
Saint Ignatius was a military man.
He was a commander, a soldier.
But one day he was injured.
He was hit with a cannonball.
And when he was recovering in the hospital, he realized he was not in control.
He knew how to fight.
But after his injury, he learned how to surrender.
We are not in control.
And we all must learn to surrender to a will greater than our own.
To a mind greater than ours.
To a plan greater than any script you or I could write.
The fifth principle is your life is not about you.
Your life is none of your business.
It's not about my projects, my plans.
I'm not the star in this movie.
Our plans are about God.
We do not find ultimate satisfaction in anything under the sun.
We are made for God.
We're wired for God.
As Saint Augustine says,
O Lord, you have made us for yourself.
And our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
G.K. Chesterton says that it is when we let go of this world that I can truly love it.
In fact, the false and empty promise of Satan is that you and I can find happiness apart from God.
Satan will offer us anything under the sun.
If only it can separate us from God.
But that's, like we say, his false and empty promise.
There's nothing under the sun.
There's nothing that can satisfy us.
Only the Eucharist can fulfill us, can satisfy us.
God himself alone.
Like we say, we work, we work to achieve a bigger house, a larger bank account, a fancy car.
But we're only satisfied for a short time.
Then we want a bigger car, a fancier house.
A bigger bank account.
And, like we say, it satisfies us only for a short time.
A rich man was asked, how much money do you need to be happy?
His response was, just a little more.
So there's never anything in this world that really does fill us.
Vanity of vanities, it's a chase after wind, it's all in vain.
So Kohelet is giving us that wisdom of old.
Old age.
A man who's, like we say, seen it all, done it all.
Don't set your hearts on anything in this world.
But set your hearts on God alone.
Because he will never fail us.
The purpose behind the package was to provide the purpose of happiness.
By telling us the reason for suffering.
No matter the hard and hard struggles.
No matter all your North American troubles.
It works.
Fuck Yoantsevich.
Drive cioè
In her father's car.
Moved.