While I never intend for these weekly posts to be personal, in truth I suppose they are always personal. Personal especially when missing a family member or a dear friend, a dear soul, who has risen to the nearer presence of G_d. There are people in your life, who are so much of what you know life to be. People who simply make life richer, happier, fuller. People who fill your mind with memories which will last a lifetime, and cause hopes that they will always be there. People who make your life worth living in this world, and who will assist in building up life in the world to come. I rarely consider my own mortality, but am never quite prepared for the same in others.
The author of Ecclesiastes introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." I suppose that even mentioning one's own name might be a sign of vanity. Solomon goes on to discuss his view of the meaning of life and the best way to live. Solomon proclaims all the actions of man to be inherently "vain" or "futile." In Hebrew our human actions are "hevel", or merely "a breath. Often deemed as wise, Solomon writes that the human acts of both the wise and and the foolish have the same end, death. Solomon clearly endorses wisdom as a means for a well-lived life, yet the end is same. Therefore to this end one should enjoy and share the simple pleasures of daily life and the opportunity to serve others. These are gifts from the providence of G_d. Solomon laments that death is a boundary which limits our time in this life, but concludes Ecclesiastes with an injunction to the wise and the foolish: "Fear G_d, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone".
St Luke tells a story of Jesus being asked, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." Jesus answered, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." One does not know when the life given us is required to be returned to the Creator who gives this life. Jesus continued to say that storing up treasures for yourself in this life is not seen as riches by the Heavenly Father.
We can do nothing to "to pay ransom, or deliver to G_d the price of our life." The ransom of life is so great, that we should never have enough to pay it, yet a life exemplified by the summary of the law will keep your account current. "You shall love the Lord your G_d with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength...You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty G_d our brothers and sisters entering the nearer presence; and we commit their bodies to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless them and keep them, the Lord make his face to shine upon them and be gracious unto them, the Lord lift up his countenance upon them and give them peace.
Pax,
jbt
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