Remember your Creator in the days of your youth
Those who advertise alcohol are obliged by law to add to their adverts: “excess consumption of alcohol is dangerous to your health. Please, drink responsibly.” Similarly, Koheleth tells us in the first reading: “Rejoice in your youth, you who are young; let your heart give you joy in your young days. Follow the promptings of your heart and the desires of your eyes. But this you must know for all these things God will bring you to judgment. Cast worry from your heart, shield your flesh from pain. Yet youth, the age of dark hair, is vanity.”
Koheleth is against an asceticism that would take out of life all enjoyment. At the same time, he exhorts to responsibility, knowing that the pleasures of youth are passing vanities, and are followed by the pains of old age and eventual death. A time comes “…when to go uphill is an ordeal and a walk is something to dread…” Another time comes when “… man goes to his everlasting home. And the mourners are already walking to and fro in the street…” As we age and eventually die, life goes on as usual. Even as we enjoy life, we need to constantly know and pursue the things that really matter.
In today’s gospel we hear that at a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples: “For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.” They too were not to be deluded and buoyed up by the euphoria of passing fame. They did not understand, that is why they were so devastated at the time of Jesus’ passion and death. But later, Jesus’ words came back to their minds aided by the power of the Holy Spirit. May the same Spirit help us to constantly pursue lasting values even as we enjoy the joys of this world.
