Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Christ taught us that heaven and earth will, indeed, pass away, but his word will not pass away. Therefore, as followers of Christ, we must be in the world but not of the world, because the things of this world will pass away, and if we, too, are of the world, then we will pass away with it. All things under the sun, and even the sun itself, are a vain illusion in that sense. Permanence is something we project onto things that ultimately only come and go. “All things, absolutely all things, says Qoheleth, are a vain illusion” (Ecclesiastes 12:8).
The Word of God is not a “thing,” though, at least not in the sense of Qoheleth. The Word of God is the second person of the Holy Trinity. It is infinite in majesty, infinite in goodness and power, and even infinite in existence. The Word of God exists on a higher level, a level infinitely higher than every other “thing,” absolutely every other “thing” that we can see or experience.
The goal of the spiritual life, and, indeed, the goal of any well-educated person, is to find the Word of God, to study it, to obey it, and to hold on to it with might and main. Make it a daily task. Yes, while in this world, we must sometimes listen to other voices, too: our family, our friends, our neighbors. Even our own inner voice should be heard: our wants, our needs, our thoughts, our feelings, etc. These voices are part of God’s gift to us, and so is the entire created universe and so is time itself. It is only good manners to appreciate God’s gifts, but we must never confuse the temporary gifts with the eternal giver. As prudent stewards holding on to the gifts that we have received, let us be ready to let them go when the time comes for God to bestow something even better.