The writer if Ecclesiastes first asks what one gains from hard work. Then after today’s verse, the writer answers with these two things: there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy life as long as one can and second, to eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of one’s labors because they are a gift from God.
Birthday blessings to Our King of the Hill…Adin Hill!
Because one cannot take scripture out of context, I want to provide the context. This takes place during the final decades of Judah, the southern kingdom, while in Babylonian exile.
Nothing seems to be right in Jerusalem. The leaders are only out for their own gain. The wicked are ruling and know no shame.
Wage the Good warfare
Here St. Paul admonishes Timothy to wage the good warfare as the prophesies of him (Timothy) foretell. Then Paul continues on saying that in order to teach Hymanaeus and Alexander to not blaspheme, he had to deliver them to Satan (the worst blasphemer of all).
Titus 3:5-6 assures us that we are justified only by God’s grace; not by anything we can accomplish in an of ourselves.
The last two years I’ve been in a program through Heartpaths DFW learning the art of Spiritual formation and direction. A Spiritual Director walks alongside his/her directees to help them discern God’s movements in their daily lives.
This year, we have been guided through the Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. In these we have learned how to allow Scripture to speak to our everyday and also experienced the Scriptures for ourselves. I got to experience the Gospel story from the Annunciation to the Ascension and even through Pentecost. It’s been an intense but fulfilling year.
I have also shared the Examen with my family. In the Examen, one examines his/her day to see where God moved in it. I have taken the 1-2-3 approach with my family where each of us tells one another what our favorite thing for the day is (where we can find gratitude), our least favorite thing in our day (not that we enjoyed it, but we can still thank God for the experience because it allowed us to grow and what we look forward to for the coming day.
This is St. Ignatius of Loyola
“Then it will be as though I had sprinkled clean water on you, for you will be clean—your filthiness will be washed away, and your idol worship gone. And I will give you a new heart—I will give you new and right desires—and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will obey my laws and do whatever I command”. (The Living Bible). This is the Prophet Ezekiel’s prophesy of Pentecost. 50 days after Easter the fledgling Church received the Holy Spirit and the masses were baptized.
Philemon is the shortest book in the Bible at just 25 verses. Paul sends Onesimus (whose name means Useful) back to Philemon, not to be his slave, but as a dear brother and fellow worker for the Gospel. Let us receive each another as fellow workers for the Gospel of Jesus.
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