Regrets I have a few but the biggest one is having squandered my youth on pursuing my own ambitions and seeking worldly pleasures.
When I could have lived life to the fullest in my Lord and God from an early age. Where peace of mind is as constant as night turns into day. Joy and love of; And in the Lord is to be lived not something to be sought after.
The struggle to love our neighbour at all times, in all situations is a necessary burden of carrying our cross for our Lord. By laying our life down for them as He did for us, is the means by which we are united most fully in Him. It is through this union with Him that we have life, and have it to the full! Amen
First Reading
Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8 Remember your creator in the days of your youth
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 judgement.
Cast worry from your heart, shield your flesh from pain.
Yet youth, the age of dark hair, is vanity. And remember your creator in the days of your youth, before evil days come and the years approach when you say, ‘These give me no pleasure’, before sun and light and moon and stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;
the day when those who keep the house tremble and strong men are bowed;
when the women grind no longer at the mill, because day is darkening at the windows
and the street doors are shut; when the sound of the mill is faint,
when the voice of the bird is silenced, and song notes are stilled,
when to go uphill is an ordeal
and a walk is something to dread.
Yet the almond tree is in flower, the grasshopper is heavy with food and the caper bush bears its fruit,
while man goes to his everlasting home. And the mourners are already walking to and fro in the street
before the silver cord has snapped,
or the golden lamp been broken,
or the pitcher shattered at the spring,
or the pulley cracked at the well,
or before the dust returns to the earth as it once came from it, and the breath to God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, the Preacher says. All is vanity.
Gospel Luke 9:43-45
They were afraid to ask him what he meant
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.”’ But they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said.
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