Ecclesiastes

18th Sunday Ordinary Time – 2016 When you hear the word vanity you most often think of fashion gone over the top or that cupboard under the bathroom sink. But in today’s first reading it has a much broader meaning. The word in Latin is “vanus” meaning empty, without substance, that which is futile, even absurd. So the first reading begins: “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” The book of  Ecclesiastes, with its deeply pessimistic view of life, was compiled in the third century B.C., when Judea was under the oppressive domination of Hellenistic kings from Egypt. These kings were highly efficient in their ruthless exploitation of the land and people. God seems remote and uncommunicative, who people cannot hope to understand, much less influence God’s activity in the world. The average Jew felt a sense of powerlessness and inability to change things for the better. So in despair the author asks, “What is the meaning of life after all?” No matter how one’s life may unfold good or bad, all that remains are a grave and nothingness. He writes: I undertook great works; I built myself houses and planted vineyards; I made gardens and parks, and in them set out fruit trees of all sorts. And I constructed for myself reservoirs to water a flourishing woodland. I also owned vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem. I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the treasures of kings and provinces. I accumulated much more than all others before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom, too, stayed with me. Nothing that my eyes desired did I deny them, nor did I deprive myself of any joy; rather, my heart rejoiced in the fruit of all my toil. This was my share for all my toil. But when I turned to all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the fruit of the toil for which I had toiled so much, see! – All was vanity and a chase after the wind. There is no profit under the sun. you die and someone else gets it. It is important to realize that the people of the O.T. had a much different understanding of what comes after death. Basically for them there is nothing after death, so all that matters is this life. By Jesus time there where two principle ways to see this, the Pharisees taught that God would bring the righteous back to life, here in this world, giving them new bodies to live in. The Sadducees taught that death was it, end of story, nothing more to come. I find there is an interesting comparison today with this pessimistic view of life and the decline of positive faith, coupled with an increase of an atheistic, agnostic world view. It shows up when questions of age and health and the productivity of life come up – evidenced by the recent doctor assisted suicide legislation our federal government passed. What exactly gives life its meaning and value then? The answer to this question put forward in the first reading is revealed in the resurrection of Jesus. All life is sacred. It comes from God and belongs to God. Jesus’ words from the Cross, Father, I place back into your hands the life you gave me, I have completed the purpose for which you sent me. (paraphrase) We do not invent life nor do we define its purpose. Only God gives life and to every life God gives a purpose.  It is God’s loving plan that we should participate in the very life of God, that we be holy like God is holy in all we say and do; to be the custodians and guardians of all life, and finally to live eternally in unimaginable delight in God’s presence. Our part now is to accept or reject this purpose for life. Anything else is vanity. Our acceptance of this life with God is proven by the life we live now, and by never letting anyone or anything take it away from us. The Book of Ecclesiastes [ ... LINK ... ] Reading for 18th. Sunday [ ... LINK ... ] Bishop Robert Barron [ ... LINK ... ] Today's 2nd Reading Brothers and sisters: If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. 2 Col 3:1-5. * * *