The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today address the sense of futility we may acquire from our daily routine by reminding us of our attraction to authentic love and peace.
Lovely celebration
The reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes declares “All is vanity… . there is nothing new under the sun.”
* [1:11] Movement in nature and human activity appears to result in change and progress. The author argues that this change and progress are an illusion: “Nothing is new under the sun.”1
Psalm 90 declares God’s Eternity and human frailty.
* [Psalm 90] A communal lament that describes only in general terms the cause of the community’s distress. After confidently invoking God (Ps 90:1), the Psalm turns to a complaint contrasting God’s eternity with the brevity of human life (Ps 90:2–6) and sees in human suffering the punishment for sin (Ps 90:7–12). The Psalm concludes with a plea for God’s intervention (Ps 90:13–17).2
In the Gospel of Luke, we learn of Herod’s perplexity concerning Jesus.
* [9:9] And he kept trying to see him: this indication of Herod’s interest in Jesus prepares for Lk 13:31–33 and for Lk 23:8–12 where Herod’s curiosity about Jesus’ power to perform miracles remains unsatisfied.3
Larry Gillick, S.J. comments that Herod would see Jesus and desire to know Him as fact and so would always want more securing of facts.
I enjoy the freedom from the restrictions of facts so the faith is something living and freeing. I enjoy seeing Jesus as a relational and ongoing mystery. Herod wanted to capture Jesus in a convenient concept which would allow him to dominate in the vain attempt to be all-powerful... The uneasy head of Herod would finally see Jesus wrapped in the poverty of His Passion (Luke 23, 6). Most likely Herod remained uneasy in his own vain search for life. He was so glad to finally be able to ask Jesus questions and hoped Jesus would entertain him with some miracles. Jesus did not flatter Herod’s vanity and so Herod assumed his own political crown and had Jesus mocked and mistreated. In vain was his hunger for vanity. How impotent was his power.4
Don Schwager quotes “Integrity is a hardship for the morally corrupt,” by Peter Chrysologus (400-450 AD).
"John aroused Herod by his moral admonitions, not by any formal accusation. He wanted to correct, not to suppress. Herod, however, preferred to suppress rather than be reconciled. To those who are held captive, the freedom of the one innocent of wrongdoing becomes hateful. Virtue is undesirable to those who are immoral; holiness is abhorrent to those who are impious; chastity is an enemy to those who are impure; integrity is a hardship for those who are corrupt; frugality runs counter to those who are self-indulgent; mercy is intolerable to those who are cruel, as is loving-kindness to those who are pitiless and justice to those who are unjust. The Evangelist indicates this when he says, "John said to him, 'It is not lawful for you to have the wife of your brother Philip.'" This is where John runs into trouble. He who admonishes those who are evil gives offense. He who repudiates wrongdoers runs into trouble. John was saying what was proper of the law, what was proper of justice, what was proper of salvation and what was proper certainly not of hatred but of love. And look at the reward he received from the ungodly for his loving concern!" (excerpt from SERMONS 127.6-7)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 notes that Ecclesiastes makes a dramatic declaration about the futility of human efforts: all is vanity.
This wisdom certainly still holds today. Ecclesiastes warns us against trying to replace God with any other source of meaning. “If I get my PhD,” “if I get this promotion,” “if I find the right spouse,” then I will be happy and find purpose. Yet none of these things, no matter how good or satisfying or noble, can replace God. “All things are vanity!” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Let’s open our hearts to the wise warnings of Ecclesiastes these next few days. Let’s allow the enduring wisdom of God contained in this book to wake us up. And let’s keep in mind the prayer of St. Teresa of Ávila: “All things pass, God remains. He who has God lacks nothing. God alone is enough.”6
Friar Jude Winkler introduces the “preacher” of Ecclesiastes. The theme of this Wisdom book resonates with doing the best we can. Friar Jude shares the influence that a Cape Breton miner had on his co-workers.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces the interspiritual teacher Bede Griffiths, who was born in England, became a Catholic after college, and soon entered Prinknash Abbey in Gloucester as a Benedictine monk. After almost twenty-five years in this community, he went to India in 1955. It was in India that Bede discovered a different way of thinking.
The Western mind from the time of Socrates and Plato had concentrated on the development of abstract, rational thought which had led to the great systems of theology in the Middle Ages and to the achievements of modern science and philosophy. But India had been nourished from the beginning by the truth of the imagination, the primordial truth, which is not abstract but concrete, not logical but symbolic, not rational but intuitive. So it was that I was led to the rediscovery of the truth which the Western world has lost and is now seeking desperately to recover. [3]7
Fr. Richard has deep respect for the courage it must have taken Griffiths as a Catholic monk in the pre-Vatican II era to follow the calling of the Holy Spirit to live and worship in the East. He not only taught a nondual consciousness but embodied it in his life, remaining faithful to Christ while embracing the wisdom and practices of Hinduism.
We are attracted to know more about practices that resonate with our experience of God in our journey to full life.
References
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