Victory without Vanity

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to ponder the futility of expecting goodness to be the result of our playing to the vanity of leaders motivated by self aggrandizement. 

Building Good Government

The Reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes warns “Nothing is new under the sun.”

* [1:2] Vanity of vanities: a Hebrew superlative expressing the supreme degree of futility and emptiness.

* [1:3] Under the sun: used throughout this book to signify “on the earth.”

* [1:8] All things are wearisome: or, “All speech is wearisome.”

* [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.” (Ecclesiastes, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 90 describes in general terms the cause of the community’s distress.

* [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).

* [90:3] Dust: one word of God is enough to return mortals to the dust from which they were created. Human beings were created from earth in Gn 2:7; 3:19.

* [90:5] You wash them away: the Hebrew of Ps 90:4–5 is unclear.

* [90:6] It is wilted and withered: the transitory nature of the grass under the scorching sun was proverbial, cf. Ps 129:6; Is 40:6–8. (Psalms, PSALM 90 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke presents Herod’s Curious Opinion of Jesus.

* [9:7–56] This section in which Luke gathers together incidents that focus on the identity of Jesus is introduced by a question that Herod is made to ask in this gospel: “Who then is this about whom I hear such things?”(Lk 9:9) In subsequent episodes, Luke reveals to the reader various answers to Herod’s question: Jesus is one in whom God’s power is present and who provides for the needs of God’s people (Lk 9:10–17); Peter declares Jesus to be “the Messiah of God” (Lk 9:18–21); Jesus says he is the suffering Son of Man (Lk 9:22, 43–45); Jesus is the Master to be followed, even to death (Lk 9:23–27); Jesus is God’s son, his Chosen One (Lk 9:28–36).

* [9:7] Herod the tetrarch: see note on Lk 3:1.

* [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. (Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

Gladyce Janky wonders how Herod’s life might have changed had he allowed himself to listen to God’s invitation. Instead, he clung to the life he knew rather than venturing into the unknown where God was waiting.

In my own humanity, I am not that different from Herod. I can fall into the trap of trusting what I think I own, forgetting that everything I have is a gift from God. I look without truly seeing the beauty and wonder of creation; I listen without hearing, sometimes because I resist a different opinion, sometimes because facing another’s suffering feels too heavy. A mindset of self-reliance or the illusion of control can take root in anyone. So, what are we to do? How can we change the dynamics of our individual lives and, in doing so, help transform the world?

Without help, we remain stuck—repeating the same patterns as our ancestors, patterns that future generations will repeat unless something breaks the cycle. But something has. Because Jesus entered our reality and chose to die for us, we have an Advocate who tirelessly draws us toward God. The Holy Spirit continues to nudge, stir, and awaken our hearts, just as I imagine happened in Herod’s. Grace keeps reaching for us, inviting us to step out of fear and into the freedom of God’s love. And when we finally allow ourselves to follow Jesus, we discover that the path we feared is the very path that brings life.

Reflection question: If I hear God’s voice today, how will I respond? (Janky, 2026)

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)

[Peter Chrysologus, 400-450 AD, was a renowned preacher and bishop of Ravena in the 5th century] (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that Ecclesiastes is also called Qoheleth or the Preacher who declares “vanity of vanities”. Everything is not new so why are we expecting new and original events. Qoheleth wanted to attack the reward and punishment ideas of his culture. Live the best life you can, he suggests. In conclusion, “Do the best you can”. Herod the Tetrarch, who had John the Baptist beheaded is fascinated by both John the Baptist and Jesus. He recognizes the Good of Jesus even from living his dissolute lifestyle.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 comments that It’s true that time marches on and that all things will pass away like a vapor in the wind. But not everything is vanity. Your life and your decisions have eternal value because you were made for eternity. The breath of God, his very life, is in you. And that life is a life of divine love, a love that “never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Imagine! Your prayer life, your devotion to your loved ones, your love for Scripture, your care for your neighbor, your compassion for the least of those among us—these are all grace-filled movements of the heart. And they do not fade. They are all moments when you can touch heaven here and now. They are moments when you encounter the Lord, who is inviting you into the blessed communion for which you were created.

Your life is not vanity! When everything else passes away like a wisp of cloud, the new creation you have become in Christ will remain.

“Thank you, Jesus, for breathing your life into me!” (Meditation on Ecclesiastes 1:2-11, n.d.)

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, explains that so-called “redemptive violence” usually only perpetuates the cycles of violence Jesus came to stop. What Leviticus 16–27 describes as the “law of holiness”—separation from sinful people, the rejection of certain actions and things—is turned around in Jesus so that the very acts of separation, superiority, and rejection are in fact the sins! 

I believe Jesus is teaching us that if we put our energy into choosing the good—instead of the negative and largely illusionary energy of rejecting the bad—we will overcome evil in a much better way and will not become evil ourselves. This is exactly what he does on the cross, and I believe it is at the heart of his message. At our center in New Mexico, we have taken it as one of our central axioms that “the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.” 

More than anything else, this is how Jesus reformed the laws of religion and undercut the basis for all violent, exclusionary, and punitive behavior. He became the forgiving victim so we would stop creating victims ourselves. He became the falsely accused one so we would be careful whom we accuse.  (Rohr, n.d.)

We invoke the Spirit as we attempt to work with the sometimes hidden goodness in our environment to encourage greater love and compassion in our interactions.

References

Ecclesiastes, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ecclesiastes/1?1 

Janky, G. (2026, September 24). Daily Reflection September 24, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-september-24-2026 

Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?7 

Meditation on Ecclesiastes 1:2-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/09/24/1675587/ 

Psalms, PSALM 90 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/90?3 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). The Myth of Redemptive Violence. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-myth-of-redemptive-violence/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Suppressing Truth to Ease a Guilty Conscience. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/? 

Vanity and Pride

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to examine if our priorities in life are impacted by vanity and pride and lead us away from the Way of Jesus.

Vanity and Pride

The reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes warns of vanity in life.

Psalm 90 cautions against hardness of heart.

The Reading from the Letter to the Colossians implores us to seek what is above.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus warns against focusing on material wealth.

Rev. Andy Alexander, SJ, comments that today’s readings offer the grace of a powerful re-alignment of our lives - not focused on “what is on earth,” but on our life which is “hidden with Christ in God.”

Don Schwager quotes “Surrounded by wealth, blind to charity,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD)

"'What does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety, he speaks the words of poverty. He says, 'What should I do?' ... He does not look to the future. He does not raise his eyes to God. He does not count it worth his while to gain for the mind those treasures that are above in heaven. He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. He does not sympathize with suffering. It gives him no pain nor awakens his pity. Still more irrational, he settles for himself the length of his life, as if he would also reap this from the ground. He says, 'I will say to myself, "Self, you have goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself." 'O rich man,' one may say, "You have storehouses for your fruits, but where will you receive your many years? By the decree of God, your life is shortened." 'God,' it tells us, 'said to him, "You fool, this night they will require of you your soul. Whose will these things be that you have prepared?" (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89)

Friar Jude Winkler reflects on the texts of today. The reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes rejects the idea of richness following being good but urges us to walk the middle road. The Letter to the Colossians asserts we have died with Christ to live with Him and reject things that drag us down. Friar Jude reminds us that Jesus, in the Gospel of Luke, warns us to avoid greed and live for heavenly treasure.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, presents Jesus, A Wisdom Teacher and A Way of Life. Fr. Richard illustrates how Jesus’ wisdom differs from intellectual knowledge.

We are nudged by the Spirit to examine and follow the Life of Christ to be fully alive and avoid misdirection by vanity and pride.

Perplexed about Purpose

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with some of the experience of the “three score and ten people” mentioned by the psalmist.

Life Expectations

The reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes expresses the vanity of human toil.

* [1:2] Vanity of vanities: a Hebrew superlative expressing the supreme degree of futility and emptiness.

* [1:3] Under the sun: used throughout this book to signify “on the earth.”

* [1:8] All things are wearisome: or, “All speech is wearisome.”

* [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.” (Ecclesiastes, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)

Psalm 90 praises 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). (Psalms, PSALM 90, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke reveals Herod’s perplexity.

* [9:7] Herod the tetrarch: see note on Lk 3:1.

* [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. (Luke, CHAPTER 9, n.d.)

Eileen Wirth comments that a recent book, “Jesus and John Wayne,” by Kristin Kobes Du Mez, an evangelical historian, sheds light on a far more militaristic version of Christianity than she espouses. Eileen feels it’s extremely important for people like her to understand that viewpoint. Jesus commands us to love our enemies but opponents should not be enemies. It can be just as hard to listen with an open heart to good people who fundamentally disagree with us as to love enemies. We must find ways to embrace each other by finding  common ground whenever possible.

My friend, for example, is active in his church’s outreach to the poor just as I am. Common ground. He abhors racism, more common ground. He has also raised a wonderful family, still more that we share.

I wish I were a model of being open-hearted as Jesus commands in the Sermon on the Mount. I’m not, especially when it comes to judging masses of people with whom I don’t have a relationship. It’s hard and like most people, I tend to fail when things are difficult.

Baby steps, I tell myself. Take baby steps. That’s why I’ve just invited my friend for dinner. Maybe we’ll just talk about sports and the weather but someday maybe we’ll have the courage to lovingly discuss the significant differences in our Christian beliefs. (Wirth, n.d.)

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) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 asks shouldn’t believing in Jesus and obeying him put a smile on your face every moment of the day? Shouldn’t helping people be its own reward, no matter how futile it can seem at times? Of course, we know the answer to these questions should always be yes. But there’s often a difference between what we should experience and what we actually do experience. Some of our greatest saints, like Mother Teresa and John of the Cross, have faced the loneliness and confusion of feeling distant from God.

God wants to bless your efforts—but he has to have efforts to bless. So even if you feel unenthusiastic, take those first steps to accomplish the work he has put in front of you. The work may be unglamorous and hidden to the world, but God can still draw blessings from it. That’s because his faithfulness knows no bounds!

“Lord, give me the strength to carry your light into the world.” (Meditation on Ecclesiastes 1:2-11, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the musing of Qoheleth on the mystery of life. Doing the best we can is a response to the mystery of life. Herod, responsible for the deaths of John the Baptist and James, wants to know more of Jesus. Friar Jude reminds us how people may be brought to wonder by stories of faith.

James Finley shares his thoughts on spiritual maturity as a form of ripening. The lifelong process of ripening brings about a corresponding ripening of our ability to understand the fundamentals in a wiser, peace-giving manner. . . . As a person ripens in unsayable intimacies in God, they ripen in a paradoxical wisdom. They come to understand God as a presence that protects us from nothing, even as God unexplainably sustains us in all things. This is the Mystery of the Cross that reveals whatever it means that God watches over us; it does not mean that God prevents the tragic thing, the cruel thing, the unfair thing, from happening. Rather, it means that God is intimately hidden as a kind of profound, tender sweetness that flows and carries us along in the intimate depths of the tragic thing itself—and will continue to do so in every moment of our lives up to and through death, and beyond.

And so it is with us. As we grow old we realize that, in all we have been through, Love has been using us for its own purposes. And for this we feel immensely grateful. We know, too, that our inevitable passing away, in which we fall into the ground and die, is not the end of our ripened and transformed life. It is rather our passage into an infinite and deathless fulfillment. Saint John of the Cross [1542–1591] talks about a windfall of delight. [1] When fruit becomes very ripe, the slightest wind can cause it to fall to the ground. This is also true of us, and not just in the sense in which we learn to be undone and fulfilled in all the unexpected little blessings that come to us throughout the day. The windfall of delight pertains as well to our last breath, which we know and trust will send us falling forever into the deathless depths of God. (Finley, 2022)

We are enlightened by the Spirit to respond with gratitude to the Presence of God in our journey that affirms our experience and inspires our hope.

References

Ecclesiastes, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ecclesiastes/1?1 

Finley, J. (2022, September 22). A Windfall of Delight — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-windfall-of-delight-2022-09-22/ 

Luke, CHAPTER 9. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?7 

Meditation on Ecclesiastes 1:2-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/09/22/493713/ 

Psalms, PSALM 90. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/90?3 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture ... Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=sep22 

Wirth, E. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/092222.html