Thursday of Week 25 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 | Psalm 89:3-6,12-14,17 | Luke 9:7-9
Yesterday, we visited the Rock of Cashel, an ancient and very significant site that is currently undergoing restoration. What struck me was how these solid structures were built for the ages, yet crumbled within a century of being abandoned by their human caretakers.
Similarly, today’s reading reminds us that all the edifices we build, everything that proclaims “look, I have done this, is it not magnificent?”, will one day crumble to dust. Our ancient forebears did the same self-promotion, from the Egyptian pyramids on down, but as Qoholeth says: “no memory remains of earlier times, just as in times to come next year itself will not be remembered.” (Ecclesiastes 1:11)
And so:
I shall eschew vanity.
Vanity is the soul-killer.
Vanity is the self-acclamation that brings final obscurity.
I will face my vanity.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when the vanity has gone past, I will turn my soul’s eye to follow its path.
Where the vanity has gone, there will be nothing.
Only God will remain.
— The Litany Against Vanity
inspired by The Litany Against Fear (Dune, Frank Herbert)
Lord, I am as nothing compared to You. It is You alone who are exalted, You alone who are the Lord of all. Help me spend less time making a giant of myself, and more time proclaiming Your goodness in word and action, for Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, now and forever. Amen.