Meditation
for Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
(Eccl
1:2-11; Lk 9:7-9)
“Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities!
All is vanity.” This popular quote opens up our meditation today. The passage
from Ecclesiastes explains how human efforts, with all its weariness, ends up
in vanity; a chase after the wind! Does it mean that human life has no value? But
the insatiable appetite in man implies that a chase after those appetites cannot
give man relevance or value. Another pointer to the vanity of things is the
cyclic repetition of events. “And there is nothing new under the sun.” Think
about how vain it may be that a lofty human action ends up as a mere repetition
of what had been done in the past. Also, imagine how miserable it can be for
one to commit his life to achieve something, hoping to derive satisfaction therein,
only for that achievement to increase his hunger and restlessness!
If we want to go with the flow, we chase after the wind and
our lives will have no bearing. If we want to repeat the past, we will be
wearied out and become irrelevant to the present. Unless we experience newness
and satisfaction, we shall live in terror of the unfolding future. Think about
the horrors of Herod as given in the gospel. He beheaded John the Baptist, and
did not show any remorse for his evil ways. Something new was happening and the
King started shivering because he was still living in his old ways. Herod was
perplexed and said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such
things?” And he desired to see Jesus.
Without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, human actions
alone will be a repetition of the old, and cannot bring satisfaction and
newness. This is vanity! That is why Herod and those like him, who refuse to
repent of their ‘old ways’, will always live in fear of the new things to come.
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am
doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a
way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Is 43:18-19). Jesus is the First
Born of all creation (Col 1:15). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). So,
Jesus is the center of our lives; it is in Him that our lives have bearing, and
from Him we derive value. “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith
in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).
Hence, instead of ‘vanity of vanities’, from Jesus we have
all receive grace upon grace (Jn 1:16). Our life is new every day; we live, not
to chase after wealth or pleasure, but we live to FOLLOW JESUS. No more shall
we live with the weariness and horrors of Herod, but we shall know contentment,
newness and peace. Amen.
Fr Jude Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muow, Lagos.
Thursday September 22, 2022.
