sept 27 2006

Eccl 1:2-11 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays. The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises. Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds. All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going. All speech is labored; there is nothing one can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear satisfied with hearing. What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!”has already existed in the ages that preceded us. There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.

Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17bcR. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.You turn man back to dust,saying, “Return, O children of men.”For a thousand years in your sightare as yesterday, now that it is past,or as a watch of the night.R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.You make an end of them in their sleep;the next morning they are like the changing grass,Which at dawn springs up anew,but by evening wilts and fades.R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.Teach us to number our days aright,that we may gain wisdom of heart.Return, O LORD! How long?Have pity on your servants!R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.Prosper the work of our hands for us!Prosper the work of our hands!R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Lk 9:7-96 Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.” But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.

"Nothing is new under the sun." What wisdom is contained in this lesson about vanity. It does seem that some pride and vanity go into creation and works that seem so new and special at the time to me. I look at the perspective of time, of the immensity of the sea of my proportion in the universe is humbling. A grain of sand on the shore is a beautiful way that the Little Flower puts the perspective of humility and a place in the universe. Being outdoors has a way of silently bringing these lessons back to my heart and being without words but a sense of wonder and smallness yet being connected to the creations of goodness of God.

Herod was afraid when he heard of Jesus that he was John raised from the dead. I believe he was probably haunted in some way by the horror of what he had done to John the Baptist and was expecting God to have some reply to him for this act. The people are echoing an experience of sensing a prophet in their midst in the presence of Jesus.

In my view the prophets are somehow the voice of the voiceless and the messengers on earth of God. The prophets never asked to be prophets and I suspect if they were asked many would have said are you sure it's me you want God? All of the prophets in the Scriptures seem to have suffered. John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the wilderness and yet cut down in the midst of his youth and ministry. To me Jesus is different in many ways from the prophets before him. He saw the final destination Jerusalem and the cross and foretold of it and accepted it though his prayer in the Garden shows that if he could change the fate of being on the cross, if the chalice could be taken away he would wish it but he was willing to accept the will of God.