“All is vanity,” Sunday’s first reading begins, bringing to our contemporary ears the judgment of a community leader who lived about 300 years before Jesus. This reading from the book of Ecclesiastes raises the essential life questions: “What is useless? What is worthwhile?” The writer seems certain most people give their energy to empty ends.
The Hebrew word for vanity is hebel, which means empty, perishable, nothingness. The 20th-century poet T. S. Eliot uses the word hollow to describe people who pursue endless material gains in grinding, routine work that dries up their spirits and transcendent dreams.
Sunday’s passage from Ecclesiastes echoes Jesus’ parable in the gospel. Death is the great leveler. Death provides the ultimate perspective on what’s really worthwhile.
What is vain toil?
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity!
One who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to another who did not toil for it. This is vanity and a great evil.
What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1.2; 2.21-23
- Describe your wisest, most worthwhile investment of personal energies and resources.
- What is one thing in your life you have found a vain pursuit? How did you discover this?