20180927
ENTRUSTING THE LABOURS
OF OUR WORK TO THE LORD
27 SEPTEMBER,
2018, Thursday, 25th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 ©
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Nothing is new and all is vanity
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Vanity of vanities, the Preacher says.
Vanity of vanities. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity! For all his toil, his
toil under the sun, what does man gain by it?
A
generation goes, a generation comes, yet the earth stands firm for ever. The
sun rises, the sun sets; then to its place it speeds and there it rises.
Southward goes the wind, then turns to the north; it turns and turns again;
back then to its circling goes the wind. Into the sea all the rivers go, and
yet the sea is never filled, and still to their goal the rivers go. All things
are wearisome. No man can say that eyes have not had enough of seeing, ears
their fill of hearing. What was will be again; what has been done will be done
again; and there is nothing new under the sun. Take anything of which it may be
said, ‘Look now, this is new.’ Already, long before our time, it existed. Only
no memory remains of earlier times, just as in times to come next year itself
will not be remembered.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
89(90):3-6,12-14,17 ©
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O Lord, you have been
our refuge from one generation to the next.
You turn men back to dust
and say: ‘Go back, sons of
men.’
To your eyes a thousand years
are like yesterday, come and
gone,
no more than a watch in the
night.
O Lord, you have been
our refuge from one generation to the next.
You sweep men away like a dream,
like the grass which springs
up in the morning.
In the morning it springs up and flowers:
by evening it withers and
fades.
O Lord, you have been
our refuge from one generation to the next.
Make us know the shortness of our life
that we may gain wisdom of
heart.
Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?
Show pity to your servants.
O Lord, you have been
our refuge from one generation to the next.
In the morning, fill us with your love;
we shall exult and rejoice all
our days.
Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:
give success to the work of
our hands.
O Lord, you have been
our refuge from one generation to the next.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps118:18
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Jn14:6
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says
the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except
through me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 9:7-9 ©
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'John? I beheaded him; so who is this?'
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Herod the tetrarch had heard about all
that was being done by Jesus; and he was puzzled, because some people were
saying that John had risen from the dead, others that Elijah had reappeared,
still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. But Herod
said, ‘John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he
was anxious to see Jesus.
ENTRUSTING THE LABOURS OF OUR WORK TO
THE LORD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ECCLESIASTES 1:2-11; LUKE 9:7-9 ]
“For all his toil, his
toil under the sun, what does man gain by it?” Indeed, this is an inevitable
question that we have to ask ourselves sooner or later. No one can escape
from this question in life. What sustains us in the work we do, day in
and day out? Do we find meaning in what we do? Are we
fulfilled? Are we contented with our achievements?
The stark reality is
that after a long process, we will come to the same sentiment of King Solomon
who is the author of this book. He
has accomplished much in life. He was a great king, full of wisdom.
It was in his time that the kingdom of David flourished and there was peace and
unity among all the tribes of Israel and freedom from the attacks of foreign
countries. Yet, in spite of all his achievements, he looked back at all
that he did and concluded, “vanity of vanities!”
This life is such a
struggle, fraught with anxieties, fears, competition and pain. It is the survival of the
fittest. We need to struggle and compete with others in order to find our
security and fulfill our needs. Whether at work or at home, in the
community or in Church, we find people competing with each other for more
power, recognition, promotion, money and fame. The alternative is to cop
out of this world. But if we do, it means that we would be left behind to
rot. No one will bother about us.
Yet we wonder whether
all our toils are worth it? For those of us who work for a vision, do we
really find happiness when we arrive at it? We spend years, endless days and nights,
working hard to cultivate and promote our vision, be it for the country, the
organization or even for the Church. After many years of laboring, we
think we have attained the vision we set out. Then another person takes
over our job. He projects another vision and the one we painstakingly built is
forgotten overnight. Indeed, the values of hard work, strong family life,
time immemorial moral principles, etc have all been discarded by today’s
generation. What were then considered to be the right direction or right
values are no longer relevant or even considered wrong today. So all that
we have worked for in our life will be undone by the next generation.
For those of us who
think that having an ambition can satisfy us and give us meaning in life, this
again may not necessarily be the case. Those of us who aspire to climb the social
ladder will find ourselves lacking real freedom when we arrive at the top,
because our fear of losing popularity, position or power will prevent us from
doing what we want or believe to be right. We will realize that there is
so much political backstabbing and competition among leaders. We will not
be able to call a spade a spade. We have to use politically correct
language so that no one will be annoyed with us. We are silenced from
speaking the truth. We see corruption and manipulation of those who are
weak. There is much jealousy, greed for money and power. We think
that being the top man, we can change situations and put things right.
Yet, often the top man is powerless because he is controlled by those who
support him. He has to pander to their selfish needs so that he can get
their support. Without their support, he cannot accomplish his
tasks. So he is in a dilemma.
If our ambition is to
become rich, we too will realize when we get there that money cannot buy
happiness. We do not
have real friends. In truth, we do not need so much money because we can
never spend it all. 75% of our money will be passed down to our children
who will not be appreciative of what they receive, as they would not understand
the value of money that they did not earn. They will squander what we
have miserly saved and worked so hard for over the years in no time. So
we wonder whether it is a wise thing to save so much money for our children
when they do not value what they have.
If we are driven by an
ideology, we too will find everything is futile even if we could change the
views of people.
Would our ideology bring about the happiness we desire? Those who
advocate same-sex union, do they really believe that this would make the world
a better place, that there will be more holistic and happy children, stronger
families, population will grow, etc? The communists were promoting socialist
ideology as a panacea to all the sufferings in the world. Have they
achieved it? Even if they had managed to raise the material
standard of living in their country, were the people happy or fulfilled without
God in their lives?
In the final analysis,
we have to come back again to the question of the meaning of life and all that
we do. If all that we
have done, built, cultivated and promoted are going to be destroyed soon or
even before we are gone, then why waste so much time and effort trying to
control the direction of the world? We might as well just throw it to the
beast to devour it. What is the use of trying to promote our values and
work hard for the people and our country when we know that all these would not
last for long? So says the preacher about the rise and fall of dynasties,
nations and civilizations. “A generation goes, a generation comes, yet
the earth stands firm for ever. The sun rises, the sun sets; then to its place
it speeds and there it rises. Southward goes the wind, then turns to the north;
it turns and turns again; back then to its circling goes the wind. Into the sea
all the rivers go, and yet the sea is never filled, and still to their goal the
rivers go.”
The truth and wisdom
that we can acquire from King Solomon, is that life and the world are beyond
our control. We can only do our best according to the constraints and
resources available to us. We
are called to do our part as well as we can. We must leave the rest to
God ultimately, for He is in charge. With the psalmist, we say, “You turn
men back to dust and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’ To your eyes a thousand years
are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night. You
sweep men away like a dream, like the grass which springs up in the morning. In
the morning it springs up and flowers: by evening it withers and fades.”
Indeed, let us remember that we are finite beings. We are not God and so
we do not need to play God and pretend that we are in charge of this world.
At the end of the day, success or failure is all in the hands of God. The
psalmist says, “In the morning, fill us with your love; we shall exult and
rejoice all our days. Let the favour of the Lord be upon us: give success to the
work of our hands.”
However, we must do all
we can within our power and influence. We simply have to do our part and
play our role, but the outcome belongs to the Lord. This was what the Lord told Ezekiel about
fulfilling our role as God’s sentry for His people. “So you, mortal, I
have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my
mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, “O
wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to
turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I
will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their
ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their
iniquity, but you will have saved your life.” (Ezk 33:7-9) St Paul urged Timothy to do
the same. “Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is
favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost
patience in teaching.” (2 Tim 4:2)
Otherwise, we will live
a life of regret and bear the burden of a guilty conscience, like King Herod in
today’s gospel. He
was feeling guilty that he had executed a holy man of God who had now
reappeared in Jesus and he was anxious to find out. He “had heard about
all that was being done by Jesus; and he was puzzled, because some people were
saying that John had risen from the dead, others that Elijah had reappeared,
still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life.”
Herod said, “John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?”
Our hearts should be at
rest knowing that we have acted according to our conscience, regardless. We do not have the answer for the
next generation. History will teach them and divine grace will work in
its own ways in their lives so that they will learn wisdom like us. Great
men have come and gone and so will we when our time comes. Indeed,
history repeats itself in new ways. “No man can say that eyes have not
had enough of seeing, ears their fill of hearing. What was will be again; what
has been done will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun. Take
anything of which it may be said, ‘Look now, this is new.’ Already, long before
our time, it existed. Only no memory of remains of earlier times, just as in
times to come next year itself will not be remembered.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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