all things are vanity! (Ecclesiastes 12:8 NABRE)
Ecclesiastes 12 draws a picture of old age and encourages the young to give up their self-absorbed ways and to remember our Creator while still young and able to act for the Lord before the limits of old age get in the way.
In the chapter's epilogue, we are told to give up our excessive pride and endless searching for meaning and wisdom. The writer tells us, essentially, that it's not complicated. In his conclusion, he explains that wisdom is the singular matter of fearing God's judgment and keeping his commandments.
Lord my God, thank you for the times you guide my heart away from concern for myself and toward concern for others. It is only in such moments that I really grasp your love and compassion for us. Help me each day to give up my vanities, my expectations, and my desires in favor of your praises, your plans and your direction for my life.
Today, I will seek to put away whatever self-interest of mine arises within me, offering up my effort as a prayer, thankful to have the chance to overcome that which places my interests ahead of God's.
Blessed Paul VI, who as Pope oversaw the completion and implementation of Vatican II, pray for us.
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