Paul Muni, Ronald Coleman, Alan Bates, Charles Boyer, Lillian Gish, Merle Oberon, Clara Bow, Norma Shearer. What do these all have in common? They are listed as among the top 50 actors and actresses of all time. Some of you may know these names, but I am guessing most of you do not. In their day they were admired and, in some cases, worshiped as many worship actors and actresses of today.
And for those of you who are baseball fans: Nap Lajoie, Cap Anson, Al Simmons, Charlie Gehringer, Paul Waner, and Tim Keefe. Every one is a member of the prestigious Baseball Hall of Fame. Again, I am sure some of you know these names, but to the majority of casual fans, these could easily be names of people working at the local grocery store. But to fans of their times, these players were sought after for autographs and their every action was followed.
Today’s first reading from Ecclesiastes serves us a sobering wake up call. In their day these performers were at the top of their craft. They were household names…bigger than life. They all had life wrapped around their fingers, were paid big money and had a bevy of “friends”. But where has this fame taken them? They are a faint memory to some, but completely forgotten to most. Vanity. Self absorption. Heightened sense of self-importance.
There is a prayer that is recited during the high holidays of Judaism (Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur) called “Unetanah Tokef”. It is a solemn prayer that focuses on the temporal nature of our lives compared to the eternity of God. Here is a short portion of that prayer:
….He earns his bread by exertion and is like a broken shard, like dry grass, a withered flower, like a passing shadow and a vanishing cloud, like a breeze that blows away and dust that scatters, like a dream that flies away. But You are King, God who lives for all eternity!….
And we also trouble ourselves with the news of the day as if we are a unique generation. As if no generation before us has ever had to suffer or deal with the controversies of today. The church scandal, the political, racial and cultural divides all nations are dealing with. But there was no church scandal that was like that of Pope Alexander VI. The “Borgia Pope”. One who had mistresses, a wife, illegitimate children, practiced simony (the selling of ecclesiastical privileges), and used war to gain power.
What about the divide among countrymen that occurred during the Civil War. What about the level of social and racial divide we had in the 60s. Violence that was not seen previously.
And where do you think today’s icons will be and be remembered for in 40-50 years. Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Ryan Reynolds, Christian Baele, Hugh Jackman, Marion Cottilard, Kate Winslet. Or the baseball players who took performance enhancing drugs for a brief period of success that the drugs gave them. Versus playing legally and ethically and being the example to young players that come after them and ensuring a legacy that speaks loudly of who that person was and not the superficial persona that the public loves to read about.
We are all just dust when it comes to this world. Only but a short line in the Book of Life. I recently served on the team for a Cursillo weekend. And one of the deacons took a 50 foot rope and tossed one end down the aisle of the room where we were at. He then wrapped one strip of tape on the opposite end. He said this tape represented our lives in relation to all of eternity (the rest of the rope). What we do with that brief time will determine the remainder of that rope. Do we put everything into being successful during that short “tape section” or do we live a life focused on the greater length of rope. On what we need to do to increase the likelihood that the full rope will be our lives-eternal with God.
Will we be Wee Willy Keeler or will we be St. Vincent de Paul, Nicholas Cage or Pope St. John XXIII? Hedy Lamarr or Mother Theresa? Eternal focus leads us to eternal lives.
