Qoheleth moans that all of life's labors come to naught. What kind of reward do I expect for the work I do? When I feel my efforts are in vain, what beliefs about life shore me up?

It would be easy for hearers of this week's readings to feel beaten down. Life is anxious, sorrowful, and full of toil, and you will lose the fruits of your work, the message seems to be. Greed and overattachment to possessions threaten you, you are prone to sins, and in the end you die.

"TEACH US TO number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart." Beautiful if somewhat lacquered words from today's Psalm 90. What that means in plain English: Because we’re not going to live forever, let's learn to live wisely and well.

Have pity on your servants!" cries the psalmist in this Sunday's reading. It is a plea to God to bless the service of God's faithful and thus make it meaningful.

I once knew a woman who prided herself on her disdain for worldly goods. She would echo today’s gospel and say, “Life doesn’t consist of possessions; it’s all about relationships.” And yet she treated her relationships like possessions.

After my father's death and a few years of living all on her  own, my mother chose to find herself a senior retirement complex in which to live. When she found one she liked, she sold her home and, never looking back, moved in with all new clothing and furniture.

"Why do I even bother?!?" A lot of what people do in the realm of the home is futile. They do the laundry, and in a week there's another big pile to be done. They buy the groceries, and in short order the cupboards are bare once again.

My sisters and brother in Christ, let us pray to God to renew our lives.

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly. The list of  "vices" in Colossians 3:5 parallels the exhortations in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, with the addition of the "greed that is idolatry," which is relevant to today's other readings.

The means by which we live have superseded the ends for which we live. . . . we have foolishly minimized what is interior in our lives for what is exterior. We have reduced life to lifestyle.  —Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)