September 26, 2004.

Thursday of the 25th week in ordinary time.

A reading from the book of Ecclesiastes.

Vanity of vanities, says Koheleth.

Vanity of vanities.

All things are vanity.

What profit has man from all the labor which he

toils at under the sun? One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays.

The sun rises and the sun goes down, then it presses on to the place where it rises,

blowing now toward the south, then toward the north. The wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds. All rivers go to the sea,

yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going. All speech is labored. There is nothing

one can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear satisfied with hearing.

What has been, that will be. What has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. Even the thing of which

we say, see this is new, has already existed in the ages that preceded us. There is no remembrance

of the men of old, nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.

The word of the Lord.

The Responsorial Psalm.

The response is,

In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You turn man back to dust, saying,

Return, O children of men.

For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday,

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