⁴If the spirit of the ruler arises against you, don’t leave your place,
because calmness can let go of great wrongdoings.
⁵There’s something bad I have seen under the sun,
that a mistake comes from a ruler.
⁶Folly has been put in many high positions,
and rich people sit in a lowly place.
⁷I have seen slaves on horses,
and princes walking on the land like slaves.

⁸The person who digs a pit may fall into it;
the person who breaks down a wall – a snake may bite them!
⁹The person who quarries stones may be hurt by them;
the person who splits logs is endangered by them.

¹⁰If the iron has become dull,
and (the worker) hasn’t sharpened it before,
they must exert more strength,
so wisdom is a value for giving success.
¹¹If the snake bites when there’s no spell,
there’s no profit in a tongue-master (magician) .

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

¹⁷The words of wise people with calmness
are heard more than the crying out of a ruler among fools.
¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.
1 As dead flies turn the perfumer’s oil rancid and putrid
so a little foolishness outweighs wisdom and glory.

2 A wise person’s heart is to their right hand
The heart of a foolish person is to their left hand.

3 And even on the road, as the foolish person walks
they are lacking in their heart
and they tell everyone about their foolishness.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

¹³ This too I have seen about wisdom – under the sun –
and it was a big thing for me:
¹⁴There was a small town
and the people in it were few.
A big king came to it,
surrounded it,
and built big strongholds against it.
¹⁵There was found in it a poor man who was wise,
and he (might have) saved the town by his wisdom,
but no one remembered that poor man.

¹⁶I said to myself
wisdom is better than strength,
but the poor man’s wisdom is despised
and his words are not listened to.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

¹¹I turned and I saw under the sun that
the race is not to the swift people,
nor the battle to the strong,
and also not to the wise people, bread
nor to the discerning people, riches.
Nor grace to the knowledgeable people,
because time and chance happen to all of them.

¹²Because, a person cannot even know their time.
Like fish that are taken in a bad net
and like birds that are taken by a trap,
like them, humans
are snared by a bad time when it falls on them suddenly.

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

⁷Go, eat – with rejoicing – your bread,
drink – with a good heart – your wine ,
because God already has approved your actions.
⁸At all times let it be that your clothes are white
and let it be that oil is not lacking on your head.
⁹Look to the days with the wife
whom you love
all the days of your ”mere-breath’ life
that you have been given under the sun,
all your mere-breath days,
because that is your portion in your lifetime
and in your labour that you work under the sun.
¹⁰Everything that your hand finds to do,
do with your strength,
because there is no labour, thought, knowledge, or wisdom in She’ol,
where you’re going.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

⁴For whoever is joined to all the living –
there is hope,
because a living dog is better than a dead lion.
⁵Because the living know that they will die,
but the dead don’t know anything.
There is no more reward for them,
because the memory of them has gone out of mind.
⁶All of their love and their hostility and their passion
has already perished.
They have no more share
for ever
in all that happens under the sun.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

So I set my heart to all this
and examining all this-
the righteous and the wise
and their deeds
are in the hand of God,
– whether love or hate
no one knows anything
ahead of them.

One fate: all things for everyone.
To the righteous and to the wicked
to the good…
to the clean and unclean
to those who offer sacrifices and to those who do not
As to the good person,
so to the sinner
and to the one who swears an oath,
so to those who fear to swear.

This is an evil
for all who labour under the sun
one fate is for all
and also the hearts o f the children of man
are full of wickedness
and folly is in their hearts in their lifetime
and after, they (go) to the dead.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

¹⁶When I gave my heart to know wisdom
and look at the business that is done on the earth
– even though day and night, one does not see sleep with one’s eyes, –
¹⁷and I looked at all the work of God:
a human being cannot find out about the work that is done under the sun.
When a human being works in seeking, he doesn’t find.
Even if a wise person says they will know, they cannot find it out.

Eternal God and Father,
you create us by your power,
and redeem us by your love,
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves in love and service
to one another and to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

¹⁴What occurs on the earth is a mere-breath:
that – there are righteous people on whom it falls
as on the wicked,
and there are wicked on whom it falls
as on the righteous.
I said, ‘This too is mere breath’.

¹⁵So I myself praised (the idea of) rejoicing,
because there’s no good for a person under the sun
except to eat and to drink and to rejoice.
That can accompany them in their labour
for the days of their life
that God has given them under the sun.

O Lord, in whom is our hope,
remove far from us, we pray thee,
empty hopes and presumptuous confidence.
Make our hearts so right with thy most holy and loving heart,
that hoping in thee we may do good;
until that day when faith and hope
shall be abolished by sight and possession,
and love shall be all in all.

Christina Rossetti (1830-94)

¹⁰And in this case
I saw wicked people buried,
and they came and went from the Holy Place.
and they were (praised) in the town where they had so acted.
This too is mere breath.

¹¹When a sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly,
then the hearts of the sons/daughters of man
are emboldened to act wickedly
¹²-when a sinner does something bad a hundred times,
and (life) is extended for them.

Because I know that
it will be good for people
who live in awe of God,
– because they live in awe of him.

¹³And it will not be good for the wicked person
and they won’t extend their days,
-like a shadow,
because they doesn’t live in awe before God.

Keep us, O Lord, while we tarry on this earth,
in a serious seeking after thee,
and in an affectionate walking with thee,
every day of our lives;
that when thou comest,
we may be found not hiding our talent,
nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished,
but waiting and longing for our Lord,
our glorious King, for ever and ever.

Richard Baxter (1615-1691)