Photo by Ed Leszczynskl on Unsplash

There is something wicked
which I saw under the sun,
and it is heavy on human beings:
²a person to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honour,
and who has no lack regarding their appetite
for anything that they desire,
but God doesn’t empower them to eat of it,
and a stranger eats it.
This is a mere breath and a bad sickness.
³If a man fathers a hundred (children)
and lives many years,
and the days of their years are great,
and their appetite (soul) is not satisfied from the good things:
and also they have no burial,
I say the stillbirth is better off than them.
⁴Because it comes in a mere breath
and it goes in darkness,
and its name is covered in darkness;
⁵though it doesn’t see or know the sun,
that one is more settled than the other one.
And if they live a thousand years, twice over
and do not see good things
– Do they not go to the same place?

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)

¹⁸ Look! – at
what I saw myself was good:
that it is beautiful (for someone)
to eat and drink
and to see good
in all their labour –
(as they labour under the Sun,)
– for the number of days
that He has given them,
because that is their share.

¹⁹Also, each person to whom God gives wealth and possessions
and whom he empowers to eat some of them,
to take up their share
and to rejoice in their labour – this is God’s gift.

²⁰Because they will not remember (much) the days of their life,
since God busies them with the joy of their heart.

Eternal God and Fatther,
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.

¹³There is a bad-fortune
that I saw under the sun:
wealth kept by its owner
to their bad-fortune,
¹⁴and that wealth perished
through a bad business;
and they had a child
but there’s nothing in their hand.
¹⁵As they left their mother’s womb,
naked they again go,
(as they came);
they carried nothing of their labour
in their hand when they went
¹⁶This too is bad-fortune.
As they came, so they went,
and what’s the value to them
that they laboured for the wind?

¹⁷Further, all their days
in darkness
they eat
with much anger,
with illness, and fury.

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)

¹⁰Someone who loves silver will not have enough silver,
and someone who loves ‘plenty of things’ (will not have enough) income.
This too is mere breath.

¹¹With the increase of their goods,
those who consume them increase,
so what’s the profit to their owners
except their eyes seeing them?

¹²The sleep of someone who works is sweet
whether they eat little or much,
but the richness of the wealthy person
doesn’t leave them to sleep.

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)

⁸If you see
oppression of someone who is poor
and the robbery of justice and fairness in the province,
do not be surprised at the matter,
because one who is lofty protects (another) lofty one,
and there are ones who are lofty over them.
⁹The value for the land for all of them is this:
a king for the field that’s worked.

Lord God,
you feed us with the living bread from heaven;
you renew our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love.

Teach us to hunger
for Christ who is the true and living bread,
and to live by every word
that comes from your mouth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

When you make a vow to God,
do not delay to discharge it
For there is no pleasure in fools (for God) –
discharge your vow!

It is better for you not to vow
than vow and not discharge (the debt).

Do not allow your mouth to lead your flesh to sin
Do not say before the Messenger that it was a mistake
Why make God angry at your voice
and destroy the work of your hands?

So with many dreams and ‘breaths’ (come?)
many words

So fear God.

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.

Alcuin

Watch your feet as you go to the house of God.
To draw near to listen
rather than giving a sacrifice like fools,
because there’s no knowing that they are doing something bad.
²Don’t be hasty with your mouth;
and your heart should not be quick to let out a word before God,
because God is in the heavens and you are on the earth.
Therefore your words should be few.
³Because a dream comes with an abundance of busyness,
so the voice of a fool (comes) with an abundance of words.

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

¹³Better a boy poor and wise
than a king old and foolish
who doesn’t know how to heed a warning any more,
¹⁴because from the prison house
he left to become king,
even when he was born destitute in his kingdom.

¹⁵I saw all the living
who walk about under the sun
with the boy,
-the second one,
who ‘replaces’ him (the King?).

¹⁶There was no end to all the people,
all those before them
also those after
– they will not rejoice in him.

Because this also is mere breath,
and a chasing of wind.

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

⁷I turned and I looked at a mere breath
under the sun.
⁸There is one person, and there is no second person,
they have neither son or brother.
And there’s no end to all their work
nor is their eye satisfied by wealth.

‘And for whom am I worker
and depriving my soul of goodness?’
This too is mere breath, a bad business.

⁹Two are better than one,
because they have a better reward for their work.

¹⁰Because if one falls,
they can lift up their companion;
but alas for the one who falls and there is no other to lift them up.
¹¹Also, if two people lie down, they are warm,
but for one – how can they be warm?
¹²And if someone overpowers one
the two can stand up in front of them.

And a triple cord doesn’t break quickly.

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