Prayer & Readings – Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity… because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it.

When: Sunday, August 05, 2007 7:30 AM-8:00 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
 
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Dear Lord God, O the words of Solomon, he asked for wisdom and You gave it to him, and yet with all the wisdom and all his riches of the world, he cries out all is in vain if not with and in You. So then why is it that under the sun we seek to make the same mistake, to think that wisdom will bring us knowledge and knowledge wealth and wealth happiness; only to find without You emptiness. O Lord God You sent us Your only Son Jesus to teach and show us the way; away that is not of our own but of dependence on You through Him. Well he I sit blessed again by Your mercy and grace, unworthy as I am, seeking Your guidance, strength and courage to treat each moment, take each step, meditate in each thought on You, Your will and Your purpose. For there and only there will I find what I seek, without wisdom, or knowledge of how or why, just rest and peace, content in knowing that moment that carries me forward with You in me and me in You; seeking no more and no less that simply that state. Let my reflection be the image of this state and let this image be a light that others will see You as the source. This I ask in Jesus name, Amen.
O most sweet Jesus, who came into this world to give to all souls the life of your grace, and who, to preserve and increase it in them, willed to be the daily remedy of their weakness and the food for each day, we humbly beseech you, by your heart so burning with love for us, to pour your divine Spirit upon all souls in order that those who have the misfortune to be in the state of mortal sin may, returning to you, find the life of grace that they have lost. Through this same Holy Spirit, may those who are already living by this divine life devoutly approach your divine table every day when it is possible, so that, receiving each day in Holy Communion the antidote of their daily venial sins and each day sustaining in themselves the life of your grace and thus ever purifying themselves the more, they may finally come to a happy life with you. Amen.
— Pope St. Pius X
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
21 because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.
Bible Study: [2] Vanity of vanities: a Hebrew superlative expressing the supreme degree of futility and emptiness. [3] Under the sun: used throughout this book to signify "on the earth." [3] Though my mind . . . wisdom: while indulging in pleasure the author hopes to discover wherein man’s true happiness consists.[24] Unrestrained indulgence is not advocated here, but legitimate pleasure and the cheerfulness it begets.
3 Thou turnest man back to the dust, and sayest, "Turn back, O children of men!" 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. 5 Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on thy servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Bible Study: [Psalm 90] Of Moses – A communal lament that describes only in general terms the cause of the community’s distress. After confidently invoking God (Psalm 90:1), the psalm turns to a complaint contrasting God’s eternity with the brevity of human life (Psalm 90:2-6) and sees in human suffering the punishment for sin (Psalm 90:7-12). The psalm concludes with a plea for God’s intervention (Psalm 90:13-17).
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices 10 and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scyth’ian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.
Bible Study: [1-4] By retaining the message of the gospel that the risen, living Christ is the source of their salvation, the Colossians will be free from false religious evaluations of the things of the world (Col 3:1-2). They have died to these; but one day when Christ . . . appears, they will live with Christ in the presence of God (Col 3:3-4). [8-10] Put . . . away; have taken off; have put on: the terms may reflect baptismal practice, taking off garments and putting on new ones after being united with Christ, here translated into ethical terms.
13 One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." 14 But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?" 15 And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; 17 and he thought to himself, `What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
Bible Study: [13-34] Luke has joined together sayings contrasting those whose focus and trust in life is on material possessions, symbolized here by the rich fool of the parable (Luke 12:16-21), with those who recognize their complete dependence on God (Luke 12:21), those whose radical detachment from material possessions symbolizes their heavenly treasure (Luke 12:33-34). [21] Rich in what matters to God: literally, "rich for God."
 

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