Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Ecclesiastes 2:18

Eastern Fathers

Athanasius of Alexandria

If the whole earth is not worth the kingdom of heaven, surely he who has left a few fields leaves nothing, as it were; even if he has given up a house or much gold, he ought not to boast nor grow weary. Moreover, we should consider that if we do not relinquish these things for virtue's sake, we leave them behind later when we die and often, as Ecclesiastes reminds us, to those to whom we do not wish to leave them. Why, then, do we not relinquish them for the sake of virtue, so that we may inherit a kingdom? LIFE OF ST.

Life of St. Anthony 17 ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

"Thus I hated all my achievements labouring under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who succeeds me. And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? - And he will control all my possessions which I toiled and have shown myself wise under the sun. This, too, is vanity. "He seems to be reconsidering wealth and riches, because according to the Gospel, being snatched by sudden death, we do not know with which kind of heir we die - whether he will be a fool or wise who will enjoy the fruits of our toil. …

Commentary on Ecclesiastes ↗

Bonaventure

He reproves his own curiosity concerning the works of human industry directed toward wealth. He argues first that he was curious about acquiring earthly things on account of the uncertainty of good offspring, because he himself could not always possess those things and feared having a useless successor. …

Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 2 ↗